ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996 TAG: 9612190079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
SANTA SAYS if you want Elmo or Nintendo 64, you probably weren't good enough. Those who want bikes or Barbies are in better shape.
When toy retailers need to know what's hot, they turn to the one source who knows that market better than anybody.
Not a New York think tank. Not a toymakers' consortium.
No, they go to the milk-and-cookie-munching, reindeer-driving, chimney-diving man in red.
Santa Claus doesn't put in all those hours of head-patting and spoiled brat-pacifying for nothing, you know. Sure, he keeps track of whether we've been naughty or nice, but he also has collected enough marketing data in that bearded head to make a pack of consultants auction off their grandmothers.
How else could he maintain such a high satisfaction rating?
But sometimes there's no way even Santa can anticipate the demand for particular toys, like a certain rather oddly vibrating stuffed animal.
"They want Tickle Me Elmo, and I can't get them," said Valley View Mall's main Santa, aka Larry Brooks.
He doesn't make any promises, so don't panic if you're one of the thousands of parents who couldn't find the giggling critter anywhere (or weren't willing to sell your car to pay a scalper's prices).
"I just tell them Santa will do his best," said Brooks, who has been pulling the Claus shift for 13 years. Knowing that most of his young petitioners will wake up to an Elmo-less Christmas, he tries to cushion the blow. "I tell them that maybe they'll get something similar."
Ditto if they ask for the equally elusive Nintendo 64.
"I just tell them we'll try to fill their order if we can," said J.D. Helvey, Santa at New River Valley Mall for the past eight years.
But lest you think we're raising a bunch of unimaginative clones, not every kid who sits on Santa's lap asks for the same two toys. In fact, a recent national survey of mall Santas by the National Retail Federation discovered that plenty of traditional toys still make the annual list of gotta-haves.
"It's reassuring to see that there are other options for parents who are not able to find some of the wildly popular toy items," said Tracy Mullin, president of the NRF.
Here, according to the national survey and local Santas, is what kids want so badly they're willing to be nice to their little brothers (Red Ryder BB guns apparently didn't make the list):
* Power Rangers
* Barbie, especially Teacher Barbie and My-Size Barbie
* Bicycles
* Computers and computer games
* "Toy Story" characters
* "101 Dalmatians" toys
* Train sets
* Baby Bye-Bye
* Remote-controlled race cars
* Sega games
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB