Long Lost Stories From The 90s Beanie Baby Craze

I was there…

The 90s were a crazy time and Beanie Babies were a big part of it for a lot of people worldwide. My mom, dad, and I were part of that craze and it was more insane than you can imagine.

There’s a lot to be remembered about Beanie Babies and the collector community that was built around the early days of the internet. Here are some long lost stories from the 90s Beanie Baby Craze.

From Justin C… The internet was so new and exciting back then and Ty.com was one of the most interactive sites in the 90s. They would LIVE release the retirement list. I’d sit there pressing the refresh button 1000 times until finally, the site was updated and the new retirees were announced.

Within minutes, my dad, mom, and I were on our way to Zany Brainy to grab all the retired ones still on shelves. It was exhilirating to get there, see shelves full, the employees had no idea, and we grabbed handfuls of newly retired beanies. What a rush! I think this was summer 1997 or 1998.

From Margaret….This story took place in Chicago last summer. I was spending my summer vacation at my Grandma Pat’s house when the Beanie Baby craze began. One day, my Grandma said she had to go to the grocery store and there was a store that sold Beanie Babies right next to it. So, I went with her to see which Beanie Babies they had. Unfortunately, they only had Libearty and I already had him. I looked around and saw a woman holding Garcia. I had never seen Garcia before so I whispered to my Grandmother asking if she knew if they had more Beanie Babies. She asked the store owner and they said they didn’t and that the woman was trying to return Garcia, but didn’t have a receipt. The store owner looked at me and because she knew my Grandma, she ran outside, yelling at the woman who was trying to return the Beanie Baby. The woman got out of her car and my wonderful Grandma purchased the Beanie Baby for me. To this day, I will never forget the day when my Grandma went to so much trouble just to buy me a Beanie Baby!!!

From Susan….I went on a Beanie hunt a week ago to a town I have never been to before. I just started driving down the road and came upon a pharmacy. I decided to check it out. There, sitting on a shelf, just waiting for me, was Flutter!! And only $5.00 at that! I was so excited because I had been looking for Flutter for my daughter for Christmas! Needless to say, this Christmas looks very bright!

From Samantha….I once went with my mom to a place that was at least two hours away to browse around a store that she wanted to look at. I was looking around and saw a Beanie Baby owl. I casually just asked where she got it and she said from a little store that was across the street. I went there with my mom and they didn’t have any at the time but they said they were supposed to get a shipment in in about two or so hours. So we waited there for two hours!! But it was well worth it. I went in again and they started putting them out. It was really cool because almost all the Beanies that got put out I didn’t have. I got ELEVEN!!! I was so happy that we just happened to be there at the right time and place because the chances of that happening were pretty slim to nill!

From Jackie….A friend of mine at my son’s school mentioned that she found the 3 retired Dinosaurs and Bumble while on a business trip to CANADA! Unfortunately, she didn’t get any extras, so the hunt began! I tracked down the phone number of the hotel she stayed at and reached the gift shop where she had purchased them. They DID have some left. The only problem was getting them here, to Illinois. They usually don’t ship, and the main manager didn’t want to give approval. Thankfully, the assistant manager pulled a few strings, and got the go ahead. BUT, here’s what I had to do: It took a total of 11 phone calls to Canada, a Canadian money order with a service charge of $15 (waited 2 days for that to be ordered), sent that with a cost of $7 to send it, wrote a three copy letter to customs telling them what was going to be shipped, and the shipping here cost $10. This took a total of 2 weeks to complete with a lot of ups and downs. It was worth it though…..my sons and I have 4 retired Beanies, and I sold the other 5 within 24 hours and made some others appreciate the efforts of this CRAZY way to add to our collections.

From Mary Beth….We moved from Rochester, NY to Ontario, Canada 4 months ago. One of the big adjustments for my middle daughter was not finding anyone who knew anything about Beanie Babies–they just haven’t caught on here in this town yet!! For big Beanie Baby fans such as ourselves, this was a big sacrifice! We went from store to store in search of any Beanie Babies. The store clerks would just give us a blank stare when we asked for the dear little creatures. When we were about to give up, we stumbled upon a card shop, and as soon as we entered, my youngest daughter squeeled “Beanie Babies!!!” Tucked away in a cozy corner of the store, lay a beautiful display of the Beanie Babies. And best of all, among them were a half a dozen retired Stegs and Rexes!!! My middle daughter was so excited to complete her collection. She now has all the Beanie Babies, retired and current ones with the exception of 4 retired colored bears! Thank you, Canada!

From Lorraine….Here’s a funny (or maybe not so funny) story on how things are getting violent out here in Grand Rapid, MI. My friend and I and her three kids were in a local children’s bookstore that had (emphasis on the past tense!) a bunch of Beanies. Her kids picked out the ones they wanted and then her youngest had to go to the bathroom. She left the two Beanies, Ziggy the Zebra and Curly the Bear, on the counter next to me as I paid for mine. I wasn’t watching them really carefully because I didn’t think there’d be a problem. When my friend came back, surprise, NO ZEBRA!!! That was when the salesperson told us that she had just sold a zebra to a young boy. He had grabbed it out from next to me!!! I was totally shocked. The moral of the story is, “Hold on to your Beanies!” It was the last one in that store, but luckily the Hallmark store next door had about ten more zebras. Oh well. . . another day in the life of a Beanie addict!

From Diane….My daughter has been begging for Humphrey the Camel for a long time. I really wanted to give it to her as a Christmas present, but my husband lost his job recently and the high prices going on Humphrey are out of our limit. Well I was surprised to see Humphrey in a “1/2 off bargain box” at a local drug store. I’m thrilled to be able to grant my child’s Christmas wish and for only $2.50.

From Meredith….To all Beanie Lovers…I was in this one mall and recalled a store with stuffed animals. Since I collect all kinds of animals, I decided to check it out. There was a wall of shelves filled with Beanies. There must have been over 4 dozen different Beanie Babies. I didn’t bring any money (which was a mistake because the price was $5.00) so I am going to go back and go Beanie Crazy! This story tells you to always keep an eye out for these cute toys because they are out there!

