Still Chill

[altivo]

About 3°F at the moment, going down. Brrr.

Went to Crystal Lake this afternoon, where we had lunch (good) and shopped several stores looking mostly for plushies. I got some cash gifts and after buying a couple of books I wanted, thought I'd put the rest into toys. After all, it's a gift. Who wants to get new underwear and socks or whatever as a gift? I did buy a pair of slippers, actually. But I was hoping to find plush huskies at Target like the ones Kaysho mentioned last weekend. No such luck. Not only that, but the total of their plush toy stock seemed to consist of those overpriced and non-cuddly "animated" plush toys that require batteries in order to wag their tails, bark, meow, or say obnoxious things. Not what I wanted.

OK, ToysRUs is just down the road, let's try them. Same story. They had a very small (like half a dozen four foot shelves) of actual plush, most of them the smallish kind (under a foot tall.) And they had lots and lots of those non-cuddly animated toys. I really wanted a husky, or a wolf, or a pony (though I have lots of ponies) and there were no good ones at all. On the way home, we stopped at the feed store in Woodstock to buy the expensive dry dog food our spoiled pooches get, and I looked at their selection. They always have horse plush because they stock a lot of Breyer toys. Breyer, for those who don't know the name, specializes in overpriced plastic castings of horses, many different breeds, in various poses. In recent years they have branched into Christmas tree ornaments and plush toys (also overpriced.) Some of their horses were cute, but priced too high for their size (small.) So we came home, without any new plushies, but full of lunch.

I don't know how my plush collecting friends do it. They're always posting photos of great plushies they "rescue" from various stores. Apparently Illinois is a plush wasteland. I could look all year and find little other than football team mascots and red teddy bears with gold hearts embroidered on them. Generally I resort to mail order, but the trouble with that is that you can't touch or squeeze the toys first. I like soft, huggable plush. Some of the prettiest looking ones are stuffed with hard fillings and made of fur that is nearly prickly, so judging by photos is risky. I have a very cute Clydesdale about a foot high who was that sort of disappointment. She's hard as a rock. Target's web site lists more than a thousand plush toy items, but their stores around here stock almost nothing. They have huge numbers of toys leftover from Christmas, but almost all of them are plastic action figures and dolls that tie into television cartoons or kids' movies. Apparently the local management thinks plush is out of fashion. FAO Schwarz doesn't have stores in this area any more. I think KayBee is gone too. So, it's back to the web and mail order, I guess.

Comments

[merik.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that your plush search turned up no plush worth bringing home, but I know how you feel :-/ It's getting harder and harder for me to find plush in physical stores. Almost all of the stores I know of with great plush selections once upon a time, assuming they're still in business, have either cut down their plush sections significantly and/or switched to cheaper plush manufacturers whose plush aren't nice, soft and huggable.

I'm like you and would rather see a plush in person first. But I find myself buying more and more plush online because I can't find them anywhere else. I'd rather take a chance online than risk missing out on finding a nice plush. For example, almost all of my Wild Republic 30" Cuddlekins, all of my 20" Cuddlekins, and all but one of my WR Natural Poses plush came via mail order. If not for mail order, some very, very important and special plush in my menagerie wouldn't be with me...

[aerofox.livejournal.com]

Loriana and I were in a small toy store in Tipp City a week or so ago, they had a corner with horse stuff ;) Maybe we should go back and take pics?

There is also a HUGE plush store in Bluffton Ohio which is worth going to. If your ever back visiting, we will head to both of them ^_^

I really don't like Steiff animals. They are expensive and anticuddle toys!
Also, I just ordered a foxie from FAO Schwarz! Very snuggable :D

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

Tractor Supply Co. usually has a large selection of good-sized plush horses around Christmas. Here's a pic I took a couple years back. They may still have some in stock, perhaps even on clearance.

The end of plush as we know it...

[plushlover.livejournal.com]

I acquired only 4 plush animals all last year, none of which were purchased in a retail store.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

They seem to be in wide abundance here but in strange places like big newsagents and supermarkets of all places. They're the soft ones too :)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I used to sort of collect plushies in the past, and the way I did it, basically, was to check stores all the time, try to find new stores to check all the time, and (last but certainly not least) get lucky.

I'd be surprised if there's much more to it for anyone else, either. In the end, you can only buy what's being sold, so short of trying to make sure you're aware of everything that's being sold, there's little you can do.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I'll have to send you a little deer one at some stage. :D

Head 'em out!

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Our Toys-r-Us had the cuddliest large bears prior to the holidays. I was on a mission, though, and my cash went elsewhere. I agree that Breyer and Steiff are overpriced: $355 for a small black Steiff bear at a local shop!

