The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition --
		   December 27, 1996 

More Proof That Grownups Are Nuttier Than Their Kids

		 By ROBERT BERNER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET
		 JOURNAL

		 The price run-up on these babies would make a
		 commodities trader blanch.

		 But the 50% surge isn't for soybeans or cocoa beans.
		 It's the latest crop of Beanie Babies, little toy
		 animals stuffed with plastic beans that kids -- and
		 some adults -- crave.

		 Some retailers are charging as much as $7.50 for the
		 critters, although the suggested retail price is $5.
		 Stories abound of even steeper price hikes.

		 This gives their creator, Ty Warner, owner of Ty Inc.
		 of Oak Brook, Ill., the blues. He says he designed the
		 line of stuffed toys three years ago to sell at a
		 price that children "with pocketbook money and
		 allowances" could afford.

		 Retailers, he says, pay $2.50 a baby. "They should be
		 happy to double their money," he adds. "Anything over
		 that is just taking advantage of an opportunity and
		 milking it."

		 Alas, Gazebo in New York sells Beanies for $7.50.
		 Owner Robert LoMonaco says he is just trying to cover
		 the high costs of retailing in Manhattan.

		 In Los Angeles, Pumpkins Toys charges $7 each. "Things
		 come in and we mark them up accordingly," says owner
		 Renee Scherrer.

		 Antiques & More in La Grange, Ill., pegs the price at
		 $7.25. Owner Sue Riggio says she charges that because
		 she doesn't buy them directly from Ty.

		 Indeed, a gray market has developed for Beanie Babies.
		 Ty only sells directly to independent retailers, not
		 mass merchants. Yet somehow middlemen are getting
		 their hands on the things, Mr. Warner contends. He
		 says he has hired private investigators to figure out
		 how.

		 A Walgreen Co. drugstore in Antioch, Ill., buys its
		 Beanies from a middleman because it can't buy from Ty,
		 says John Heleniak, store manager. It charges $5.99,
		 which Mr. Heleniak calls a fair price given that "I
		 get them for $4."

		 The middleman, Garry Nusinow, says he gets them from
		 another supplier, whom he refuses to disclose. "I pay
		 $3.25, plus freight," he says. That has gone up from a
		 month ago, when he could order them for $2.95. "My
		 profit margin on the Beanie is less than anything I
		 sell," he adds.

		 Mr. Warner concedes the price would be lower if he
		 sold to mass merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. But,
		 he says, "We are trying to make them a little
		 exclusive and hard to get and keep them that way."

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