このページはフレーム対応ブラウザ用に作成されています。下のリンクは非フレーム使用ページですのでそちらをご覧ください。
この記事をプリントする
今年のXマスの買い物は混雑しない?
毎年 X マスの時期になると、おもちゃ売り場には長蛇の列ができ、人気のある商品は在庫が足りなくなるほどの売れ行きを見せます。しかし今年人気のポケモン関連のグッズは、種類が多いので在庫は大丈夫。また、そのほかにもさまざまな売れ筋があります
U.K. Santas Look Forward To Relaxed Hunt for Presents
By STEVE HILL
British parents are sleeping easy this year as Christmas approaches and the race to buy children the perfect present hits top gear.
In recent years, shopping malls and stores have been besieged in the last frantic days before Dec. 25, as mothers and
fathers search out the latest fashionable toy or accessory.
Last year there was a desperate shortage of Furbies. In 1997 Teletubbies were so hard to find that queues quickly
formed outside shops expecting a delivery while a black market sprang up and did a roaring trade. And in 1996 Buzz Lightyear was the elusive target of anxious parents.
A new phrase was also born — toy rage — to describe the actions of those who simply could not wait in line and take a
chance on getting their hands on the toy their child must have. But that's all in the past because this year there will be
no panic buying and no frantic searching by parents determined to make their child's dreams come true.
The British Association of Toy Retailers has compiled a list of the 10 most popular Christmas toys for 1999 and
happily reports that all but one — a board game spinoff from a popular television quiz show — are freely available
in shops.
Topping this interim chart, which measures a select list of members' sales up to the end of November, is Pokemon.
It's the world's biggest computer game, and spinoffs include 150 characters that show up in a range of different toys.
And that is one of the big secrets behind its success, according to Gerry Masters, a spokesman for the association.
He said: "The Pokemon range is so wide that if you cannot find one particular item in the shop then there's a good chance
you will find another."
Also proving equally popular this year are Furby Babies, pastel-colored versions of Furby in miniature. They can say
more words and phrases than the original Fur
by and respond to light, touch, sound and motion, according to the manufacturers.
Figures of WWF wrestlers are in big demand, thanks to worldwide TV coverage, as are Alien Eggs and Beanies.
Interestingly, despite the fact that so many children have access to computers these days and are becoming increasingly
sophisticated, simple plastic replicas of dinosaurs and dolls, which please both male and female tastes, continue
to be popular.
"Children have not changed that much over the years," added Masters. "I just think they are getting brighter quicker.
Barbie dolls used to be aimed at 6-year-old girls. Now they're targeted at 3-year-olds.
"It's the same with Action Men (male dolls). They used to be marketed at 6- to 7-year-olds, now it's 4-year-olds."
The Association of Toy Retail- ers is currently conducting a poll to find the most popular toys of the century. The
results will be announced next month, but already Meccano construction sets, train sets and Action Men look set to
figure thanks to strong sales across several generations.
One national British newspaper recently ran its own poll and concluded that the teddy bear was the most popular toy of
the century. Anyone with an old teddy, in good condition, tucked away at the back of a wardrobe would be staggered to
find that it could be worth thousands of pounds to collectors.
The same is true of other toys that were once popular but are now hard to find: first edition Barbie dolls, certain
Beanie Babies or metal die-cast toy cars that are only 30 years old.
I only wish I had kept some of my old toys, many of which were thrown out years ago or passed on to other family members
before heading, inevitably, for the garbage can. I can only guess at what some of them might be worth today.
Will the toys of 1999 become prized items for collectors in the future? Who knows; but one solution may be to buy two
Pokemon or two of the latest Action Men, one for the children and one to go under the bed as an alternative investment to stocks and shares!
Whatever presents children receive on Dec. 25, one thing is certain, and that is that parents and brothers and sisters,
too, will all be keen to try out for themselves the latest high-tech gadgets on the market.
Some of us may be getting on in age, but there's still a little part of us that wants to be a child for an hour or two on
Christmas Day and have some fun.
British parents are sleeping easy this year as Christmas approaches and the race to buy children the perfect present hits top gear.
In recent years, shopping malls and stores have been besieged in the last frantic days before Dec. 25, as mothers and
fathers search out the latest fashionable toy or accessory.
Last year there was a desperate shortage of Furbies. In 1997 Teletubbies were so hard to find that queues quickly
formed outside shops expecting a delivery while a black market sprang up and did a roaring trade. And in 1996 Buzz Lightyear was the elusive target of anxious parents.
A new phrase was also born — toy rage — to describe the actions of those who simply could not wait in line and take a
chance on getting their hands on the toy their child must have. But that's all in the past because this year there will be
no panic buying and no frantic searching by parents determined to make their child's dreams come true.
The British Association of Toy Retailers has compiled a list of the 10 most popular Christmas toys for 1999 and
happily reports that all but one — a board game spinoff from a popular television quiz show — are freely available
in shops.
