Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on November 14, 1985.
Christmas shopping blues
Popular toys disappearing, causing headaches for parents
by Elizabeth Cloyd
Staff writer
It may already be too late to make your children’s Christmas wishes come true.
The toys popping up on many kids’ Christmas lists have already disappeared from many stores.
Parents hoping to beat the crowds and meet gift requirements are buying out local supplies of the Optimus Prime Transformer, the She-Ra doll and Pound Puppies.
Last year’s biggest seller, the Cabbage Patch Kid, is not enjoying its former popularity and still sits on area store shelves while the Optimus Prime and She-Ra are sold-out and back-ordered in stores all over the county.
“We don’t have either of them at the present,” Rose Schwinkendorf of the Valparaiso K-Mart store said. “It’s not a matter of running out, it’s a matter of not getting the toys in.”
She-Ra is the animated star of the She-Ra: Princess of Power show and Optimus Prime, a cartoon character on the Transformers, is the newest of a line of toys that change from everyday forms of transportation to destructive robot-like fighters.
Other early toy favorites appear to be the Wuzzles, animated crew of creatures that are half one animal, and half another (for example, half-lion, half-bumblebee.) The Hug-A-Bunch dolls, stuffed dolls holding stuffed animals, and G.I. Joe and Masters of The Universe (featuring She-Ra’s brother He-Man) are also selling briskly at local stores.
The Pound Puppies are stuffed dogs that can be adopted, much like the Cabbage Patch Kids, and carried home in little dog carriers.
The similarities between the toys do not end with the adoption papers.
“The Pound Puppies are what the Cabbage Patch Kid was two years ago,” according to Yvonne Vanover of the 3-D toy department. “We had a shelf-full and they sold out. We are running a sale on them now, but they’re back-ordered and not in stock.”
Pound Puppies also are selling briskly at Harvey’s in Valparaiso.
“We just can’t get enough of them,” Maryanne Alyea said. “People are calling and coming in like crazy looking for them.”
Pound Puppies, however, seem to replenish as soon as they are sold out. Stores that are sold out of the stuffed dogs are expecting new shipments soon.
Although parents are also looking for She-Ra and Optimus Prime, they are not having much luck. Only one local store contacted had She-Ra dolls, and all reported that Optimus Prime and the Princess of Power are on order.
None of the stores knew when, or if, the toy orders would be in before Christmas.
Part of the early Christmas rush is because many parents were burned by Cabbage Patch fever last year and wanted to make sure they would get the toys their children want, Alyea of Harvey’s said.
Many parents are also putting gifts on layaway and emptying store shelves early. Vanover, of 3-D, said the store’s layaway room is filled to capacity and that stock would have to be moved to provide space for more layaway merchandise.
Regardless of the reasons, some parents may have to break the bad news to their kids that Santa Claus might not deliver Optimus Prime or She-Ra under the Christmas tree this year.
The She-Ra doll and her brother He-Man are vanishing in the crush of early Christmas shoppers.
My Little Pony is also enjoying popularity again this year.
Area parents who are hunting for Rainbow Brites will have a little more luck. The colorful doll and her furry relatives still populate several stores locally, but they are selling quickly, too.
