(18 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lake Zurich, Illinois – 13 December 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Dietzen, buyer at Learning Express Toys (talking while showing toy display):
"Right now we have a huge trend with capybaras."
2. Close of capybara in Jessica’s hands
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Dietzen, buyer at Learning Express Toys:
++SOUNDBITE COVERED++
"Capybaras are the world’s largest rodent."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. Louis – 12 December 2024
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sharon Price John, president and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop (holding small toy):
"So this is a mini version in our mini bean selection of a capybara. But he’s a cookie capybara that we made just for the holidays."
5. Various stuffed animals
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sharon Price John, president and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop:
++SOUNDBITE COVERED++
"Trends in stuffed animals can come from almost anywhere, pop culture, social media."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lake Zurich, Illinois – 13 December 2024
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Derr, Learning Express Toys store owner:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
"There’s always been your core stuffed animals, unicorns, turtles, bears, that type of thing. But in the last, 5 to 8 years, social media trends are the ones that have burst things on to the scene."
8. Various of stuffed animals on display
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Derr, Learning Express Toys store owner:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
"And when COVID hit and many businesses shut down and kids were sheltered, they sought comfort. They sought joy. They sought a texture of softness or cuddleness."
10. Close of stuffed animal
STORYLINE:
The world’s largest rodent is having a big moment.
The capybara – a semi-aquatic South American relative of the guinea pig — is the latest in a long line of “it” animals that received star status during the holiday shopping season. Shoppers can find capybaras appearing as slippers, purses, robes, bath bombs and stuffed animals and on bedding, T-shirts, phone cases, mugs, key chains and almost any other type of traditional gift item.
In previous years, owls, hedgehogs, foxes and sloths all took their turns as plush toys or printed on products designed for children and adults.
This year, shoppers can find capybaras appearing as slippers, purses, robes, bath bombs and stuffed animals and on bedding, T-shirts, phone cases, mugs, key chains and almost any other type of traditional gift item.
Trendy animals and animal-like creatures aren’t a new retail phenomenon; think the talking Teddy Ruxpin toys of the 1980s, or Furby and Beanie Babies a decade later. But industry experts say social media is amplifying animal celebrities.
Social media is also speeding up the cycle, says Richard Derr, who has owned a Learning Express Toys franchise in Lake Zurich, Ill., for nearly 30 years and is also a regional manager for the specialty toy store chain.
Skyrocketing plush toy sales – fueled by a need for comfort during the pandemic – are also increasing the demand for new and interesting varieties.
In the first nine months of this year, sales of plush animals were up 115% from the same period in 2019, she said. Overall toy sales rose 38% in that time.
Sharon Price John, the president and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, a chain of stores that offers an expanding menagerie of animals and characters for customers to customize, says they watch social media and gets ideas from talking to store employees and patrons.
AP video shot by Teresa Crawford and Jeff Roberson
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