From Linda….My husband was on a business trip a couple of months ago and as promised he searched for Beanie Babies off a list we had compiled for him!! On that list was a wingless Quackers for a friend of mine who still needs it! He said he was in the airport looking through a shop for them when he spotted another man with a Duck!! He ran over there and said “Does that Duck have wings?” The man said “yes..and if it didn’t you’d have to fight me for it!!!” They had a good laugh and about a ten minute discussion about Beanie Babies!!!!

The thought of two “suits” down on their hands and knees looking for Beanies still has me in stitches!!!!

From Rebecca….This story happened to my friend. She was on vacation (she was only about 2 1/2 hours by car from home) and found a store that had Beanie Babies. She is a serious collector and bought some Beanie Babies. When she got home, she called me and said that she saw a lot of cute Beanie Babies on her vacation. I asked which ones she got and which ones she didn’t get. On her list of ones she didn’t get was a bee. I told her Bumble was retired and she begged and begged and begged her parents to take her back to the gift shop to get Bumble. Finally, when she got there, she found out that it wasn’t Bumble she saw IT WAS BUBBLES(yellow and black fish). She got very upset and her parents are never going to do this for her again so if there really is a retired Beanie Baby, she won’t be able to get it!

From Joan….I can blame my sister for getting me hooked on Beanies! I now have several other friends looking all the time for these quiet critters. Well, one dear friend went shopping one day. She was Christmas shopping when she stumbled onto a find. There they were – lots and lots of Beanies! The price was $4.25 less 25% off!! What a deal!!! She picked out what she liked and a few days later stopped by to show me what she bought. Well, don’t you know that it was not one dinosaur but two! So I ended up calling the store to get MORE!! I needed one for my sister and one for my sons friend that is now collecting and of course one for us. I know our husbands must think we are out of our minds but I know that secretly my husband is looking out for them too!!! Have a great holiday all you Beanie Moms!!

From Chris…. A few years ago I was a Ty rep and, as all good reps do, I had many many samples that I had purchased to show my potential clients. Well as it turns out I kept my samples long after I stopped representing the Ty line. Over the years, I have given some away here and given some away there to friends and family. This year I was doing some Thanksgiving cleaning and I found the box of Ty animals in my storage closet. I had marked the box to be given to charity. Well, I can get very busy around the holidays and I never got around to droppong of the box. Just last week, I went home to visit my family in North Carolina. My brothers still rep the Ty line and I told them about the old box of samples. They told me that some of the pieces might be very valuable and gave me a list to check when I got home. Guess what I found when I openned the box? Spot without a spot, Slither, and Teddy the brown colored bear! These are some of the first Beanies ever and I had already given away thousands of dollars worth of them away. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I’m just glad I kept some of the special ones.

From Mary Jane….Our first Beanies…We didn’t even notice beanies until one of our toy stores carried a few shelves of beanies appropriate for Easter baskets. I thought, “how cute,” but ended up not buying any for Easter. A month or so later a 9-year-old girl in our car pool started playing with her Legs and telling us about other friends’ Beanies and the Beanie party they had last weekend. Of course my 7-year-old wanted a Beanie right away. By the time I got back to the toy store where we had originally seen them, they were all gone. Then one day we found another toy store who was carrying Twigs as a special promotion: buy $30 worth of toys and you can buy Twigs for $3.95. Most other parents didn’t take notice, but I jumped on him. Now my dilemma was that I only had one Beanie and I had two little girls. So I wandered back to the original toy store to inquire about when they may be getting some more Beanies in. Just as I was paying for a few other things, the woman next to me tried to return Ears. She says that she had bought three for Easter baskets for her grandchildren, but had one left over. As the manager tried to figure out how to handle the return, I said, “I’d like to buy him.” The manager decided it would be easier for me to buy it directly from the woman, so after giving her $5.12, I had my second Beanie…and we were on our way to Beanie heaven.

From Michael….While I was travelling, I found myself in a small hotel near Santa Barbara CA. this past summer. While waiting to be picked up, I was rummaging through the Gift Store’s plush animals. My wife had just started collecting Beanie Babies and I still wasn’t quite sure what one was.

Well, while rummaging I came across a snake that felt like it would be a Beanie but didn’t have the TY tag. I purchased the snake for less than $5.00. When I got home I gave the snake to my three year old daughter. A few days later, a neighbor friend and avid Beanie ‘gather-er’, told us that we found Slither.

Like I said, I still didn’t know who/what Slither was. The next day my three year old hands me ‘her snake’ and asks me to ‘fix it’. She had broken or torn the tongue in half. Slither now only has half a tongue. My wife later found out that Slither was a collectable and was heart-sick.

Well its still one of my three year old’s favorite toys. I still find her on the floor, making snake noises. Its been about six months since she received Slither and I still believe its the best $5.00 I’ve spent.

From Katie….My name is Katie and this is my story. I was at my local Beanie Baby store getting Beanie Babies for some of my friends, when I went up to buy them, the lady at the counter of the store said that since I had bought 4 Beanie Babies, I could have one for free. The store had two big buckets full of Beanie Babies so I decided to look through them to see if they had had any Beanies with old tags. After looking for about 20 minutes, I gave up, so I asked one of the people working there if they had Curly which I had been looking for. The lady I had asked said she didn’t think so but she would check. She went over to a storage container and looked around for awhile but did not find Curly so I decided to buy Speedy instead. While I was standing in line, I saw her pull out a black spider from the far corner of the storage container and throw it in the one of the buckets where all of the Beanie Babies were. I quickly ran over to grab it remembering that the spider was retired. When I got it, I looked at its tag and saw it was one of the orginal tags. I then got it as my free one. When I got home, I called my friends and told them that I had gotten Web the retired spider. Later that night, someone called me and offered me $100 for Web but I did not sell him. Instead, I put him on top of my computer where he is right now.

From Meghan….Hi! I had a fantistic find the other day at a card store. I have been looking for Chops for over 4 months. We called every store in the area and none of them had it. We even met a girl who had every Beanie Babie except Chops! My sister, brother, dad, and I went to a store that was sold out. We called my mom and told her and she said to go to this card store she had never been to. We went in and right away I thought it was a horrible store because they had 4 Beanies in the window and I thought it was all they had. Well, my sister and my dad was looking at the ornaments and I went and explored the store. I then walked back to my dad and saw that behind him was a whole display of Beanie Babies. I started looking and there were just the usual ones. Then my brother, 4, tapped my sister on the shoulder a pointed to a Chops, the only one. Then my sister,8 , said “Meghan, look it’s Chops.” I grabbed it out of her hands and bought it. When I got home my mother was calling one of the stores on your list to order Chops. She hung up the phone and said she couldn’t believe I got it.The funny thing is that my brother said he wanted to give Chops to me for Christmas and in a way he did because no one else in my family noticed it and if he didn’t I wouldn’t have Chops today. Now all would be perfect in Beanieland if my sister got Peking because then everyone would have what we wanted, Chops for me, Spooky for my brother, and Peking for my sister.

From Ashley….The other day my cousins came to visit from California. Since I live near Washington D.C. we went to visit. When we got there we had to wait for a tour to start. So we went into The Old Post Office Pavillion. As I was walking I spotted Beanie Babies. I then went to the junk store shop. There I saw a Lucky Ladybug with no spots and an old tag! I had never seen that before and to this day have never heard anyone mention one. Anyways I grabbed it and bought it. I am so glad because it only cost $5 and could be worth a lot more!

From Katie….I’m Katie, today I had quite an adventure concerning beanie babies. I have friends that own a toys and gifts store in Northville, MI. I moved away many years back so I decided to go and visit thier store. When we got there after what seemed like hours of driving thanks to my older brother’s Devo CD, I went in to discover they had no beanie babies. I asked my friend, the owner, if they ever had any in the store,she said they have sold over 3500, but there were no more. A few people promptly left the store after that statment. My mother began telling her about how I’ve been struggling to find Magic and Garcia. She told us to wait there. She came back carrying 5 beanies. She said they were from her secret stash. I had a few of them, but from behind here back, she pulled Magic and Garcia and handed them to me. I was so happy, and of course have here a huge hug. I also bought Bongo in addition to the other two. I now have 44 beanie babies as of 12-30-96, and believe it or not I got my very first one 12-9-96! I just want everyone to know that I have some of the greatest friends in the world!

From Christine….I have a story to tell that happend to my mom and my aunt before Christmas. My mom told me the story after I got the present. I had really wanted Freckles for Christmas and I got it from my aunt for Christmas. I told everybody that if you saw Freckles buy it because it’s hard to find here in Virginia, and they live in New Jersey were beanie babies are rare. Then My aunt and my mom had both bought Freckles at the same day and about the same time, without knowing, and in two different states. They both called each other all excited about what they found and then one of them had to return him! Well I got my wish for Christmas!

From Terri….Alright, we all were waiting with baited breath for the announcement of the retired beanies at high noon on the first. My daughter, Mo, and I had this down to a fine science. We scoped all five of the stores at the mall to see exactly which beanies each had, wrote them down on a list, left my husband at home in front of the computer, and got ready to BUY! So, there we stood, cellular phone in hand, list in fist, at high noon. While my dear husband sat at the computer valiantly attempting to access the TY site, Mo kept pulling on my arm asking,”who are they? Who are they?” I kept saying,”Be patient, dear, Daddy is doing his best.”

Poor Daddy was not getting anywhere, and not being highly computer literate, kept blaming himself for letting his little girl down. Meanwhile, the cellular bill kept mounting as did our tempers, I lost the list somewhere in the mall, and finally, at 3:00, I gave up and went home. Didn’t get the list until 9:00 that evening. But, never to fear.

Woke the kids up at dawn the next morning to be at the stores when they opened, ready to fight anyone who dared to stand in my way of the Lefty and Rightys I’d seen at the Hallmark store. Another family with little kids was also waiting for the store to open, but fortunately, they had no idea why we were there. At precisely 10:01, we became the proud owners of 4 each, all the retireds except Sting. If I didn’t like my daughter and Beanies so much, I’d boycott TY for what they put us through! Now, on to find the new ones….

[email protected]….I had just started collecting beanies over the summer and I had no idea about retired ones then from a local shop I got a list and from the TY photos hanging everywhere. I feel in love with Flutter, I called everywhere in desperate search for a Flutter. Then my parents went on a cruise and stopped at St. Thomas, U.S.V.I and in a shop found Flutter, Rex and Steg at $7 a piece. The lowest in Illinois we had found the beanie for was $40.00 so I was thrilled when I got my retired to add to the rest of the of the Beanie Baby collection..

From Kate….In late ’95 I went to a store to look for beanies. (I had just discovered them a day before) and I had never heard of “retired” beanies so when I went in and ALL the retired Beanies were there, I didn’t think much of it. I was allowed to pick out five. When I had picked out four (Bones, Speedy, Bongo, and Spot) I couldn’t decide whether to get the tiger (Stripes) or the camel (Humphrey). Of course now I would of picked Humphrey, but when I walked out I had Bones, Speedy, Bongo, Spot, and STRIPES! A few months later I came on the Internet and looked up “BEANIES”. There, I found that Humphrey was worth hundreds of $$$ and mine only worth $5! The next day I went back to the store and asked if they still carried the camel. The employees thought I was crazy trying to find one of the rarest Beanies. I almost screamed and to this day I still have not been able to get one. AHHH!

