CHICAGO (AP) -- The end really is near -- the maker of Beanie Babies says Dec. 31 will be the last day the popular stuffed critters are made.
A cryptic statement posted on the Web site of Ty Inc. confirmed an announcement it made last summer.The company wouldn't elaborate on the statement Friday, but analysts and collectors speculated that Beanies are likely to be succeeded by a new line of products that may rekindle memories of the old.
"They may come back as millennium editions. They may come out with special editions 10 years from now," said Chris Byrne, a New York toy consultant. Or a whole new collectible may be born in 2000, he said.
Gone for good or not, toy watchers say, the decision to retire the Beanies was a savvy marketing move that came when sales were slipping.
"It's a great way to clean your inventory out, leave the retailers with a good taste in their mouths and set the stage for something new," said Jim Silver, publisher of The Toy Book.
Ty Inc. spokeswoman Anne Nickels said she had no idea why the cuddly toys will be discontinued, adding that the decision to stop production was made by Ty Warner, owner of the Oak Brook, Ill.-based firm.
"We're just as much in the dark here as everybody else," she said.
One factor for the decision could be the growing interest in Pokemon cards, said Leonard Tannenbaum, president of Beanienation.com, an Internet auction site for the Beanies and other toys.
"Our Pokemon sales have flown, but Beanie sales haven't," Tannenbaum said.
There's plenty of evidence to back up Internet rumors that the next generation of Beanie, or Beanie successor, already is imminent.
Ty Inc. has several federal trademark applications pending, for names such as E Babies, Bean E Buddy and Bean E Baby.
One self-professed Beanie expert said their retirement has caused "unfounded worries" in the collectibles marketplace.
Mary Beth Sobolewski, editor-in-chief of Mary Beth's Bean Bag World magazine, based in the Chicago suburb Bannockburn, said she expects a Beanie successor that will be "slightly smaller and something more counterfeit proof," adding that the company has had a problem with counterfeits.
Beanie Babies come in a variety of animal forms. They all have distinctive heart-shaped Beanie name tags.
Ty Inc. began making Beanie Babies in 1993, starting a craze that made the company hundreds of millions of dollars and pushed prices for some of the collectible toys as high as $6,000.
"It just became totally inflated in value," Byrne said.
"They were wonderful plush toys for 2-year-olds, and they kind of got co-opted by parents who thought they were going to buy a mansion with the proceeds," he said.