NeeDoh craze hits San Mateo County in force: Toy stores are struggling to keep up with demand for the tactile, squishy toys 

“Unfortunately, due to the high number of calls regarding NeeDohs, our staff is no longer answering the phone,” their prerecorded message says. “If you are calling regarding Needohs, please check our Instagram.” 

Other local retailers are reporting similar circumstances — phones ringing off the hook from opening to close and lines out the door and around the block for a chance to grab the trendy squishies, which come in different sizes, shapes and colors but all have a pleasingly tactile and sensorily stimulating effect. 

“Yesterday, we had 150 pieces that came in,” John Kevranian, owner of Burlingame toy store Nuts for Candy, said. “We announced it on TikTok — within an hour, it sold out. It’s the NeeDohs — biggest craze in the entire nation.” 

Posting on TikTok to let patrons know when new Needoh stock comes in is fitting, since it’s where the viral trend for the toys began. There, along with other social media platforms, users show off their hauls, recommend where to buy the toys and post themselves NeeDoh-hunting in stores. The demand, like other toy fads before it, has also generated price-gouging resellers and fake imitation copies. 

To keep it fair and discourage resellers with nefarious, non-NeeDoh loving intentions, Kevranian had a strict set of rules for the drop of his latest inventory. Doors opened at 3:30 p.m., to allow children getting off of school a chance to shop, and each customer was allowed one NeeDoh each. They run between $6 and $16.

Kevranian, who has been selling the toy for 10 years before it blew up online, sees the trend as a win-win for local businesses as well as customers, many of whom use the toy as a fidget to calm down and focus at work or in class. He’s already placed an order of NeeDoh holiday inventory, which includes the popular advent calendars with a cube for each day leading up to Christmas.

“It comforts children and adults, these squishies,” he said. “It’s an incredible product, it’s a reasonably priced product.” 

Customers have largely been polite and well-mannered, Paige Miller, owner of The Magic Toybox, said. Still, overseeing the increased demand and near-constant phone calls is no small job. 

“It’s been great as far as money goes. Every time we get them, we’re selling out within a couple hours. It’s been really great for sales,” he said. “Managing the whole thing has been a complete other job.” 

While NeeDohs have always been a popular toy at his shop, he reiterated that the massive spike in interest has raised concerns around resellers and fakes, leading the store to deface product boxes so fake products can’t be sold in them. Miller equated the buying craze to other popular fads, like Dubai chocolate, Labubus or the much-coveted Trader Joe’s tote bags. 

“They’re really great, they’re really satisfying,” he said. “What’s causing the sudden, huge spike, I can’t really say, other than social media.” 

At San Carlos toy store Reach and Teach, co-owner Craig Wiesner is no stranger to the NeeDoh, however, he doesn’t sell them. With the phone ringing 10 to 20 times a day with queries for the toy, at one point, he said he began answering with “Thanks for calling Reach and Teach, we don’t sell NeeDohs.” 

Although Wiesner said he now sees the benefits of the toy for those on the spectrum or with special needs to help calm down and focus, he’s not taking advantage of the trend. 

“For people on the spectrum, a good fidget they can have in a classroom … [that] makes a lot of sense to me now,” he said. “But the craze that has happened over them is something I’m totally uncomfortable with.” 

The mission of Reach and Teach has always been to sell products that make the world a better place and foster a more peaceful and inclusive world, Wiesner said, and the ferocious, TikTok-driven demand for NeeDohs hasn’t quite been found to meet that bar. In addition, he’s predicting that like many fads, its popularity will wane in the coming months. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this. The last sensation I remember is fidget spinners, and I don’t think that was fueled by the internet,” Wiesner said. “Like that particular fad, I think the NeeDoh fad is going to die off as well.” 

At Burlingame toy store Five Little Monkeys, manager Michele Tambini is approaching the NeeDoh craze with a bemused tone that will be familiar to many adults with children cycling through product trends, a phenomenon that, while constant in American society, has been turbo-charged by the internet. 

“I have no idea,” Tambini said when asked why the toy is so popular. “These are toys we’ve been selling for years — I guess it got on TikTok or something went viral. Everyone is clamoring for them.” 

Five Little Monkeys will be dropping new NeeDoh inventory on Friday at 4 p.m., and like other sellers in the area, is expecting a full house for the occasion. In the last two to three months, Tambini estimated that the store has sold several thousand NeeDohs, a phenomenon that is both positive for business and intense for staff. 

“When you’re a small business like us, staffing wise, it gets overwhelming when something like this goes viral and the phone is ringing off the hook,” she said. “It’s a blessing, but also a curse.”