From Elyse….One time I heard that from a friend that she got two of the Teddys in New York!!! I was like so exited!!! So I begged my mom, and begged, and begged if we could go up to New York!!! I finally convinced her though!!! So I finally got the magenta one. My friend gave it to me!!! Ok, Ok!!! The real reason I went to New York was is because it was for my birthday, but it still was another great reason for going!!! Don’t you think???

From Laura & Cassie….The day the new and retired BB were to be announced, we waited by the comp. for 15 minutes. Then when time was up, it never showed. We freaked. We were all ready to go shopping. So we went the next day, even though we still hadn’t got the list. After a couple stores, we went home for lunch. Lucky Us! My mom called, saying she had finally found The List! Even though we had bought some already, we had enough money for a few more. We went and bought nearly all newly retired Beanies. Thank you BeanieMom for posting The List.

From Beanie Lady….How I acquired Peking is truely from the kindness of strangers. I was in a packed store that had just received a shipment of Beanies. It was just before Halloween and many of my friends had asked me to buy them Spooky if I could find him. Around here if you aren’t at the store when the box is opened you don’t get any. So, I wasnt’ going to let these slip by me. This store’s policy was a limit of 15. They recommended that you ask someone else to buy them for you if you wanted more. They were only allowed to ring up 15 at a time. So, I did just that. There was a nice young lady in front of me. I asked her if she would mind buying some for me if I gave her the money. I assured her that it was ok. As she glanced around tha store in amazement she said “Sure, but what is all the commotion about”? I replied that I suspected she did not have children. She told me that she did not. I briefly described the insane appeal of these little creatures. She said “Really, I think I have one of those at home.” Politely, to continue conversation, I asked which one. She said “It’s this cute little Panda bear that someone gave me for my birthday a few years ago” I began to tremble. I said, ” my daughter would love to have that one but they don’t make him anymore.” Jokingly I said,” how much would you like for it?” She said,” Nothing you can have it. I told her I couldn’t do that, if she was interested in selling it I would love to have it. I inquired as to if it had a tag and she said yes. She gave me her name and phone number. Since she lived 20 minutes away I said I would give her a call. Now, I suspected that when I called her that the dream would burst. It didn’t. The next day she called me and was driving to the cleaners a block from my house. Secretly, without telling anyone I drove to meet her. I took my daughter who wanted it. I only told her as we drove up to the cleaners. The whole time I am not saying anything as not to jinx it. The stranger arrived 5 minutes later and brought Peking to us. I tried many times to pay her. She said ” I don’t want any money. I’m glad someone will enjoy it. Just tell your daughter that not all strangers are bad.” I did. She’s right. It is our most treasured Beanie even though we have over 150. …..Beanie Lady

From Rachel….For Christmas, my brother wanted Kiwi but when Christmas came, no Kiwi. My mom said “Oh don’t worry, we will get him in a week”. So a week later I found out Kiwi had been retired so the 3 of us went Beanie crazy. We went to 7 stores, each had one retired one except Kiwi. We bought the others. We tried to order two but both were damaged and they would not sell them during this craze. I decided I too wanted KIWI! My dad and brother finally found one and only one. I went crazy they were going as much as $20. Then my mom wanted two to add to her collection. Ahhhhhhhhh!!! Finally, we went into a clothing store to find me a hat and there on one of their shelves was 6 Kiwis. We bought 3 and left without a hat. We were so happy. Later we went back to see if they had other newly retired ones and we saw not only had they sold out of Kiwi but out of the 15 Chops. They had none were, but not to fear, we got 2 Chops earlier.

From Fran….About two years ago, I was in a candy store down the road from my house. There was this really cute lobster there! He was so soft and cute, I couldn’t resist him! I had no clue about Beanie Babies. I just knew I loved him. That was my first Beanie Baby.

About half a year after I got Pinchers, I went to the mall with my friend. We went into a toy store, and there were 2 big buckets filled with Beanies! I still didn’t know about the Beanie craze, but I decided to get Ringo. From then on, I had my eye out for these little critters.

Just a few days ago my friend and I decided to start a Beanie club. She got me Sly for a birthday present. I looked up Beanie Babies on the net, an found thousands of sites! Somehow I found The Beaniemom site, and Kim’s Beanie Babies. I learned soooooo much! I learned about retired Beanies, and how to auction a Beanie. You could call me a Beanie expert! And all this in a month!!!!!

I saw a picture of Sting the Ray and had to have him. I was unaware that he was retired. I searched the net for stores that might carry stings. Everywhere was sold out! I didn’t have enough money to buy him off of someone else. I was about to give up, when I went to a small bookstore. They had a few Beanies. I went to the very bottom of the basket and was rewarded with a Tabasco the Bull! I also found Congo. My grandmother offered to buy me one, so I was able to get to. My collection had expanded to 5 beanies! And I had ordered Magic, so he is coming soon!

Just this morning, my mom had an idea that I’d never thought of. She said, “Why don’t you call some stores around here?” What a great idea!!!!!!! I got on the phone and called about 10 stores. None of them carried Beanies. I was almost ready to give up, when I spied one last phone number. I called this little Nature Store, and sure enough, they had Beanies! Not only that, THEY HAD STING! I rushed over to get one. They had lots of beanies, and 3 or 4 newly retireds. Once again, my great grandmother offered to get me a Beanie. I got Coral and Sting! This was the BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!!!!!! I never thought a little Sting Ray could ever make me so happy 🙂

From Carolyn….It all started when I took a job in a retail gift shop in September…

I didn’t know a thing about Beanie Babies until I started working in a store that sells them. I could not beleive how many people, kids and adults, that came in looking for these “bean bag animals”. This made me start paying attention to the cute little animals. By the time Christmas came around, I had my own collection up to about 50 Beanie Babies. This is where it gets funny: I live in Minnesota, within driving distance from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. (It’s the largest shopping mall in America..) Anyway, I made my yearly trek to the Mall of America for the “after Christmas” sales. I not only completed my collection of current Beanie Babies, I found quite a few of the retired Beanie Babies still for sale!!! By the time I found myself heading for my truck for the ride home, I had rented a stroller to carry everything. (No kids, just a stroller loaded with bags from various stores.) I had many fun conversations with others who were also looking for Beanie Babies…I even gave a few away to a boy who had come alot further than I had looking for them. It was a fun day of shopping!

From Lisa….My story is about yesterday when we only had a half a day at our school so I thought maybe I could go look for Seamore. I said to my self over and over that I wouldn’t find Seamore after my mom, friend, sister, brother, and my sisters friend went to like 3 stores. I was about to give up but then we went to one more store and they had Seamore. I could not believe it. I’m still amazed that I found Seamore because I couldn’t find him anywhere.

From Jenny….One of the most popular girls at school (Whom I talk to about 0 percent) got Tabasco for Christmas. I had to go over to her house for a project and there was poor Tabasco, stuffed in a corner collecting dust. I pointed at him and said Do you know thats a retired beanie baby? She asked what I was talking bout and I told her. She asked if she could sell him, and for how much. I told her the highest price she would ever get on him would be 4 dollars. And she sold him to me!!!!!

From Clare….I was really depressed because it was January 18th and I still hadn’t gotten all the newly retired Beanies. I thought it was hopeless that I would ever find Chops or Sting. I went shopping with my friend to see if I could find any. Well, I went to Book World and sure enough, there were 2 Chops left and 1 Kiwi! Of course I bought all three, and I am so glad I was in the right place at the right time!

From Pat….My mother-in-law loves to shop. My 10 year old daughter told her all about Beanies and then my mother-in-law started searching. So far, she has found several old Nips (white belly) and a bunch of Bumbles. We kept one of each and traded the extras for old face Teal Teddy, Web, and Steg. Today, we received the best news–Jade Teddy for $5.95! To think, she and I barely spoke before Beanies came into our lives, and now we have become friends as we search together.

I went to the store with my mom to get Beanie Babies. Only two were left, Quackers and Kiwi. I really wanted Quackers but my mom thought Kiwi was cuter. So I got Kiwi. Well, when I went home I went on the Beanie Baby home page and found out……… Kiwi was retired! He is now worth twenty dollars. I thanked my mom a lot!

From Ashley….Today, I went to the mall searching for any of the newly retired Beanie Babies because we are collecting them. Anyway, I walked into this shop that didn’t have many beanies but they were all bunched up on a shelf. Well, right in the middle of them all was Libearty. I’ve been wanting this bear for quite some time and now since it was retired I thought that I would never get it. I’m just glad that I was in the right place at the right time.

One day I went to the farm market after church with my cousin there was one Beanie left and she took it. I felt bad so my mom took me Beanie hunting. I told her that there was a store that I thought had Beanies so she said what the heck lets go look. When we went in, we saw over 500 Beanies we found all the newly retireds and bought 23 more. We were so excited!!

From Elizabeth….Hi! My name is Elizabeth, I have a story about Beanie Babies. Just today, one of my friends came over. She was admiring my Beanie Babies. Then I showed her all of my recently retired ones, and asked her which retired ones she had. I also told her that people were selling the retired ones for about $30 or $40 on the internet. (She doesn’t have the internet) I jokingly asked her how much she wanted for her Tabasco if I bought it from her. “For free. I have two of them.” she told me. “Really?” I asked her. I couldn’t let her give it to me, so I said that if she gave me Tabasco I would give her a Righty (which she didn’t have). Now, I will only need two more Beanie Babies to have all of the retired Beanie Babies. That is the luckiest day I have ever had.

From Alissa….Yesterday, while at the photo lab I came across a great find! This place has nothing to do with Beanie Babies….normally, but on this day it provided one of my BEST finds!

I am somewhat part of the staff at this lab. While behind the counter, I was poking around looking for some film cleaner, when I stumbled upon TABASCO! He was dirty & sad looking, just stuck in the back of a shelf with some lab supplies. He had been there for some time, waiting for his owner to re-claim him, but no one had come for him in several weeks. I told the guys at the lab, Tabasco needed a better home than the dusty old shelf, so they GAVE him to me!!!!! WOW… How could I do better than that!!!! He doesn’t have his ear tag, but he has the old black & white sewn in tag. I gave him a bath & he looks just like new!

Now he watches me while I sit at my computer, with Garcia….I will not forget him, like his previous owner did…He has a good home now!

I was upset when I heard they retired Sting. My friend told me it had been at a store she saw but she was going back to get it. I told my dad and he took me to that store. I looked everywhere and didn’t see him. I was getting discouraged when I noticed a dark shape stuffed in the back of a pile of white beanie babies. It was Sting! My friend had put him there so nobody else could get him! I got the last Sting the store had.I’m glad I there before her.

My mom was really sad because I only had 2 of the 96 retirees, Chops and Coral. So we went out in search of finding retireds, and picked them up by the ton! I then only needed Tabasco, and I wanted him really bad, but my mom could never find him. So, on the way home from work, she went to Ashbey’s to get her friend a Valentino, but they didn’t have any more. She didn’t want to, but she check a Hallmark store after that (she was in a hurry to get home) and when she went there they had just put a Tabasco down! My mom almost grabbed it right out of her hands! She asked how they got it, and she said someone returned 3 of them! (The lady kept 2) And my mom was happy, and I was VERY happy. THE END 🙂

From Cristina….Hi! I was never really into Beanie Babies as much as my 9 year oldbrother, and only had 2. My best friend was REALLy into them, and she got me glued to the various homepages about Beanies! I had just learned about retired Beanies when I went to the mall the next day, and saw about 20 Libearties, 10 Righties, 10 Lefties, 20 Corals, and 30 Tusks!! I only purchased one of each, but when I got home, my brother wanted to go right back and look for more! I then bought extras, and have happily been trading ever since!

