BEANIE BABIES TO BOOST PANTRY; STORE'S TOYS TO COST CANNED FOOD ITEM.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer They weigh a mere 4.7 ounces and measure a scant 8 inches long. And for $5.50 plus tax and a can of food, shoppers young and old can buy this season's hottest holiday toy and help a local charity all at once. A new shipment of Beanie Babies has arrived at Cobblestone Cottage, a shop on Magic Mountain Parkway. For the uninitiated, a fresh supply of the small stuffed animals sends pulses racing among toy collectors and little kids who love to cuddle the plush, pellet-filled creatures with the clever names. One merchant decided to channel that frenzy into a benefit for the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry. The idea was simple: Make a donation, become eligible to buy a Beanie Baby. Doors will open at 10 a.m. Saturday, and it's a safe bet that, even though there will be a limit of six Beanies per customer, the supply of 8,000 animals could be sold out in a day. ``Whenever we get an order, usually within 24 to 48 hours they're gone,'' said Kathy Allie, owner of Cobblestone Cottage. ``We've been selling Beanie Babies for 2-1/2 years now,'' Allie said. ``This Beanie Baby thing is such a phenomenon that's going through the United States. You think, OK, when is this going to end?'' For the past year, Cobblestone Cottage has received about 50 calls every day from children and adults alike, asking whether a new shipment has arrived. ``We've considered putting in a separate (phone) line just for Beanie Babies. Whether we have them in stock or not, that's how much our phone rings,'' Allie said. In her 10 years in business, Allie has never seen such a fuss over a product. ``Nothing has been crazy like these Beanie Babies. I've never experienced anything else in my business like this,'' she said. It's no wonder Allie is mystified by the whole craze. While she concedes the toys are cute and well-made, she said it's a bit out of character for her store to carry Beanie Babies when her shelves and display cases are also lined with distinctly high-end merchandise: expensive Lladro porcelain figurines, Thomas Kinkade paintings that sell for $1,000 and more, and blown-glass Christmas ornaments imported from Europe. But maybe it's the affordable price, along with the individual identities given to each Beanie Baby, that have fueled the toys' popularity. Made in China for Ty Inc., an Oak Brook, Ill., toy company named for founder Ty Warner, Beanie Babies were introduced in 1994 and caught on steadily. ``We really never had any idea that they would take off the way they did,'' said Anne Nickels, a spokeswoman for Ty Inc. Several new characters are introduced each year, and production has halted on older varieties. Of the 124 different Beanie Babies that have been produced, 78 characters are still being made and sold, while the other 46 have been ``retired,'' Nickels said. The privately held company declines to release sales figures, manufacturing information or details on company profits from Beanie Babies, Nickels said. From the outset, Ty Inc. has chosen to sell the toys only to small retailers, mom-and-pop stores rather than the big chains. ``We've never done any national advertising. Everything's been word of mouth,'' Nickels said, alluding to the Beanies' popularity in Internet auctions and home pages on the World Wide Web. ``It seems like no matter how much we ship, (stores and customers) want more. We're doing everything we can to keep up with (the demand), that's for sure,'' Nickels said. Allie said she hopes the canned food drive will teach her young customers about helping those less fortunate. ``It would be such a neat lesson for kids,'' she said. The Food Pantry, established in 1986, feeds more than 2,000 people per month from the donations that line the shelves and freezers of its 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Newhall, said Carmen Mathewson, executive director of the private charity. Variety of Beanie Babies to need home Saturday On Saturday, thousands of Beanie Babies will go on sale at Cobblestone Cottage, 24335 Magic Mountain Parkway. The stuffed animals have individual character names; among those that will be available (limit six per person) are: CHARACTER NAME TYPE OF ANIMAL Peanut gray elephant Twigs giraffe Ziggy zebra Bongo brown monkey Lizzy blue and black gecko Inky pink octopus Snowball snowman Quackers yellow duck Goldie orange goldfish Legs green frog Stripes gold and black tiger Stinky skunk Nuts squirrel Bernie Saint Bernard Great Saint Bernard (alt. 8,110 ft/2,472 m), on the Italian-Swiss border, links Valais canton, Switzerland, with Valle d'Aosta, Italy. Frequented by the Gauls and Romans, the pass also was crossed by Charlemagne, Emperor Henry IV, Frederick Barbarossa, and Napoleon I. The hospice, founded by St. Bernard of Menthon, is in the charge of Augustinian friars. The St. Bernard dogs bred by them were formerly used to search for lost travelers. Congo gorilla Snip Siamese cat Siamese cat: see cat. Fleece lamb Bones brown dog Snort bull Squealer pig Cubbiebrown bear Flip white cat Inchworm inchworm, name for the larvae of moths of the family Geometridae, a large, cosmopolitan group with over 1,200 species indigenous to North America. Also called measuring worms, spanworms, and loopers, inchworms lack appendages in the middle portion of their body, causing them to have a characteristic looping gait. Spike rhinoceros Happy hippopotamus hippopotamus, herbivorous, river-living mammal of tropical Africa. The large hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, has a short-legged, broad body with a tough gray or brown hide. The male stands about 5 ft (160 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs about 5 tons (4,500 kg); the female is slightly smaller. The mouth is wide, and the incisors and lower canines are large ivory tusks that grow throughout life. Velvet panther Freckles leopard Pinky flamingo Dotty Dalmatian Rover red dog Dody Doberman pinscher Doberman pinscher (dō`bərmən pĭn`shər), breed of large, compact working dog originating in Germany c.1890. It stands from 24 to 28 in. (61–71 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs from 60 to 75 lb (27–34 kg). Ears bunny Speedy turtle Wrinkles bulldog Gracie swan Zip black cat Daisy cow Derby horse Blackie black bear Weenie 1. weenie - [on BBSes] Any of a species of luser resembling a less amusing version of BIFF that infests many BBSes. The typical weenie is a teenage boy with poor social skills travelling under a grandiose handle derived from fantasy or heavy-metal rock lyrics. Among sysops, "the weenie problem" refers to the marginally literate and profanity-laden flamage weenies tend to spew all over a newly-discovered BBS. Compare spod, computer geek, terminal junkie. dachshund Ringo raccoon Chocolatemoose Bucky beaver Patti platypus platypus (plăt`əpəs), semiaquatic egg-laying mammal, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, of Tasmania and E Australia. Also called duckbill, or duckbilled platypus, it belongs to the order Monotremata (see monotreme), the most primitive group of living mammals. The only other member of this group is the echidna, or spiny anteater. Pinchers lobster Ally alligator Lucky ladybug Teddy bear Curly bear Peace tie-dyed bear Valentino white bear Nanook husky Roary lion Baldy eagle Waddle penguin Seaweed otter Jolly walrus Claude crab Waves whale Scottie terrier Pugsly pug dog Scoop pelican Tuffy terrier Sly fox Chip calico cat calico cat: see cat. Crunch shark Pouch kangaroo Mel koala Blizzard white tiger Doodle rooster Echo dolphin Hippity mint-colored bunny Hoppity rose-colored bunny Floppity lilac bunny CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box Photo: (1--Color) Jeff Shoemaker unloads a shipment of Beanie Babies for Cobblestone Cottage's food drive Saturday to assist an area food pantry. (2--Color) Cobblestone Cottage's Beth Villanueva won't have these Beanie Babies for long. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News Box: Variety of Beanie Babies to need home Saturday (See Text) |
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