Fidget spinner craze alive in P.A.

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Customers have come from as far as La Ronge and vary from young children to grandparents. Adults have even started to buy the spinners for themselves.

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“Some people are stopping by early in the morning before I have even opened. They are outside with their breakfast, waiting,” he said. 

He told a story of a school bus that pulled up in front of his business and nearly 50 children piled out and were lined up out the door to browse the spinners. 

Maqbool can order nearly 1,000 pieces early in the week and be sold out by Sunday. This demand has led him to spend many late nights online with dealers in Toronto and overseas in attempts to ship product over night.

However, the trends are ever changing. Product requested two weeks ago is no longer coveted.  This, Maqbool said, is spurred heavily by online videos and forces him to keep up.

“Before, they simply needed the spinner, but no longer,” he said. “Now, they need this certain design or ask how many spinning minutes or what is the quality. It is all different. You have to keep on it.”

The toys have been around for years, mainly used for children with attention disorders to help them concentrate. Maqbool said he had one behavioural teacher who was purchasing the items in bulk as they helped his students immensely.

Moreover, as the craze leaks into the classroom, some schools have opted to ban the spinners outright while others tolerate the devices.

Tom Michaud, superintendent of schools with the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division, said he has not heard any complaints from staff about the spinners.

He did not see a problem if a few students are using the spinners as a resource for concentration. The school may even want to guide the students on when and how to use them properly.

“But, if you get a mass number of students using them in an inconsistent way in the classroom and without any guidance, then it becomes an issue,” he said.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr