Behind Baton Rouge’s newest squishy toy obsession
Local children and their parents have a need for Needohs 🫧🌀
A couple of weeks ago, I got an invitation from a friend for a way to make some money on the side. The task: wait in line at Olly-Olly toy store to buy Needohs—small, stress ball-like toys that I was told are a must-have at school lunch tables.
My friend and I, who had never heard of them before, got there an hour before the store opened. We were warned there would be a line.
By the time we got there, it was clear we had no idea what we had stumbled into. The line was wrapped around the corner of the store, into the alleyway behind it. After 10 minutes of waiting, 50 more people were behind us.
When we were eventually given a card with a number on it to tell our place in line, I was 138 out of roughly 250.
Owner of Olly-Olly Tamara Adams says while they’ve carried the squishy toys since 2018, they were always a steady seller, unlike the frenzy they’ve become.
During the store’s drop in March, 1,000 Needohs sold out in two hours.
View this post on Instagram
The demand has been nearly impossible to keep up with. Adams says her orders that once arrived within a week or two now take upwards of 10 to 16 weeks, showing up in partial or incomplete shipments.
“It’s just a matter of taking what you can get and hoping for the best,” Adams says.
Olly-Olly is one of many toy stores trying to keep up with the trend. At Zachary Toy Store, owner Brittany Anderson says the craze seemed like it happened overnight.
“I’ve had Needohs since I opened. I had some that were collecting dust that I couldn’t get rid of. Now I can’t keep any of them in stock,” Anderson says.
Anderson echoes that her shipments of Needohs also come in small trickles, and once people know they’re there, they’re gone within the hour. Both Zachary Toy Store and Olly-Olly have changed how they operate, limiting the number of toys customers can purchase and keeping inventory behind the counter.
“It’s been a mad grab,” Anderson says. Even with other brands of squishies on the shelf, she says customers want name-brand Needohs.
Aside from the chaos, the rush for toys brings a sense of community and nostalgia for these shop owners.
“I’m a ’90s kid; it really gives me Beanie Baby vibes,” Anderson says.
View this post on Instagram
For Adams, she says the lines of people eager to get their hands on the toy have turned the experience into something more. At the recent event, she says the sense of community in the crowd was alive, with moms offering to buy her a coffee and dads bringing doughnuts to share with strangers in line.
“When people finally got up to the register, they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we had so much fun in the line,’” Adams says.
Some parents even told her it was a “core memory” for their kids to wait in line for the toys.
Adams says the trend shows no signs of slowing down, and she and her team expect it to roll through into the holidays, having already placed their orders.
Zachary Toy Store and Olly-Olly both announce their Needoh stock and updates on Instagram and Facebook. Other local spots stocking generic squishy toys include Party Time and Fleurty Girl.
Know of other shops getting in on the viral craze? Let us know by emailing [email protected], and we’ll update this story with other shops.
