And the sellin' is easy...

• Yu-Gi-Oh! (Upper Deck)
• Bratz dolls (MGA)
• Barbie as Elle Woods and My Scene Barbie
• Hulk toys (ToyBiz)
• Beyblades (Hasbro)

Selling briskly at specialty:

• Groovy Girls (Manhattan Toy)
• Pirate Sets (Brio)
• Playmobil sets (Playmobil)
• Games (Binary Arts & SeanO Toys)
• Crafts (Curiosity Kits & Creativity For Kids)

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles products (Playmates)
• Bratz Dolls (MGA Entertainment)
• Kim Possible (Disney)
• Care Bears (Play Along)
• Beyblades tops (Hasbro)

Selling briskly at specialty:

• Yo Yo Water Balls (Imperial Toy)
• Novelty keychains (Basic Fun)
• Novelty candy (Cap Toy)
• Beanie Babies (Ty)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game (Upper Deck)

Unless otherwise noted, all prices listed are retail prices.

It's no wonder people are sleepless in Seattle: Everyone appears to be toy shopping! From the forever-trendy Groovy Girls to the new wave bingo game, Zingo, the toy market is an open forum for innovation and creativity with no one particular plaything stealing the corner market.

In specialty stores

According to specialty toy retailers, Groovy Girls are always at the top of the hit list without question, and with each season comes more fun and more funk. Manhattan Toy recently added the "B" series of Groovy Girls to the doll lineup and a plethora of fashion-forward clothing and accessories. Let us not forget, there are even more Groovy Furniture and more Groovy Pets as well. It's all groovy good, according to Kevin Byrne, sales associate at Imagination Toys.

Brio is another all-time hot ticket item and, it seems, Brio pirate sets have taken over the maiden ship for the time being. Is this perhaps a new trend on the heels of the recent movie release, Pirates of the Caribbean? It's hard to say…Entertainment Weekly gave the movie only a "C" rating. Nonetheless, Brio is getting an "A" rating at the specialty gift stores, along with Lego Creator and crafts by Curiosity Kits. Wendy Frank, ordering and receiving clerk at Top Ten Toys, tells PLAYTHINGS that she puts Brio as well as Playmobil on her list of top sellers. She said her store, which sells "mostly classic and traditional toys and no electronics, has very consistent sales throughout the year on several items and there is no one item over another that is particularly hot." Creativity for Kids craft projects, Creative Education of Canada's Dress Up clothes and Folkmanis fairy puppets were also at the top of her list. Frank added, " Zoobs, the connecting toy based on how nature and living things work, were gone for a while but now they are back and we are very excited to have them on order."

Zingo from Binary Arts seems to be the game to play. According to Ann Walker, store manager of Curious Kidstufff, "Zingo is a tough game to keep in stock." Byrne listed Tiny Tag by SeanO Toys as the latest game craze. Walker added, "While D&L Company's Squeeze Rockets were great sellers all summer, customers getting ready for school are increasing sales on Trend flashcards.

At mass market

The mass market is tangled with tradition and trend. Consumers want the old standbys, but want them in today's motif as well. Playing with Barbies is certainly a pastime favorite, but it's today's "Legally Blonde" bombshell, Barbie as Elle Woods that's at the top of the hard-to-find list at Toys R Us. My Scene Barbie walks hand in hand with MGA's Bratz dolls down the top sales runway, at KB Toys while the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game distributed from Upper Deck reigns supreme. Again, Bratz dolls for girls and Fisher Price Rescue Heroes for boys is what the sales associate at Target anticipates as big sellers this fall.

Of course, following release of Universal'sHulk, there breeds a glut of licensed product by Toy Biz selling well at Toys R Us. Brain Duncan, sales associate for KB Toys, listed Beyblades by Hasbro on the top of his bestseller list and added, "Transformers, also by Hasbro, have made a complete comeback and are doing quite well." The sales associate at Toys R Us listed Lego System's Bionicle figures among her top five and leveled the playing field with a list of video game systems: Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo Game Cube and Sony PlayStation 2.

Observation Deck

Selling briskly at mass market:

Sales were as hot as the sand as vacationers packed the New Jersey shore and boardwalk stores this summer. With its traditionally short selling season, area retailers stock early every seaside product available—from snorkel sets and skim boards to beach balls and boogie boards—to capitalize on the first sales splash in late June, as families traditionally stream in to the shore area.

While the Jersey seaside is notably dominated by specialty stores, PLAYTHINGS also researched top-selling toys at area Wal-Mart and Target outlets (see "Observation Deck").

In specialty stores

The lazy, hazy days of summer were long in coming this year, with constant rain threatening the overall tourist trade early on in the make-or-break 10-week period. A weakened economy also threatened sales projections.

But as the temperature climbed and the sun began to shine daily, toy retailers saw business pick up dramatically and told PLAYTHINGS there was little resistance to price by vacationing clientele as seen by one mother's purchase of three $19.99 fold-up scooters.

Sports Design Prokademia paddle and beach volley games ($7.99 to $9.99) made huge waves, along with sifting toys and pail and bucket sets by Ja-Ru and wooden handle shovels ($3.99) that were must-haves for young sandcastle architects at The Great American Fun Shop. Wham-O Frisbees were hot sellers at Shore Things, along with swim masks and goggles for the younger set.

Colorful stunt kites dotted the horizon in great numbers and lured a steady stream of buyers into Air Circus Toys. Adults were more than willing to pay a higher price for the more technical kites, while their offspring stuck to the instant gratification produced by simpler Gayla versions and old-fashioned balsam gliders. Air Circus employees posted in the stunt kite section of the store answering questions on proper sting selection and assembly generally helps clinch the sale of the more complex kites, one sales employee told PLAYTHINGS .

Younger patrons set their sights on Little Kids' Bubble Tumbler, Dip & Flip Bubbles and Motorized Bubble Light, as older kids sought out hacky sacks, old-fashioned Jacob's Ladder game and Yomega yo-yos of every variety.

Despite some recent negative publicity, specialty retailers could not keep up with the demand on Imperial Toy's Yo-Yo Water Balls in the various 99-cent to $1.99 glow-in-the-dark, lite-up, sports, bounce back and flashing versions. Sally Miller, manager of Name Station, reported that Basic Fun novelty keychains featuring Yahtzee, Boggle, Operation and Trouble games were constant favorites. And, anything with SpongeBob SquarePants was still soaking up sales at this Ocean City kiosk, she noted.

Water-logged kids ready for more shady endeavors were welcomed into Toy Safari by a working K'nex Ferris wheel prominently displayed in the window. Once inside, kids made a beeline toward the Brio train display with Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder trains that store employees say continue to make a significant sales splash, despite the higher ticket prices. Quiet pastimes like How to Build a Birdbath Kit by Creativity for Kids and Glow-in-the-Dark Solar System from Educational Insights piqued kids' interests. Cap Toy novelty candies were strong impulse buys at the register.

Offering a little respite from the sun and thoughts of quiet evenings ahead, Books Are Back created a niche selling classic board games. Monopoly, Candyland, Scattegories, Operation, Pictionary and The Game of Life—stacked alongside classic literature in paperback versions—captures the attention of browsing mom and dads, while children peruse favorites such as Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish and Green Eggs and Ham, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and The Berenstain Bears.

Retailers across the board and along the boardwalk were pleasantly surprised at the money still shelled out for Ty Beanie Babies in the $5 to $10 range and Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards. They noted that these items are purchased by kids with money they saved, as well as by parents less likely to grouse about price while on vacation.

Observation Deck

Selling briskly at mass market: