The newest toy craze sweeping Australian schools has provided a much-needed boost for Australian toy stores and distributors after a COVID-stricken year.
The POP-IT has been has replaced the fidget spinner as the must-have item in the hands of kids – and big kids – with TikTok exposure sending demand through the roof.
One toy store, Anime at Abbottsford in Sydney’s inner-west has sold over 4,300 POP ITs in eight weeks – generating $34,000 in revenue at their price of $8 each.
Owner Bradley Merriel said he sold 92 in just ten minutes after telling eager local schoolkids that he’d notify them once stock arrived by putting a note on the blackboard out the front of his store.
‘At about five past three when they came out of school, virtually half the school came into the store.’
‘There was three of us (staff) and we just died!
‘With COVID, it was like ‘Oh my God, I’m not sure if I’m allowed this many people in the store!’.
The super popular toys have amassed over two billion views on Tik Tok
POP ITs are sensory fidget toys made out of silicon and are similar to bubble wrap
POP ITs are the newest sensory fidget toy where users repeatedly pop dimples in and out in a similar fashion to bubble wrap.
The toys have gone viral on Tik Tok with the hashtag ‘popit’ amassing over two billion views.
Sandra Mortimer, a lecturer in occupational therapy at Flinders University said the origin of the toys was a device designed to help children with sensory difficulties, ABC News reported.
‘We’re sort of more commonly used to kids with sensory challenges, or developmental delays or difficulties using these sorts of sensory tools,’ she told ABC News.
‘A fidget toy can really help a child through their sense of touch and their use of that toy to help them regulate themselves.’
Roxy Jacenko’s daughter has begun selling the toys through her business Pixies Fidgets
With little to no intellectual property restrictions on designing your own version of the concept, a number of similar products have emerged on the Australian market.
Roxy Jacenko’s daughter is among those who have begun selling the viral toys through her business, Pixie’s Fidgets.
Pixie Curtis (pictured) sold out of the toys in 48 hours with a sale every two minutes
The Australian businesswoman’s daughter, Pixie Curtis has been selling the toys at pop-up stores at Westfields in Bondi Junction and Parramatta.
The business reportedly sold out of the toys within 48 hours as Ms Jacenko wrote on Instagram that they had a sale every two minutes.
‘Pulled together in 3 days! Trends don’t wait!’ she wrote.
‘Thank you to my team for the effort for helping us bring #pixiesfidgets by #pixiecurtis to life – a sale every two minutes – loving life!’
Anime at Abbotsford (pictured) sold 92 POP ITs in ten minutes of the first day they stocked the toy
Bradley Merriel, the owner Anime at Abbotsford told Daily Mail Australia he’s had children asking for the toys since Christmas but there was a wait to find an Australian distributor to bring prices down.
‘Coming up to Christmas the kids started asking for it… and they kept asking and asking and asking,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I was looking around for them and then this Australian distributor in Brisbane, they contacted me because I was contacting everybody.’
Over the eight weeks Anime at Abbotsford has stocked the POP ITs they have sold over 4,300 with the rainbow octagon by far the most popular of the 37 variations.
Despite the seemingly simple nature of the toys Mr Merriel says he has had teachers coming in asking for the toys.
‘They’re now making huge ones which have 100 dimples and I’ve got school teachers coming in and they say ‘it’s excellent for maths’,’ he said.
Anime at Abbotsford sells the toys for $7.95 each
POP ITs have been the latest fidget toy craze sweeping schools
Mr Merriel was cashing in while the going is good, knowing the demand won’t last.
‘It’s not slowing down yet, it will and then it will just get replaced by something else in a couple years time,’ he said
‘I would say it’s probably got another two months life and that’ll be it.’
The toy is being hailed at the new fidget spinner
