Beanies: The Craze Continues: Collectors really know their beans

Obsessive, driven and compulsive are the usual attributes associated with Beanie Baby collectors.

The allegations would seem to be well-founded. What other type of person would purchase a small "bag of beans" for anywhere from the retail price of $5 to well over $2,500 on the black market?

When Owen's Supermarket first began distributing the toys in 1996 they were difficult to sell. Often the floral shop would include one in a flower arrangement just to get rid of them.

During the 1996 Christmas season people began to notice the Beanies. Instead of trying to get rid of them, Owen's began selling out.

"People call every day asking all kinds of questions," said Kelly Sibery, employee of Owen's and the person responsible for ordering the Beanies. "It's bad when they come in."

By "they" Sibery means the many customers that flood the store when the Beanie shipments arrive. She describes the average Beanie shoppers as "women on a mission with a list."

Normally, Owen's would be pleased with having more business coming into the building, but, as Sibery points out, "they come in the front door, circle through the flower shop area and go right back out the same door."

The Beanie Baby craze has gotten so phenomenal that even the order books and catalogues, which are distributed free to companies, are worth money.

"The 1996 catalogue is worth $150, the 1997 is worth $75," said Sibery, "and the 1998 catalogue is worth $20."

It's a similar occurrence in many of the places where Beanies are sold.

The Dennie House places a sign on the door announcing whether or not they have Beanie Babies.

They began carrying the Beanies shortly before the 1996 Christmas boom. On average, they are able to get a shipment in every month. While they were hesitant about carrying the Beanies at first, now they are very pleased with them.

Ty, the manufacturer of the Beanie Babies, no longer takes new distributors, said Sibery. They would appear to have their hands full with the huge demand, and adding more distributors would mean an even higher demand.

Ty previously limited the number of units that could be ordered by distributors to only 36. Each unit contains 12 Beanies.

More often than not, the stores don't get what they order.

"Normally," said an employee of the Party Shop, "Ty just sends us what they want."

The most Sibery has ever received in one shipment has been 12 varieties.

Even with the limitation, many of the places that sell the Beanies have a hard time getting them in. Now, according to Sibery, Ty has again limited orders. Only nine specific varieties, to be chosen by Ty, can be ordered each month.

"We never get in a full order," said Sibery. "When the new ones do come in, they sell out within two hours."

She said that while some of the Beanies tend to lag a little they are usually completely sold out within two days.

The Party Shop tends to have some a little longer, averaging about a week.

"We could sell about 2,000 in a day," said David Hamrick of the Party Shop.

Unlike Owen's and Dennie House, the Party Shop encourages people to call, "or even better, come in," to inquire about the Beanies.

The Party Shop gets one to three shipments every month. Lately, however, it has often been toward the lower end.

Some of the more popular Beanie Babies have never been available in Owen's, including the Princess Bear. This purple bear with a white rose over its heart commemorates the death of Princess Diana. All Ty profits from the Princess Bear go to Diana's charities.

Larry McDonald, manager of the Center Street Owen's, gets requests for the Princess Beanie daily.

Hamrick said the Beanie Baby craze is the first time they've had to limit the number of customers for a particular product.

He thinks the Beanie craze is a good educational opportunity for children. It allows them to learn about investing money and buying and selling products.

One young boy was able to sell two Beanies for $200. His mother asked him if he was sure that he wanted to sell them and, while he was hesitant at first, said Hamrick, the boy replied, "Yeah, but it's $200."

Sibery thinks the trend has moved away from Beanies being a children's toy. She sees more adults than children. "Very seldom will they have a child with them. It's rare that (the Beanie) is just a toy," Sibery said.

When a Beanie Baby loses its tag, it is rendered nearly worthless. Not many people will buy the toy based on cuteness alone. In fact, Sibery doesn't bother to put them out most of the time; she sometimes gives them to children instead.

She related a story in which a young child was able to pick out one of the tagless Beanie Babies from a bag. The child picked out one Beanie in particular, stating that they wanted that one because, "mom won't let me touch the other one."

Wes Gearheart, ex-Beanie collector and employee of Owen's Supermarket, related a story about his daughter.

"I was all excited about getting Crunch (the shark Beanie Baby worth from $5 to $15)," he said, "and less than an hour later, the girls thought he needed to take a swim in the toilet bowl."

Gearheart no longer collects Beanie Babies because of the hassles with finding them and trying to make his young daughters understand their value.

Sibery just wants to know: "When will it ever stop?"