By: Sophie Ma

Squishmallows, those soft plushies with an egg like shape and cute faces, have become one of the top-selling toys along with Lego, Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fish Price. After being hard to find, these stuffed toys can now be found in Walmart, Target, Costco, Walgreens, CVS, and still more.

Squishmallows aren’t only for kids though, these toys have become popular for all ages, including adults. Their soothing appearance and reasonable costs, ranging from $5.99 to $39.99, has people loving them.

“It’s similar to the feeling of winning at a slot machine,” said Nick, who has around 400 Squishmallows, and has spent over 2,000 dollars on them in the past 2 years.

The first Squishmallows were developed when Sunny Cho, a designer at KellyToy, was asked to come up with designs for a new soft stretchy fabric they had obtained. Unlike the typical stuffed plushies in America, Cho wanted to make something similar to the plushies in Japan, something that hadn’t quite made its way to America yet.

Cho’s first squad of a dozen Squishmallows launched in 2017 and were hard to find. Back then, they were found mostly in amusement parks and specialty mom and pop shops.

However, customers quickly came to love them. And though they became so popular they were never advertised. But rather, they grew through strategic development and good timing.

Squishmallows became even more popular during the pandemic as they helped calm down kids dealing with boredom and anxiety.

Another lovable thing about these Squishmallows is that they each include a tag with their name, “squish date” or date of birth, and a personal backstory. Like Leonard, a vegetarian lion who loves to nap or Zoe, a unicorn who loves food and dreams of being a restaurant owner.

One customer, Nadia Lindstrom, said that she bought a Squishmallow just because of its touching bio.

Not only are there the common Squishmallows consumers, but there are also the “super fans”. These people have hundreds of Squishmallows. They go on “hunts”, going from store to store looking for one specific plush. Nick said he has traveled over 90 minutes to camp outside a store at 5:30 a.m., waiting for it to open.

Carter Kench, who has about 430, “I feel like Indiana Jones every time I’m on the hunt,”

These dedicated customers expressed joy and happiness at the sight of these little bundles of joy.