What's Selling

If you're a retailer and would like to take part in PLAYTHINGS' monthly survey of what's selling, e-mail the editors at dgerardi@cahners.com.

Unless otherwise noted, all prices listed below are retail prices.

Summer toys are still as hot as the weather in Chicago, and retailers are having problems keeping up with demand. Stores are seeing fast turnarounds on Street Flyers combination sneaker-skates, kites (Go-Fly-A-Kite is ranked as the favorite), fans, beach playsets and anything wet, from Larami's Super Soakers ($9.99 to $50.99) to Empire's Crocodile Mile Water-slide ($14.99).

Outdoor action also seems to be the theme for video games with Acclaim Sport's Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, priced at $39.99, and Activision's Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, priced at $34.99, outsold only by EA Sports' NBA Street for the PlayStation 2. Konami's Metal Gear Solid 2 is the 'hot ticket' for the fall, however, retailers told PLAYTHINGS.

But not everything summer related is flying off the shelves. While movie blockbusters like Shrek have been raking it in at the box office, kids' reception to the hordes of licensed product has been lukewarm at best. As the manager at one giant retail chain store said, "Tie-ins seem to only pick up several months after the movie has come and gone. Shrek, Jurassic Park III and Planet of the Apes are not moving right now, but Chicken Run figures have been selling since the DVD was released. Still, Dragon Ball Z (Funimation, $6.99), WWF Sunday Night Heat Wrestling Figures (Jakks Pacific, $6.99 to $9.99) and Power Rangers (Bandai, $6.99) are selling much better than movie figures." McFarlane's Movie Maniacs and Spawn Dark Ages Samurai Wars Series 19 figures were also selling well as was Randy Bowen's Spider-Man statue, priced at a hefty $150.

At the same time, Harry Potter products have been slow, although several retailers hoped that the character will pick up to be the hot license for the fall. However, as the shopkeeper of one specialty store said, "The product needs to be able to stand on its own without the license." She was impressed with Elope's Sorting Hat as well as the Harry Potter pieces for the Lego Castle system, which, she says, seem "particularly well conceived."

The other license to watch, of course, is Toy Biz's The Lord of the Rings, which the buyer for a comic shop chain predicted will be as big as Star Wars was a couple of years ago. His customers are reportedly also excited about the Reservoir Dogs toys from Mezco, McFarlane Toys' new Movie Maniacs Series 4 and the Jaws boxed set. "And the Simpsons! All nine of my stores are sold out on the latest Playmates Simpsons figures, especially the Comic Book Guy set. I think the wave five (set), which includes Sideshow Mel and Martin Prince, will do just as well."

He said adult collectors and kids have also been buzzing about the re-release of Hasbro's Transformers and Mattel's Masters of the Universe toys, and there has been a very good response to Medicom's Kubricks. "They're like Lego miniatures of famous movie and anime characters… and the Bruce Lee Kubrick is a top seller," he added.

Store owners are also anticipating good things in the fall from Brio's Bob the Builder and new additions to the best-selling Thomas the Tank Engine line. The manager at a small specialty train shop said the most asked-about pieces are the new Thomas aquarium cars and airport set and added that items with a sound chip, such as Brio's Sound Tunnel, were also in demand.

For infants, the owner of a baby toy store raved about Tiny Love's Symphony in Motion mobile that plays Bach, Beethoven and Mozart and "can't wait" to get in the new mobiles from Manhattan Toys and Sassy Toys. Top-selling baby playthings included Baby Whosits and Baby Activity Spiral (both by Manhattan Toy), International Playthings' Earl E. Bird and Small World's Baby Walk.

Dress-up sales look promising for the fall, and one store manager said she particularly liked the Small Miracles line ($5 for a headpiece to $40 for an elaborate costume), the Elope hats and the upscale Fairytale Fashions, which range in price from $40 to $170. "They're designed to be worn over play clothes and to fit kids 3 to 8, so it's a good investment."

Northern Virginia offers an expansive selection of toys—both in specialty stores and mass-market chains—for the Washington, D.C., market.

Despite competition among vendors and a slowing economy, retailers in the area comment that sales are up this summer, with several store managers claiming their sales were surpassing those of the same time last year.

Seasonal products like bubble toys, beach toys and travel games topped the best-seller list. "Water guns and Super Soakers are selling well right now," commented one store manager.

Overall, however, retailers noted that their customers were most interested in traditional toys ranging from actual sports equipment such as baseballs and mitts to wooden toys.

"With baseball star Cal Ripken retiring (from the Baltimore Orioles), we are selling a rush on the Cal Ripken baseballs," a store manager of a large national chain commented.

Pre-school age children seem to be drawn to anything related to blowing bubbles. Fisher-Price's Little People and Rescue Hero toys are also the rage, retailers said.

A number of small retailers in Northern Virginia distinguish themselves by selling upscale European and American toys. In this group of specialty stores, best sellers this summer include teddy bears, wooden toys and beach-related toys. "The beach items are made from high-quality materials," one manager said. "For example, the buckets are actually metal, not plastic."

