Toy drones, fidget spinners big hits for Christmas

SEETA PERSAD

With a week to go before Christmas, crowds converged on High Street in San Fernando yesterday as the last shopping push got underway.

A December 11 decision by San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello for vendors to sell freely for the Christmas Season along the main shopping streets, seemed to have worked well for both vendors and shoppers. Newsday yesterday saw vendors operating as far as Penitence and Short Streets.

And this year it seems that toy drones are the gift that is making a hit on shoppers’ list. In stores and on stalls along the roadway, a toy drone can be bought for $300. This toy has gotten the attention of children ten years and over as well as some adults.

Second to the drone is the fidget-spinner which is attractive to both children and adults. This gadget comes is various designs and colours, in plastic or metal. The fidget spinners emerged a few months in stores and it is a spinning top which operates on an axle. The ‘magic’ of the fidget spinner is that by a simple touch of the hand, it can spin continuously.

For children six years and under, Newsday saw parents carrying away Peppa Pigs and Pup Patrol toys which fetches a price of $100 upwards. Those are toys that mimic the children television shows. Stores were stacked with dolls, tea-sets, musical toys, plastic guns, bicycles and roller-skates, but business owners commented that shoppers were going for toys that were non-traditional.

Businessman Stanley Ali said that for beginners, there are a few drones that stand out. “The drone you get depends on what you want out of this toy. A person gets a drone because he or she likes flying things. The question is how do you fly a drone? The controls will be slightly different depending on what kind of drone it is,” Ali said.

Quite apart from the drone sensation that seemed to have captured shoppers, stores are offering a wider variety of clothes, jewelry, perfumes and shoes for Christmas this year. Store owners, in a bid to look attractive, have decorated their showcases with Christmas lights into which they have placed gift-wrapped boxes.