In the middle of last year my dad, Bill, and I were interviewed for an HBO documentary about the 1990s Beanie Baby craze. ‘Beanie Mania’ eventually premiered on Christmas Eve 2022 on HBO and, sadly, Bill and I were left on the cutting room floor. It was still a fun experience and if you watch the documentary, they used one of our photos from the Downtown Naperville store in the mid-1990s. The photo featured piles of Beanie Babies.
Beanie Babies 30th Anniversary
Last week our Ty (the manufacturer of Beanie Babies) sales representative came in to build us a new display and give us a limited selection of 3 new Beanie Babies! These three are a throwback to some of the earlier Beanie Babies of the 1990s–with slight color variations. It was fun to see, and definitely a throwback to my childhood. I could name all three without even seeing the hang tag: Bongo, Valentino & Bones—though they added a Roman numeral 2 after their names, just in case you get confused.
While they haven’t flown off the shelves the way a new Beanie release would have in 1997, Ty is definitely playing up the nostalgia with this release. As a parent now, I was excited to show the new line to my kids, though they both already have a handful of Ty stuffed animals—they’re great Oswald’s customers!
Check out the newest ‘throwback’ Beanie Babies here!
Naperville Sidewalk Sale at Oswald’s
As we leave the warmer days of late spring and move into early summer, we’re excited to start setting aside old stock for our annual Sidewalk Sale in July. If you can’t wait until then, check the aisle across from greeting cards, sale carts out front of the store, and the bookshelves in the back of the store for some great deals in advance of the big sale.
Don’t forget Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 18th! We’ve got plenty of unique finds for the Dads & Grandpas in your life, from some great new Stonewall Kitchen BBQ sets and drink mixers, to our everyday items like puzzles, mugs, decorations, and more. Perhaps Dad was a Beanie collector in the 1990s? Get him a limited edition new Beanie—before they’re on eBay for thousands of dollars! ℞