Yesterday I took off work early to go hunt for newly retired beanies for my son’s birthday surprise. I went to three stores and found no retired ones. A woman in the last store told me about a store in the mall that had lots of “Beanie Babies”. Of course, it was to good to be true they where Bean Sprouts. I was disappointed by I remembered some friends told me they had gotten some at L.S. Ayres. I got to Ayres and right inside they entrance they was a small boy with Kiwi in his hand. Yes, they’ve got some retired ones, I thought. When I got to the kids department, not a single one. I went downstairs and luckily this kids mom was still shopping. I asked her where they had gotten Kiwi. A tack store one the other side of town where only people who own horses would venture and she looked at my retired list and she told me they had several of them. I got 2 Stings, 2 Chops,2 Kiwis. I thought that was pretty amazing.

I first saw Beanie Babies at a local shop during their annual doll show. No one was paying any attention to them. I purchased Speedy for my son who collects turtles and Daisy for my daughter-in-law who collects black and white cows. A few weeks later I saw Libearty, Teddy, and Curly; and, decided to add them to my teddy bear collection. About this time I began hearing about “Beanie Babies” from all the neighborhood children.

My husband and I went to Williamsburg the second week in December, and I was asked by a neighbor to try to find Ringo for her daughter. I found him at our first stop which was a Cracker Barrel in Williamsburg.

On our trip home I purchased several for Christmas gifts, and several I thought were unusual to hold for gifts. When we arrived home, my son informed me that he had been researching Beanies on the Internet, and since I collect toys, I should “get into this” because it could be profitable. We visited family and friends in Birmingham, AL for News Years, and my son told me that 9 would be retired on January 1, and that I really should start buying them. My search began December 30, 1996, and less than 2 weeks later I had all the Beanie Babies which were available at the end of 1996.

My collection has been acquired in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia (I can tell you every Beanie Baby source within a 15 mile radius of our Suwanee, GA residence). This week I found some retirees in Savannah, GA. My greatest surprise was when I walked into a shop nearby this week, and found 4 Chops on display. My cooperative husband also searches for Beanies when he travels on business, and has become quite an expert hunter.

I have met many very nice shoppers during my “hunt.” Beanie Baby collectors are very happy to share information about other shops and and where they have seen certain Beanies. Today I met a couple who said they have found some of their best treasures at TRUCK STOPS!

I have had a delightful time collecting my Beanies and hope other middle age women have as much fun as I do.

I hate to drive period. I especially hate to drive in bad weather at night on the highway. It frightens me. Well, I heard that a store had Sting and Spooky. My daughters needed them to complete their collection. A store thirty minutes away had our pals and offered to hold them until six. At five-thirty I jumped on the highway, grit my teeth and raced within legal limits to the store. By six-fifteen I was cruising along the highway with two new Beanie pals and two overjoyed daughters. I never stay home now. During my daily adventures Sting usually sits on the front seat. I wonder if he misses the sea? Probably, but I bet he thoroughly enjoys our explorations.

From Nate….A few days ago I walked into a Hallmark and on the shelf was a Lefty, Righty and Coral! I came there a few days later, and there was a Libearty, Tusk, and Kiwi. I went there two days ago, and they had Sting and chops!!!!! I just about freaked out. Now I have all of the 1996 retireds, except for Tabasco, which is on order at thee same store! 2 doors down from this Hallmark is a store called Gags & Gifts, and they have a good deal: Buy 6, get one free. I guess this is Hallmark’s way of competing!

From Sarah….I had been looking all over the mall for Beanie Babies, but no one seemed to have any. I went into Robinson’s May in the baby section. I looked at a table and saw Happy the Hippo. She didn’t have a tag on her, and was a little bit dirty, but other than that she was perfect. I asked the lady they sold beanie babies. She said yes, in the housewares. I went over there and asked a guy and he showed me imitation Beanie Babies. I told him I found Happy and asked if I could keep it, since they didn’t sell it. He said Yes! So I put Happy in the washing machine and she came out good as new!

I was in this store yeterday because I had heard they had recently recieved a new shipment of Beanie Babies. I walked inside and there was a barrel full of Beanies. They even had many of the newly retired ones, but I already had those. I wanted Garcia. I looked through the barrel for about 20 minutes and then I decided to look around the store to see if they any Beanies hiding anywhere. I carried Chocolate and Weenie with me, for I was going to buy these. I looked around the store for about five minutes and gave up. I walked back over to the barrel to see if there was anything I missed and I saw something in the display case. It was GARCIA sitting in the display window. They didn’t have any more Garcias in the barrel (I had looked before) so I took him and paid for him right as my dad came to pick me up.

From Katie….My little sister was looking for a Libearty the Bear. She called about 10 places to find it. One place had 3! The person went over to pick 2 up so she could hold them at the store for my sister to pick them up ( She promised her friend that if she found 2 Libeartys, she’d buy 1 for her). Just as the clerk was going to pick it up, a lady grabbed all 3! So we had lost Libearty. That’s not all! My mom went to visit my grandparents in Illinois for 5 days and when she came back, she had bought 3 Libeartys! So my sister got what she wanted in the end.

From Kat….I really wanted Chops a lot. I spent about a half an hour by the phone asking if they would get a Chops in or had one in stock. No luck. Then one day it snowed, and we got school off. My friend and I were sledding, and she told me she had gotten Chops! I was really jealous! I asked her where she had gotten him and she said in Washington DC, about fifteen minutes from where I live. I told my mom and she said she would take me! It took twenty minutes to find the name of the place, but they said they had him! We hurried down to the store and it was closed! We were so upset. We went over to another store nearby to ask when it would open, and they didn’t know! Well, I turned around and the shop was open! I hurried inside and looked for Chops. All of a sudden my mom asks me, “Is this Chops?” and in her hand is a Chops! We ended up buying three, plus Pinky the flamingo! I’m just glad it all worked out for the best.

From Kristin….Yesterday my friend, her sister, her mother, and I went out to get Beanie Babies. The store we went to had boxes, boxes, and even more boxes of Beanie Babies. They had just gotten a shipment in at 3:30. Today, I went again with some other friends, and one of them was really excited because the store had tons of Stripes’s. She hadn’t been able to find him anywhere. She thought it was to good to be true. It was…..

When we got to the store, we couldn’t find any Beanies! It turned out they sold out today at 12:00. It was to, to, to good to be true. Luckily I had gotten my new two yesterday, or else I would hane been disapointed!

I found three seventy five doller Bumbles at the Libary of Congress. I got them for $5! Apparently the Library had them for such a long time, they did not know that they were retired!!

From Barbara….Hi this is just a little story about how I began to collect Beanies. Last November my husband was being, well a real “Donkey” if you know what I mean. On his way to work he was feeling a little guilty and stopped at a gas station he knew sold stuffed toys and wanted to get me one. Since he had been acting like a “donkey” he picked LEFTY………when he came home and gave it to me we had a laugh and I put him on my shelf, then I began hearing about these “Beanie Babies”, I said OH I have one!! And he is retired now………so NOW I am a Beanie collector!!

I was so excited when Ty announced the new Beanie Babies on the first of January. I am a sole collector of 78 and couldn’t wait to get them. Little did I know, that most stores around my home in Ohio were saying that they wouldn’t be getting them until March. Boy, was I bummed out. So, I decided to browse the Web one day, and found the names and numbers of over 20 stores in the United States. But, nobody had the new ones yet. I was even more bummed out because I’m having jaw surgery in two weeks and my mom had said that she would get me some. Then, on Jan. 27, I had a day off of school for Teacher in Service Day. I decided to make one last call to all the stores I had called just days before. And guess what, I came across seven of the new ones! They just arrived today and I’m so excited to have them! I love Beanie Babies and will continue my search for more until Ty quits!

I had wanted Coral for a long time, but we where going to go to Hawaii for Christmas, and my mom thought that it would be fun to pick him up in Hawaii. We didn’t spend very much time in the malls there, so I was getting worried that we wouldn’t find him. We took a day trip from Maui to the Big Island of Hawaii, and our return flight was delayed. We were looking for something to do (the airport is very small) and we were shopping in the only gift shop, when I found Coral. It was exciting to find him, but even more excited when I got back home and found out that he was retired. What was really amazing was that was the only retired one that I didn’t have.

I was at a craft store to purchase a Pouch and while looking through the beanie pile I found a Tabasco. I grabbed it quick and asked the clerk if they had any more. I ended up buying 11. The children at my daughters school were thrilled. I had called 20 stores to find him and up he pops. My Mom also had success in find Chops for me. This has been my lucky week.

From MeMe….As of today, Jan.30th 1997, I have 75 Beanie Babies. I received my first one in my Christmas stocking on Dec 25th ’96. I “discovered” Beanie Babies a few days before Christmas while looking for last-minute stocking stuffers. When I saw them, I thought they would be the perfect thing for our stockings, so I bought 7 different ones for all the members of our family. (I gave my husband Righy because he is such a Republican!!). We also got a new computer for Christmas, and a few days after New Year’s, I decided to look up Beanie Babies on the Internet. Little did I know what I was about to discover !!! After hearing about the retired ones and the new ones and finding out just how many different ones there are, I became obsessed with finding every one of them. So, on January 4th, I started by quest for Beanie Babies! I now have all of the current ones except Spooky (it seems the stores only get him at Halloween). I also have been able to find all of the newly retried ones, even Tabasco. And yesterday, I just happened to go into a small toy store right after they put out some brand new ones. I was able to get Pouch, Bernie, and Gracie !! They had already sold out of Fleece (in about 20 minutes)!! I am addicted to Beanie Babies! My guest bedroom is full of them; my husband thinks I’m crazy; and I have 75 new friends to love! Someday I will give them to my little granddaughters but until then, I’m in Beanie Baby Heaven!! I’m 52 years old. Talk about your Second Childhood; this is great!!!!!

I have a really exciting story to share. I read somewhere on the internet that a good place to check for Beanie Babies is florists & hospital gift shops, so the other day I was just passing time and I thought I would check a couple florist’s close to where I live. The very first florist I went to had a few piles of stuffed animals so I started digging through them and I found Chilly. He was in mint condition and was the only Beanie Baby in the whole store. I was so excited I could hardly wait to get home and call all of my Beanie buddys.

From Molly….At 40 years old, I had become somewhat obsessed with finding Chops. My husband, daughter, and myself went on a beanie baby hunt the other evening. At our seventh stop we were becoming somewhat discouraged, unable to locate Chops, and I asked the sales clerk if she had any more beanies in the back. She said “no.” I asked her to check again, and she returned a moment later and said, “sorry, I only have one lamb back there.” My husband screamed “is it Chops?'” and all three of us leaped at her. Im sure she thought we were nuts. Yesterday, I found three Tobascos. I wonder if I am nuts too!!!!

A few days ago I went to a store that sold Beanies, because I heard they were having a sale. To my suprise they had Kiwi. So (of course)I bought him. Then I called the next night and they said they had Tusk. So now 1-31-97 I am going to get my second little treasure.

From Joy….I’m so pleased with my collection of beanies. Yesterday after going in and out of a store that had a sale on beanies I had decided to go in the store just one more time, and right before my eyes lay Coral, Tusk, Kiwi, and Chops. I was so happy that I was jumping up and down. As I looked around the store I saw everyone looking at me like I was crazy!

From Ashley…..Yesterday(2-1-97) I went to the local mall searching for Curly the bear. We went into a store that had many buckets of beanies. Well, I had been reading before that Kiwi was selling for $15 so I was interested in buying him, too. Anyway, at the bottom of this bucket there were 5 Kiwis and I was excited. I bought one and that made me very happy.