Topping this interim chart, which measures a select list of members' sales up to the end of November, is Pokemon.
It's the world's biggest computer game, and spinoffs include 150 characters that show up in a range of different toys.
And that is one of the big secrets behind its success, according to Gerry Masters, a spokesman for the association.
He said: "The Pokemon range is so wide that if you cannot find one particular item in the shop then there's a good chance
you will find another."
Also proving equally popular this year are Furby Babies, pastel-colored versions of Furby in miniature. They can say
more words and phrases than the original Fur
by and respond to light, touch, sound and motion, according to the manufacturers.
Figures of WWF wrestlers are in big demand, thanks to worldwide TV coverage, as are Alien Eggs and Beanies.
Interestingly, despite the fact that so many children have access to computers these days and are becoming increasingly
sophisticated, simple plastic replicas of dinosaurs and dolls, which please both male and female tastes, continue
to be popular.
"Children have not changed that much over the years," added Masters. "I just think they are getting brighter quicker.
Barbie dolls used to be aimed at 6-year-old girls. Now they're targeted at 3-year-olds.
"It's the same with Action Men (male dolls). They used to be marketed at 6- to 7-year-olds, now it's 4-year-olds."
The Association of Toy Retail- ers is currently conducting a poll to find the most popular toys of the century. The
results will be announced next month, but already Meccano construction sets, train sets and Action Men look set to
figure thanks to strong sales across several generations.
One national British newspaper recently ran its own poll and concluded that the teddy bear was the most popular toy of
the century. Anyone with an old teddy, in good condition, tucked away at the back of a wardrobe would be staggered to
find that it could be worth thousands of pounds to collectors.
The same is true of other toys that were once popular but are now hard to find: first edition Barbie dolls, certain
Beanie Babies or metal die-cast toy cars that are only 30 years old.
I only wish I had kept some of my old toys, many of which were thrown out years ago or passed on to other family members
before heading, inevitably, for the garbage can. I can only guess at what some of them might be worth today.
Will the toys of 1999 become prized items for collectors in the future? Who knows; but one solution may be to buy two
Pokemon or two of the latest Action Men, one for the children and one to go under the bed as an alternative investment to stocks and shares!
Whatever presents children receive on Dec. 25, one thing is certain, and that is that parents and brothers and sisters,
too, will all be keen to try out for themselves the latest high-tech gadgets on the market.
Some of us may be getting on in age, but there's still a little part of us that wants to be a child for an hour or two on
Christmas Day and have some fun.
Shukan ST: Dec. 17, 1999
(C) All rights reserved
- hits top gear
- 最高潮に達する
- have been besieged
- 人が殺到した
- desperate shortage
- 絶対的な不足
- Furbies
- 言葉を話す電子ペットのぬいぐるみ
- Teletubbies
- 英国幼児向けテレビ番組の主人公
- queues
- 行列
- delivery
- 商品の到着
- sprang up
- 出現した
- roaring trade
- 活発な商売
- Buzz Lightyear
- 映画『トイ・ストーリー』のキャラクター
- elusive
- 手に入りにくい
- anxious
- 入手したくてやきもきしている
- toy rage
- おもちゃ購入にからむ激怒。road rage(運転中のストレスでドライバーがかっとなること)からきた新語
- wait in line
- 行列に並ぶ
- Retailers
- 小売り業者
- has compiled
- まとめた
- all but one
- 一つを除いてすべて
- board game spinoff from 〜
- 〜 から生まれた卓上ゲーム
- available
- 手に入る
- Topping this interim chart(is) 〜
- この中間報告のリストのトップは 〜
- select list of member's sales
- 選ばれた会員たちの売り上げ
- a range of 〜
- さまざまな 〜
- proving 〜
- 〜 となった
- respond to 〜
- 〜 に反応する
- manufacturers
- 製造元
- Figures
- 人形
- are in big demand
- 人気が高い
- coverage
- 放映
- Alien Eggs
- 宇宙人の赤ちゃんの入った卵のがん具
- Beanies
- ぬいぐるみ人形
- sophisticated
- 詳しい
- replicas
- 複製
- dinosaurs
- 恐竜
- tastes
- 好み
- Action Men
- 軍服を着た兵士の人形
- poll
- 投票
- Meccano construction sets
- 金属やプラスチックの部品ををボルトやナットで組み立てる玩具
- across several generations
- 何世代にもわたって
- tucked away at the back of a wardrobe
- たんすの奥にしまわれた
- be staggered to 〜
- 〜 してびっくり仰天する
- first edition
- 初代の
- metal die-cast
- ダイカスト鋳造法で造られた
- passed on to 〜
- 〜 に譲られた
- inevitably
- 必然的に
- garbage can
- ごみ箱
- prized
- 高値の付いた
- alternative investment to 〜
- 〜 の代わりの投資
- stocks
- 債券
- shares
- 株式
- be keen to 〜
- 〜 したくてたまらない
- high-tech gadgets
- ハイテクおもちゃ