ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: below
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on December 15, 1995.
Dan Giles of Shenandoah Jewelry and Antiques in Roanoke is holding a
drawing for a "Happy Holidays Barbie 1995," and no purchase is necessary
to enter. A story Thursday about a shortage of the dolls described the
event incorrectly.
HOLIDAY BARBIE '95 has collectors on the run and sellers asking for big bucks.
To hear them talk about it, you'd think something sinister was going on.
``I've got to make a pickup in Roanoke for Leo in Danville,'' Mike Pashley explained.
And later today, Jason Hale will meet a man from Franklin County in the parking lot of Valley View Mall.
``I've got the goods, and he's bringing cash,'' said Hale.
According to Greg Phillips, assistant commonwealth's attorney, what Pashley and Hale are doing isn't against the law - although when he heard about the transactions, he did research codes and city ordinances.
But Mattel's ``Happy Holidays Barbie 1995'' hasn't found her way into the lawbooks.
She has made it onto the tube. Dan Rather and Bryant Gumbel have mentioned her by name. She's also been a rather prevalent news topic on CNN.
But if this particular Barbie doesn't find her way under your tree on Christmas morning, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with whether you've been naughty or nice.
Mattel had a major production problem producing this year's Happy Holidays Barbie, the seventh in the collectors series. There were so many flaws in the fabric used to make Barbie's emerald green frock that much was wasted and Mattel ran out of material.
With loads of demand and no supply, those with their fingers on the pulse of American Barbie fanatics saw their opportunity and they struck.
Check out your newspaper classifieds.
People are scalping Barbies, just like tickets to a Garth Brooks concert or the Sugar Bowl. These dolls, priced between $19.95 and $29.95 in retail stores, are going for $75 to $175 in the classifieds.
Mary Wright is advertising that she will sell her 1988-1993 Happy Holidays Barbie dolls for $3,000. She won't settle for less.
``A lot of people have called wanting the '88 and '89 dolls,'' she said. But Wright refuses to split up the set.
``But if I did, I wouldn't take less than somewhere between $800 and $1,000 for each.''
``It's a gamble,'' admitted Sherry Smithe of Christiansburg, who has one for sale at $100. Smithe bought six Happy Holiday Barbies - some as gifts, she swears.
``I've had calls from Nashville, Montana, all over the place,'' she said. ``I don't know how they found me except through the [Roanoke Times] classifieds.''
Jason Hale, a graduate student in electrical engineering at Virginia Tech, can't believe he's found his way into this particular cranny of the black market.
``My mother, sister and sister-in-law are the reason I am participating in this bizarre behavior,'' he said.
Collectively, the Virginia Beach Hale family has six Holiday Barbies. He didn't know what he was getting himself into when he told his mother that, yes, he would run a classified ad for her in the newspaper here.
Hale's scalping price is by far the best deal in town; he wants only $75 for each doll. His mother shipped him three to sell yesterday.
``People are so excited. It's sort of like those random acts of kindness, except that I'm making money because of it.''
He pauses.
``Well, at least my mom is making money because of it.''
Shoppers really don't have anywhere else to turn if they want Happy Holidays Barbie '95.
Hills on Hershberger Road sold 175 of the dolls.
``The first couple of shipments made it to the shelves,'' said Fred Dudley, manager. ``The next time, they were grabbing them right out of the boxes.''
Retailers compare the 1995 Happy Holidays Barbie frenzy to the Cabbage Patch doll phenomenon. ``It is certainly the single biggest thing we're selling this year,'' said Carol Fuller, a corporate spokeswoman for Toys R Us.
Sharon Wallace, who has 500 dolls and a couple of Barbies for sale, says she scalps her Barbies to make money to ``keep up her Barbie habit.''
``I spent $750 on my 1988 Barbie,'' she said. ``Because that was the only way I was going to get it.''
Wallace may well be the local expert in black market Barbies. She has a network of friends around the country who buy for each other.
When she heard there were 50 Barbies in a Tyson Corners store, Wallace got on the phone and tried to talk a clerk into selling as many as she could put on her credit card so she could pick them up later. They wouldn't do it.
``I don't really even feel safe with anyone knowing I have a Happy Holidays Barbie around Christmas,'' said Wallace.
Dan Giles of Shenandoah Jewelry and Antiques agrees. He's raffling off the Barbie he displays in his store window.
At night, he takes it out of the window and locks it up along with the jewelry.
Kathy Armbrister, assistant manager of the Snoopers Antique Mall in Wytheville, called a cousin in Pennsylvania and managed to get six. They are selling in the store for $125, but no one seems to know, said manager Jeff King.
Well, they do now.
The scarcity of the Mattel doll has also caused craziness in the world of Hallmark. They make a companion limited edition keepsake ornament each year to match Mattel's Happy Holidays Barbie.
``We had a waiting list for the ornament back in July,'' said Kay Layman, manager of Jaclyn's Hallmark at Valley View. ``We could have priced it at anything and it would have sold. It's certainly the fastest-selling ornament.''
Jamie Shirley is trying to sell two 1994 Hallmark Barbie ornaments for $200 each.
``I managed to get my hands on them when I worked in a retail store last year,'' she explained. ``My husband thought I was crazy. But now he wants to know why I didn't buy 500 of them.''
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Virginia Tech student Jason Hale showsby CNBoff one of the rare Barbies he's offering for sale. The dolls,
priced between $19.95 and $29.95 in retail stores, are going for $75
to $175 in the classifieds. Hale's price is the best deal in town;
he wants only $75. color.