Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Toys jockey for position

Runaway item yet to emerge, but retro playthings seem in style

Antonia Newmark, 5, from Milwaukee reacts after spotting Swan Lake Barbie toys Monday at FAO Schwarz in Las Vegas. Photo by SAMANTHA CLEMENS/REVIEW-JOURNAL

There's been no runaway must-have item so far, but parents shouldn't be too surprised if their kids' 2003 holiday wish list is topped by video game consoles, Barbie dolls or a number of retro playthings today's adults may have favored as kids years ago, retail officials said Monday.

With the dust settling from the post-Thanksgiving weekend's traditional shopping rush, several contenders have emerged for the title of this year's hottest holiday toy, according to a weekend survey by two leading retail trade organizations and various retailers.

Early leaders include Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, which topped the current most wanted list among boys, while girls desire a Swan Lake-themed Barbie, according to a weekend survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The New York-based trade organization studied children's preferences in conjunction with Jones Lang LaSalle, a retail services company also based in New York. The organizations polled more than 3,000 boys and girls ages 3 through 11 as they visited Santa Claus at 20 U.S. shopping centers this past weekend, ICSC spokeswoman Patrice Duker said Monday.

Approximately 10.5 percent of the nearly 1,400 boys polled asked for the hand-held Game Boy Advance video game system, which retails for about $100. The item is so popular some Las Vegas-area Wal-Mart stores aren't allowing shoppers to buy more than three such devices within a 24-hour period.

Mattel's Hot Wheels T-Wrecks play set, which Toys "R" Us sells for $29.99, was a close second with 9.1 percent of the vote. Rounding out the Top Five were Hasbro's G.I. Joe (4.7 percent) and Transformers lines (3.6 percent), and Lego's $85 Orient Expedition: Dragon Fortress play set (3.3 percent).

The more than 1,600 girls polled were a bit more decisive, with 14.3 percent of their votes going to Mattel's Barbie of the Swan Lake doll, whose cost ranges from about $20 for a standard doll to more than $120 for a "My Size" version.

The Barbie Mix & Magic: Real Food Kitchen finished second at 7.2 percent, followed by MGA Entertainment's Bratz dolls (6.9 percent), Care Bear Sing-a-long Friends by Play Along (5.8 percent), and Hasbro's Easy Bake Real Meal Oven (4.3 percent).

Care Bear, G.I. Joe and Transformers toys were popular with kids in the early 1980s and have recently enjoyed a return to popularity, retailers said.

Rick Araneta, who manages the Toys "R" Us store at 1425 W. Sunset Road in Henderson, said customer demand has been solid for each of the items on the ICSC-Jones Lang LaSalle poll. Locals have also clamored for anything Yu-Gi-Oh!, a Japanese trading card game, as well as My First Leap, an interactive book for young children.

FAO Schwarz spokesman Jake Sammaripa also concurred with those toys' popularity, though he said it's still too soon to crown anything as the "must have" item for 2003.

"There's no toy that's really flying off the shelves," Sammaripa said. "But within the next two to three weeks, I think we'll see an emerging toy that pulls ahead of everything else."

Separately, Pittsfield, Mass.-based KB Toys on Monday released its Top Five hot toys of the week. The list included Hasbro's Beyblade interactive game products, Care Bears, Bratz, Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Intelivision 25 Video Game System, itself a throwback to a home video game console popular in the early 1980s.