Lego, Brio, Ravensburger, Gund, Madame Alexander and Steiff are among the top-selling brands in these stores.

One small retailer in an exclusive community in Northern Virginia finds a profitable niche in selling classic toys. Besides selling to the local market, the retailer has success selling to children who are visiting the Washington, D.C., area and are in search of gifts to take home to their siblings. "Hello Kitty items are popular as well as stuffed animals," the manager says. "Douglas the Dog and sweet cuddly things are very popular."

Another retailer who sells items as a home-based business using networking and workshops sees its products doing well in the community. Among its top sellers this summer is the Sky Pilot collapsible kite. The kite was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal due to its unique triangular shape. Other top sellers include Cloud Cruiser Kite, Fire Hose Hero Water Toy and Wiz Kidz card game, a popular travel item.

Additional top sellers include Double Bubble Plane, which creates bubbles from the plane's propellers, and Creative Cubbie, a magnetic activity desk for travel. Also popular is Discovery Sub, a water resistant flashlight in the shape of a submarine and Dress-A-Pillar, a 23-inch long stuffed caterpillar for preschoolers, with clothing-related features such as zippers and buttons.

Overall, Northern Virginia retailers mirror sentiments elsewhere in the country: the lack of any one big-ticket item. "We like it this way," said one retailer who operates a store down the road from chain retailers. "When there is a hot-ticket item that everyone wants, we can't get it. Then people come in our store asking for it and only it. When they hear we don't have the toy, they leave. When they aren't looking for such an item, they usually look around and buy something."

"We are doing very well with pool toys made by Wild Planet," he continues. "Among them are underwater walkie talkies and Scatterfish." The same store also carries a number of summer outdoor items by Small World. The retailer also noted that Ravensburger's jigsaw puzzles and Brio's Erector sets are big sellers too.

The problem with traditional toys, he added, is that in today's industry "even the mass market retail chains are now carrying them. The entire industry is meshing together, and that hurts us little guys. We tell the manufacturers, we will not show their items to customers unless they supply us with product. After all, servicing customers by showing and explaining the benefits of each toy is what the small retailer has to offer."

Summer has arrived in full force, bringing that all-too-familiar hazy, hot and humid weather to the region. Seasonally speaking, summer fun was made with Intex pools in all shapes and sizes, lots of Little Kids bubble toys and wet and wild water toys.

Fisher-Price found fans with the Silly Willy Bubblin' Sprinkler, selling from $19.99 all the way down to $9.99 at one specialty chain. Funnoodles' Soakasaurus put a new twist on an old favorite—a Styrofoam noodle sporting a dinosaur head that squirts water. It drew takers at a low $7.99.

Wild Planet's Scatterfish ($19.99) was the must-have water toy for the summer. This awesome diving game shoots out in all directions fish that have to be caught before the timer runs out. Also making a splash was Wild Planet's Mini Hydro Gliders ($14.99), little killer whales that do tricks as they zoom to the surface.

Kids were having a blast cooling off with Spin Master Toys' rockets—namely the Surge Hydro Rocket ($14.99) and the Splash Blast, squirting a big splash of water up to 35 feet in the air. Swimways' popular Toypedo ($17.99) and Water Ray ($12.99) also added to the fun.

And just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, sharks are everywhere! Popping up all over were Out to Play's Inflatimal Shark Chair ($14.99), which holds up to 200 pounds. A hippo version was also available but not nearly as popular. The surprise sell-out for many small retailers was a Shark! Swim Gear set, including shark mask with built-in goggles and a fin, and webbed gloves for faster swimming. A Shark Attack! kickboard completes the collection. For big kids, Nikko's RC Sea Hawk ($39.99) and Sea Ray ($59.99) boats were sell-outs at the chains and hobby stores, as well.

Summer turns profitable as little entrepreneurs set up shop with a do-it-yourself Lemonade Stand by Alex-Panline ($99.99, but on sale in places). One grandma was purchasing it for her tribe admitting, "I know it's a bit pricey, but I'm sure my grandchildren will make up the cost in profits from selling the lemonade!"

Rainy days and long car trips fueled sales of Brain Quest card games ($10 to $12), especially the Brain Quest for the Car version. Binary Arts' puzzles fit the bill, with new Elephant Spin Out, Dino Dodge 'Em and Turtle Flip It (approximately $10 to $15) joining old favorite Rush Hour.

Specialty stores were offering personalized clipboards/clipcases in two sizes ($9.99 and $19.99). These were quickly snapped up by campers for stationery storage and letter writing. Also cool for camp were Mad Libs word games by Price Stern Sloan ($3.99) and an assortment of handheld battery-operated fans, with Mister Fan squirt bottle fans among the most popular.

Out on the streets, the once wildly popular Razor scooters were substantially marked down (from $99.99 to $29.99 at more than one location). They were being replaced by the trendy motorized "gopeds" now zipping around town. The buzzing "vehicles", deemed illegal in some municipalities, are still drawing takers at hefty price tags. However, whether or not this fad can survive still remains to be seen.

