Hard To Find Toys

Trouble in Toyland. If you're still shopping for that hot Christmas toy your kids are begging for, time is short and the stores may have run out. <br><br>And to add insult to injury, Toys R Us customers

Friday, December 24th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Trouble in Toyland. If you're still shopping for that hot Christmas toy your kids are begging for, time is short and the stores may have run out.

And to add insult to injury, Toys R Us customers are facing some problems with their Internet purchases. Shopping for toys close to Christmas may be as rough as this horseback ride from Toy Story 2. Action figures from the popular movie may be hard to come by. Stores nationwide are nearly sold out of Buzz Light Year and Woody, his cowboy companion. Manager of a local Target store, Paul Pennington says "we had a guitar playing Woody and that's been the most popular toy right now. We sold out of him."

Looking for video games? So were a lot of other folks so expect trouble finding Sega Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. "Game Boy Color has been very difficult to get our hands on this year. I think part of it is due to manufacturers not anticipating the higher volume they had this year," according to Pennington. Internet customers of Toys R Us may not have anticipated the notice they received this week. The company sent out e-mail saying purchases made on Toys R Us.com may not be delivered in time for Christmas.

At Target, KOTV found last minute shoppers in pretty good spirits, considering. Target customer Tanya Franklin says "we were looking for some Easy Bake Oven stuff and couldn't find that, but we found some other things that they liked." Here are more of the hard to find toys. Millennium Princess Barbie and the Kids Designs' Barbie Cash register. Plus, Amazing Ally, a doll that talks, tells jokes and keeps track of your kid's birthday and favorite pet. As for Pokemon, KOTV found Pokemon stickers at this Target, but the trading cards, and stuffed animals are gone. You might consider a bike and this advice.

Pennington says "we still have a good selection of most everything, but be prepared next year. It's hard for parents to do this but you kind of need to prepare in advance for listen to what your kids want and get into the stores earlier to get that product."

Supplies of some toys that rely on computer chips are down in part because of earthquakes that hit major production centers in Taiwain in September. And as for Toys R Us.com, they're compensating customers with $100 coupons for the unexpected inconvenience.