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Stores ration hot toys Photo by Steve Johnson Hot Wheels enthusiast Jesse Horton searches through boxes of the tiny cars at Fred Meyer early Friday morning. Popular collectibles go quickly, forcing stores to ration how many people can buy. If not, collectors would deplete limited supplies By DAVID PRESZLER The 60 Furbys that arrived at the north Medford Fred Meyer the night before Thanksgiving disappeared faster than any turkey dinner in the Rogue Valley. The 47 that Wal-Mart got for the day after Thanksgiving -- the nation's top shopping day -- were gone minutes after the store opened at 6 a.m. A sign posted Friday at Toys 'R' Us broke the bad news: "We have no Furbys." A clerk there said they hadn't had any in a week, although a dozen were expected over the weekend. And the animated gremlin-like fur dolls aren't the only collectible items flying off the shelves. Hot Wheels are rolling away like crazy, too, and Star Wars figurines are going quickly as the hype is whipped up for the long-awaited prequel to the wildly popular trilogy. The rush for collectible items, which grows more intense with each fad, has left store managers with a dilemma: how to keep the items in stock and give everyone a fair shot at them. "You try not to sell a whole box to a collector because that doesn't let anyone else have a chance to purchase them," says Howard McLeod, the manager at KayBee Toys in the Rogue Valley Mall. Customers were limited to two Furbys each at KayBee Toys -- while they lasted. At Fred Meyer, the limit was one. "We try to set limits on those high-demand items to make sure more customers have a chance," says Fred Sowers, the manager at the north Medford store. "We had a gentleman who called up and wanted 200 Furbys. I had to say, `Not at Freddie's."' The competition can get ugly. "I had one in my hand and a guy at Wal-Mart literally pushed me and said, `That's my Hot Wheels,"' Medford's Lance Bangs said, looking through the assortment at Target on Friday morning. "But I left with it." Bangs says he's been collecting for about nine months, trying to get the entire line of 1998 Hot Wheels to mark the birth of his son. He's all for rules limiting the quantities people can buy at one time: "They need to be more regulate by far." Fred Meyer set a limit of 24 Hot Wheels per customer, but that didn't keep Jesse Horton and several others -- many of them adults -- from digging through boxes arranged on the floor at 6:15 a.m. Friday. "It really doesn't bother me none," Horton said. "I'm just after a few cars." But restrictions strike some shoppers as silly and unfair. "I figure if you've got the money to buy it, why not?" said Judy Miers of Central Point, who was determined to get some Hot Wheels for her grandson Friday morning at Target. "I've been out here since 5:10 this morning," she said. "I'm going to get Taylor his Hot Wheels." Michael Moore of Target's toy department says the store hasn't imposed any strict limits. "We try to stay even-handed," he said. "We treat the collectors like other guests. We can't really have restrictions. That would be hard to marshal." Target has posted a sign the toy department, part of which it has dubbed "Collector's Row," saying that it may limit quantities. The sign also says that shipments will be placed out as soon as they arrive -- a way to prevent people from gathering as the store opens each day in hopes of scarfing up the ones that come in. Toy 'R' Us hasn't posted any limits, though no one at the Medford store or the corporate office would comment about collectible policies. At Wal-Mart, customers were limited to two Furbys but there's been no limit on Hot Wheels and a clerk said the scramble for them has been "pretty nasty." Doug Fiebelkorn of Medford, who collects Hot Wheels and "customizes" them by changing the tires or repainting them, said he's seen that first-hand. "I was at Wal-Mart and there was a guy that was pretty rough," he said. "It's sad." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA