VALUE FOR money and nostalgia are driving the toy market this Christmas, toy shops say.
At Hamley’s in Dundrum, eight out of the top 10 most popular Christmas toys are priced at €30 or under, including the Go Go Pet Hamster, an interactive pet, which has been a runaway success this Christmas.
“This year the stocking fillers would definitely be more popular,” according to marketing manager Valerie Ford. “You can see by the most popular toys – there’s only one in each bracket that goes above the €30 mark.”
Store manager of Smyths on Jervis Street, Marita Gallagher, said that, while the shop has seen the same footfall as in previous years, customers are not spending as much this Christmas.
“People are buying cheaper brands and going for better value products,” she says.
However, she added that more expensive toys such as the Sylvanian Grand Hotel, the three-wheeled wing scooter and other large items such as kitchens are still selling.
“They’re still buying the bigger items, but I would say people are looking for better value.”
And it seems parents are buying for themselves as much as their children. The likes of Lego, Sylvanian Families, Scalextric, Transformers and Barbie may be more associated with the 1980s, so nostalgia would appear to be driving them back to old favourites.
“Lego is huge – it seems to have made a complete comeback,” Ms Gallagher says. “Sylvanian Families are absolutely huge . . . Hello Kitty and Barbie are still up there as well,” she says.
Hamley’s has also noticed a return to the classics.
“The trend that we’ve seen is that parents are going back to the classic toys and the whole nostalgia thing,” Ms Ford said. “I think it’s a case now where the kids who grew up in the ’80s are parents now themselves.”