I've even been tempted to try ebay to pick up tried and true brands and variations of critters I already own (same pose, different colors), but am leery of condition.

I'm still looking to pick up something new, though (like I need another plush ;o) Good luck with the roundup!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes I've got my eye on the Wild Republic 30" wolf. I feel sorry for them getting squished into a box and mailed though. ;p

[altivo.livejournal.com]

FAO Schwarz toys are usually top quality, but for the prices they ask, they ought to be good. We used to have an FAO store in Chicago and it was always fun to visit.

I agree about Steiff. They are well made and use high quality materials, but they are stuck in a century old tradition and seem unable to break out of it. Their early bears were filled with sawdust. I don't think they use that any more, but whatever they use now they still try to achieve the same "feel."

Keep those plush places in mind. I definitely would enjoy seeing them next time I can get over your way. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We have a Tractor Supply now and I did get a plush horse there last spring shortly after it opened. I'll try to check them out this week, before any leftovers vanish completely.

Re: The end of plush as we know it...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I received several small ones as gifts, and most of them probably came from retailers. Large animals used to be commonplace, though, and now you hardly ever see them. The bookstore in Woodstock brings in Melissa and Doug animals at Christmas, and they are nice to look at but not always nice to touch. They also have the Folkmanis puppets, some of which I like pretty well. But on the whole, yes, retail has wandered away from plush, even the traditional teddy bear. I wonder why. Seems like it should still sell well enough, and actually, up to some point, the larger animals should be more profitable.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Most of the soft ones I've found in recent years have been in places like that. Drug stores. Truck stops. It's hard for me to understand a specialty toy outlet without plush, yet that's the direction they've gone. Everything in those places is tied to television cartoons or animated films, or else it's video games. Since the large plush toys don't get a heavy sales push from the manufacturer on television, I guess they figure no one will buy them.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, you can find them on the web. As merik points out here, certain brand names such as Wild Republic do make the kind we like, so it's pretty safe to trust the name. But if you don't know the maker, it's difficult to know what you're getting until you see it in person.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I have no deer and haven't seen any for quite a long time, though I know Bambi was a frequently reproduced character once. I do have a cute floppy moose (anthro type) about a foot tall that I got last year at Christmas, though.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Will have to see if I can find you anything then :)

Re: Head 'em out!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck with a couple of Ebay purchases, but I wouldn't pay a high price there and I check the seller's description and feedback reputation very closely.

Steiff is indeed way overpriced. They are selling "collector" items now, not really toys, and they try to duplicate the look and feel of their original products of a century ago, which doesn't fit today's standard of cuddliness at all.

[merik.livejournal.com]

Well, from personal experience I know they're willing to put up with a lot in order to get to a nice, new home, and they come through the indignity of shipping just fine ;-) Besides, just think how happy both of you will be when your new wolf companion finds its way from mailing box into warm, caring hugs :-)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, that seems to be true. Neige Paw the snow leopard seems none the worse for wear and happy to be here.

I'm cruising around for the best deal on the wuffie. Oddly, the new ones available on Ebay are priced well above the ones listed on Amazon. Not what I'd have expected.

Is there a Cuddlekins size above 30"? One place claims to have a 39" wolf but I wonder if that's a typo or else measured differently...

[merik.livejournal.com]

Oddly, the new ones available on Ebay are priced well above the ones listed on Amazon.

*nods* I've seen them on Ebay, too, and I've been surprised at how much higher they're priced on there as compared to Amazon. Many online plush stores have them priced significantly higher than Amazon, too. For what it's worth, I've ordered large Cuddlekins directly from Amazon before, and they've always arrived in quite spacious boxes. And even using the free shipping option, they've come instead via priority mail.

Is there a Cuddlekins size above 30"? One place claims to have a 39" wolf but I wonder if that's a typo or else measured differently...

There are some Cuddlekins larger than 30", but they're mostly aquatic. I've seen the 39" wolf description before, and I think that's a mistake in description that originates with Wild Republic's website. The actual tag on the wolf, which has the same item number as the 39" wolf on the website, says the wolf as 30". Then again, from nosetip to tailtip, he's probably 39" long, at least. :-)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the additional information. I think that settles it. Rather than more shopping around, I'll just order the one I want from Amazon. They say he's in stock.

I suspected too that the "39 inch" version just got that way by measuring the tail while the "30 inch" didn't count the tail.

Generally I've had good luck with Amazon except when ordering something that they don't have in stock but claim they can get "in two weeks" or whatever. My repeated experience has shown that they never seem to deliver on those promises, and will string you along for months without ever getting the item for you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Murphy strikes. Make up my mind, go to Amazon to order, and now they're out of stock. Oh well. Eventually I'll find one.