On January 30th, I went to my local Hallmark store, I had called earlier and they received some of the new Beanies in. Well, I went in looking for the bunnies and as I was looking down the display, I saw Chops, EIGHT of them. Of course I bought them all. Only felt guilty for a few seconds! Then I saw Kiwi, Tusk and Coral. I only bought a few of those, left some for someone else. I also purchased the three bunnies, Mel, Bernie, Gracie, Fleece, Crunch, Pouch, and Dobie. Now I need Nuts and the cat. My husband thinks I have lost any marbles I may still have! I love it! Thanks for letting me share my story, now if only I could find the older retirees!

From JmVdw….I really enjoy your web site so much but I have to say each time I read the section about great finds, I can’t help but to remember the very first day we went out to buy a Beanie Baby for my son. We were in a local drug store that had literally thousands of these lovable little creatures. I was a woman possessed! Of all the Beanie Babies my son picked up a dog and wanted it first, I looked at the name and said, “No, this one is named Spot and it doesn’t even have a spot! Get one of those cute ones with a spot on it. See, all of the others have spots, this one is boring. WHO KNEW? Our Little Spot is still one of his favorite Beanie Babies and we ended up buying 39 that day. Within a couple of weeks we had the entire collection and I have since bought some of the older retireds. We are going on a cruise in March and I am banking on running into Quackers no wings, Spot no Spot and Slither on one of those small islands where the natives have never heard of Ty, after all we never stay up north when we retire so I am sure that is where they are headed!

From Rachel…My mom said she had some Beanie Babies up in her closet that she decided not to give us for Christmas. Since I had just gotten another Peanut from a party i told her I’d trade. She said OK and went to get them. She came downstairs holding none other than the famous Tabasco!!!!!!!!!!!!! She also had Teddy the bear. I quickly gave her Peanut and grabbed Tabasco. Now I wonder if my dad has some :o)

From Anne….Wow, I had a great weekend!I went to two shops and found LeFty,Chops, Tusk, Coral, Kiwi and Tabasco! Now I need Sting, Righty, and Liberty! But hey there is next weekend!

From Carrie….Today, I was searching through the mall not expecting to find very much. When I went into this tiny store there was a shelf full of beanies. There on top was Kiwi, Coral, Mel, Fleece, Pouch, Bernie, Crunch, and Gracie. I was so excited to see them since they were usually sold out. I bought them all and went home very happy

In January, I was on a major hunt for Flip. I went with my mom and my brother to the mall. We searched through all 5 of the stores we knew sold them and no Flip. My brother picked up a Magic and under him was FLIP. I guess with the white I just didn’t see him. I quickly snatched him up and bought him. I am SO glad! 🙂

From Jessica….Today (January 5, 1997) I went to the mall to get Chops. I called the store last night and they said that they had one beanie baby left. They said it’s name was Chops. Today I went to pick him up when I found out that he was made by another company and didn’t have a real name!! I decided to look around the mall to see if I could find any retired beanies. I went into a Hallmark store and found out that they had just gotten a brand new shipment. They had Lefty, Righty, Coral, and Sting!!! I bought one of each. Next I went to the other Hallmark store and found out that they had also gotten a new shipment. They had Coral, Lefty, Righty, Sting, AND Libearty!!! Since I had already gotten Coral, Lefty, Righty, and Sting I bought Libearty instead. At the end of they day I was so happy!!! I had gotten 5 new beanies and they were all retired!!!

From Amanda….My best beanie hunting story is my whole collection story. Don’t worry it’s short. At first my friend Nicholas Elliot got me two Beanies for Christmas. I thought that they were so cute. Then my grandma realized that her store was selling some so she got me one. We went by the little carts in the mall and picked out 3. Then my grandma got a little carried away with it all and got me 9. The next day my mom brought home 7. The very next day my grandma got me another one. And today my aunt E-mailed me to say that she got me 10 more. When she brought them over she suprised me with one more to add to my collection. So now I have 34 happy little Beanie Babies spread about my room. Now wasn’t that an exiting little story.

From Tara….One day I went to my local Hallmark store, and there was Tusk sitting on the shelf! They also had Tabasco! I thought someone had told me Pinchers was retired, so I got him. Then I found that Pinchers WASN’T retired, and the other two were! I was SO mad at myself. That was 4 days ago. I’m going there again tomorrow, but I don’t think I have much more luck!

From Jenna….Hi my name is Jenna. I have 49 Beanies as of February 2 1997. I have all of the new retirees accept Libearty whom I desperely wanted for some time now.

Earlier in the day my mom went out to the mall to a little country store called Fibber Magees. She knew they sold Beanies so she went to the corner where they displayed them. Then she saw a sign that said “Buy four beanie babies and you can purchace a retired piece. Quickly my mom ran to the counter and asked to see all the reitred pieces. They had 2 Libearty’s. My mom didn’t know what four Beanies to buy so she picked me up from school and then we went to the mall. We zoomed upstairs to Fibber Magees and she asked for Libearty. The lady at the desk said that they had one left! So after that we ended up buying Gracie, Crunch, Patti, Snip, Nuts,and Libearty. I’m so glad that they still had him.

From Lynn..I got caught up in the craziest situation this afternoon, looking for Hoppity the rose bunny:

I went to Zany Brainy, a large children’s retail store, because they were getting a large (40 cases) order of Beanie Babies, including the new releases. I got there and the whole parking lot was full, but I didn’t see a line outside the door and went in. The place was packed!! There were probably close to 500 people (moms, dads, grandmas, lots of kids) with literally shopping carts FULL of Beanie Babies. I asked a few (unfriendly or unhappy) people if they had seen Hoppity and no one had. The line to pay was incredibly long!!

As I was leaving, I asked an obviously pooped employee who was standing in the door if she was trying to get a breath of fresh air. She said, “No, I’m here to meet these gentlemen.” I looked and there were a sheriff deputy and two Cobb County policemen coming in. She said to them, “Please help us control this crowd. We’ve been mobbed!” I immediately got on my cellular phone and called my friends who own The Quilted Rabbit, a small children’s store. They couldn’t believe it, and told me to GET OUT OF THERE! One of the owners even called my house to see if I got home okay. I couldn’t believe it–it really is insane!