December 23, 1998

Frantic frenzy for furry Furbies

By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
     
      'Twas the 48 hours before Christmas and the children were all nestled in bed, while visions of bug-eyed Furbies danced in their heads.
      Unfortunately, mom in her Sorrels, and dad in his Columbia cap had miles of check-out aisles to go before settling in for a long winter's nap.
      Whether attempting to find the elusive Furby, or getting their hands on a Bounce Around Tigger, holiday gift givers can sometimes get wrapped up in the idea of purchasing the perfect present.
      While children make a list, it is usually parents checking it twice as the scour toy store shelves at 6 o'clock in the morning the day after Thanksgiving. Almost every year, parents brave blizzards, wait overnight in parking lots - even get in fistfights to buy "the hot toy."
      This year, the 'must-have' toy atop many a Christmas list is the Furby. On the outside, Furbies are a fuzzy little doll about the size of a grapefruit with owl-like faces, bug eyes and big ears. Inside, they are an assortment of computer chips, microswitches, motors, internal speakers and sensors that react to sound, touch or light.
      Furbies sing, whine, eat make-believe food and burp. They blink, move, interact with fellow Furbies and have a vocabulary of 200 words in English and "Furbish" and can put together about 800 phrases.
      Furbies (which retail for $30) also do something else amazing; they sell - reportedly more than 1.6 million this holiday season. With Furbies furiously flying off the shelf, local retailers have been beset with phone calls from curious customers.
      "I wish I had a dollar for every phone call. I'd be independently wealthy by now," said Allison Goldsmith, an associate at Kay-Bee Toy Store in the Grand Traverse Mall.
      Shoppers would be hard pressed to find a Furby on the shelf, however, as post-Thanksgiving shipments are being used to fill 200 'rain checks.'
      "It reaches the point that it becomes so hard to get, that everyone wants one even more," said Goldsmith, who noted that Kay-Bee handed out numbers for the first 108 people in line the day after Thanksgiving to prevent "a mad dash scramble" for Furbies.
      As store director of Toy R Us in Traverse City, Ray Dommer has also found 1998 to be the year of the Furby - and the question of the day.
      "We have calls every half-hour when a truck comes in," said Dommer, who pointed out that last Thursday 36 Furbies sold out in that same amount of time.
      As to why this interactive toy has eclipsed holiday favorites as Tickle Me Elmo, Beanie Babies and even Barbies, Dommer equates it to being in the right place at the right time.
      "What happens is that it ends up on a TV commercial or talk show where it is proclaimed 'the coolest' toy of the year and the frenzy begins," he said.
      A frenzy was just what Peggy Compton hoped to avoid by offering a Furby drawing. As toy department manager at Wal-Mart in Traverse City, Compton said customers who entered their name were eligible to purchase one of 29 Furby dolls. The store had 4,000 people sign up.
      "We didn't want people ripping each other apart," said Compton, who noted that the Grand Traverse Crossing store was at one point receiving 30 to 40 calls a day about the Gremlin-like fuzzballs.
      With so few Furbies to go around, shoppers are spending their dollars on other interactive toys including Bounce Around Tigger, Teletubbies, Bop It and Chuck My Talking Truck. Even some ghosts of Christmas presents past - such as Cabbage Patch Dolls, Mr. Potato Head and the timeless Yo-Yo- have been repackaged and are enjoying an extended shelf life.
      Despite all the holiday hustle and bustle, Dommer has found most shoppers still caught up in the Christmas spirit.
      "Overall people are still smiling. Some are a little frantic - especially in the last three or four days before Christmas-because little 'Johnny' only wants this particular toy and it might not be available or even something we've heard of," Dommer said.
      Parents Jim and Melanie Rutherford were still searching Saturday afternoon at Toys R Us for Christmas presents for their children, Alex, 5 and Tristyn, 10. But the Manistee couple wasn't panicking. After all, one five-letter F-word wasn't on either Christmas list this year.
      "Every time the word Furby comes up, we change the subject," said dad, Jim, eying a laser tag game. "I think the parents want the Furby more than the kids do."
      Sometimes all that wanting reaches a boiling point as frustrated shoppers go toe-to-toe and fisticuffs over a hard to find toy. Earlier this shopping season, police were called to calm an angry crowd when Furbies ran out in Tewksbury, Mass., and two women were hurt - one bitten, the other knocked down - in a Furby frenzy in an O'Fallon, Ill., Wal-Mart.
      But what would drive parents to act so childishly for a 6 inch doll? Often they are seeking what can't be wrapped in colored paper or tied with a bow - love.
      "Certainly there is an element of love involved and the parent expresses that love by going to the ends of the earth to get a toy their child wants for Christmas," noted psychologist Dr. Gary Vann of Traverse City.
      "Some parents need to be aware that by being so much of a pleaser, they end up stressing out because they worry that somehow they will be loved less if they don't give the right gift," he said.
      "At that point it isn't Christmas anymore, it's simply consumerism."