Summer really heated up on June 11^th, which marked the retail launch of Nintendo's new Game Boy Advance ($99). After only a few days, stores all over the tri-state area reported complete sell-outs, but relentless consumers kept up the hunt for the now-elusive portable video game system. At one suburban toy outlet, phones were ringing off the hook— so much so, that employees took to answering the phone with "Good afternoon, we have no more Game Boy Advances, can I help you anyway?"

While GBA is compatible with the old Game Boy Color software, there were still a wide variety of brand new Game Boy Advance games available for about $35 to $45 a pop. A slew of special Game Boy Advance accessories: carrying cases, rumble packs, and battery chargers kept registers ringing. Surprisingly, even those specialty stores, which had refused to sell video games in the past due to their violent undertones, have rethought their positions and now display these money-makers on their shelves, right next to the wooden puzzles and microscopes. Saving face, these former critics now claim to carry only those video games that are safe, non-violent and educational.

The presence of these video games in specialty stores and the growing number of specialty products sold in mass merchants have helped blur the line that distinguished these two different types of toy retailers.

With summer in full swing, retailers were already thinking ahead to fall. Orders for Lego's Bionicle series topped some lists, along with LeapFrog's Leap Pad and its interactive Globe Odyssey 2 ($130), McFarlane's Clive Barker's Tortured Soul set, model trains from Bachmann, Atlas and Lifelike, as well as Capcom's video game, Super Street Fighter II.

Intended for Nintendo's new Game Boy Advance, the Capcom game will hit the streets later this month. Its arrival was highly anticipated by one regional store that's part of a video game chain. The store's favorites, the retailer said, included THQ's Red Faction ($54.99), Konami's Zone of Enders ($49.99) and EA Sports' John Madden 2001, all for PlayStation 2.

For the Nintendo 64, the retailer mentioned Mario Party 3 and added that the popularity of Sega's Dreamcast hasn't waned. Looking ahead, the retailer voiced high expectations for THQ's WWF Raw is War game for Microsoft's Xbox, which is due out in November.

On the more traditional front, a San Diego County store owner said that X-Concepts' Tech Deck Dudes, "weird characters on skateboards that kids collect," and Wild Planet toys were current best sellers.

For another San Diego toy retailer, a four-store owner, the Magz construction set ($15 to $35), Manhattan Toy's Groovy Girls ($10) and Language Little dolls ($37) were top sellers. Other hot items at the store included Squiggler Pens from You're a Star and Color Workshop's BloPens.

A national specialty chain put summer toys at the top of its best seller list, which included Speedo's water toys—including its swim goggles—Battat's beach set with a real metal detector for unearthing sand treasures and Koosh Catchers. Lego construction sets, the Rush Hour puzzle game ($12.79 on sale) and Crayola art supplies, also on sale, completed the top seller list for this retailer.

"Ninety percent of my customers are tourists," noted a toy store owner in the mountain village of Mendocino. His customers are sold on education, so he loaded up on LeapFrog product, including its Twist and Shout, a learning tool. Regular sellers at the store included Magz construction sets, Applause's Raggedy Ann dolls ($6.50 to $35) and wooden puzzles from Lights Camera Interaction! ($9.50 to $16.50). Breyer horses, Corolle dolls ($10 to $70), Lego's Mars system, Nylint trucks ($6.50 to $40) and children's books from Penguin were also included in this retailer's top seller list.

By contrast, action figures were the ticket for a Bakersfield toy store. The owner named Hasbro's Starting Lineup ($6.99 to $14.99), Playmates Simpsons figures ($6.99 to $14.99), Hasbro's 12-inch G.I. Joe figures ($14.99 to $29.99) and its Power of the Jedi Star Wars figures as current top sellers. Other favorites included Mattel's Shaq, Kobe and Michael Jordan basketball figures, Wizards of the Coast's Pokémon cards and McFarlane's Spawn. On order were McFarlane's Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers football action figures.

Meanwhile, arrival of McFarlane's Clive Barker's Tortured Soul set was anxiously anticipated at a Fullerton comic book store. As for McFarlane's newest licensed figures, "Shrek toys are okay," the retailer acknowledged, but "suddenly, they have emerged everywhere, even in a supermarket."

Playmates Simpsons figures topped this retailer's regular best seller list, followed by Toy Biz's Spider-Man line ($10.95) and DC Direct figures ($18.95), PVC sets ($39.95) and the Superman and Supergirl rocket statue ($195). A spokesperson added that Bowen Design's Marvel Mini-Busts deserved a mention as did comic book series Out There.

Meanwhile, radio-controlled airplanes and cars—the sort that propel retailers like this one to sponsor parking lot racing contests—were everyday sellers for an 18-store hobby chain.

Specifically, an executive described Wattage's RC model airplanes ($59.99 to $200) and Traxxas' T-Maxx, a nitro-gas powered monster truck ($379.99) and Spin Master's E-Charger airplane as reliable performers.

Model rockets from Quest and Estes, plus plastic model cars from Revell-Monogram and Racing Champions Ertl stood out in their respective arenas. The executive predicted that this month model trains will seize center stage. "Consequently," he said, "I've ordered Bachmann and Atlas and Lifelike."