Might have been posted, but I didn't see it
biz.yahoo.com
Plush Toy Furby Hard To Find
By KATIE FAIRBANK
AP Business Writer
DALLAS (AP) -- This year's blockbuster toy is a plush toy that carries with it a plush cost for
parents unable to find Furby on retail shelves.
Some desperate shoppers are turning to classified ads and the Internet, where Furby dolls are going for as much as $200 -- more than six times its retail price of $30.
Furby is out of stock at many stores around the nation, and some retailers aren't even sure they will get any for the rest of the holiday shopping season. Manufacturer Tiger Electronics is flying in Furby dolls to the United States from China to get them to retailers faster.
''We have people calling and we don't even have any idea what (the dolls) look like,'' said Kent Sylvis, a worker at the Store of Knowledge in Dallas, which is waiting for its stock of Furby dolls to arrive.
Furby's reign as 1998's hot toy began in September when Wired magazine named it the must-have toy for the holidays. For its official launch on Oct. 2, Furby appeared on national morning television shows, and Tiger Electronics hosted a press event at FAO Schwarz that attracted
everyone from CNN to Entertainment Weekly magazine.
Almost immediately, Furby was flying off store shelves, with parents lining up for hours to get one of the 5-inch toys embedded with a
computer chip that allows it to speak its own ''furbish'' language.
''I got them early in the season, but I still had to wait hours on line to get them,'' said Shirley Ringstone of Manchester, Conn., who waited about four hours to buy two Furby dolls. ''I'm glad I don't have to do it again.''
But others aren't so lucky in tracking down Furbys, which look sort of like owls with tiny mohawks or tufts of hair between their huge pink
ears.
There have already been scenes reminiscent of the Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch doll crazes of years past, with shoppers lining up before dawn when they hear a shipment may arrive.
A women calling into a New York radio station on Thursday said she didn't believe Furby existed because she had yet to find one in a store.
''Furby is selling off the charts,'' said Michael Glazer, president and chief executive of K-B Toys. ''We haven't had in stock at all.''
''When we first sold it in Boston several weeks ago, we had 500, but there were 700 customers waiting for store to open,'' he said. ''That's just the way it's been.''
On the Internet, there has been more than 1,000 auctions for Furby on eBay, while Web sites for giant toy retailers like Wal-Mart promise that supply is on the way later this month.
''It's absolutely a runaway hit for its age category, which is kids 6 and up,'' said Chris Byrne, editor of Playthings MarketWatch, a New
York-based trade publication. ''And the adults are having a blast with it.'' |
