Milwaukee FASHION

“I think they may have saved my store,” Karty said. Thank goodness for kids’ fanciful fads. Cabbage Patch Kids are so 1984. The Beanie Baby craze has to be at least a decade old now. No, today, the clamor from the mouths of babes forms a simple two-syllable word. Webkinz. Karty opened Next Generation 25 years ago, selling children’s clothing and gifts, and she said she has never seen a next-new-thing that has caught on quite as tight as Webkinz.

“They have been out for a couple of years now, but they haven’t done any advertising. It’s all been word-of-mouth,” she explained. “We started (carrying Webkinz) about a year ago. I remember that I had to spend about 15 minutes explaining to people what they were. Then we went into Christmas. By January, that’s when the frenzy started, and we couldn’t even get them in stock.

“By Easter, and I am not exaggerating, the phone was ringing the entire day with people calling and asking if we had them,” she added. So what are Webkinz? Webkinz can be described, in part, as a simple stuffed animal. That alone has set off fads in the past; however, this particular toy also has a second side that caters to today’s tech-savvy youth. Each plush comes with a code.

When a child goes to the Webkinz Web site and enters the code, they not only have their plush toy, but they also get an online virtual version of their toy, which has to be cared for through interactive games on the Web site. The code allows the owner to have an online animal for one year, but, with each new Webkinz purchased, all of their existing online pets get re-upped for another year of activity.