It’s the latest fad to hit Pictou County and for the last month has created a bit of a craze with local businesses struggling to keep up with demand.
Rodney Misener first heard about them from his kids. While there are variations, the traditional fidget spinner has a central bearing you hold with your thumb and finger and then a three-pronged blade that spins around when you flick it.
Misener thought it was kind of a neat fad, so he ordered some as a way to encourage people to stop by Trinity Maintenance Solutions, where he works as vice president of operations. They do home insulation but also sell generators and some tools.
“We first did it to get people in the store. A lot of people don't know we’re here and it kind of exploded from there.”
In the past month they’ve sold thousands. There have been times during that period they ran out and had distraught children coming to the store.
“It’s almost heartbreaking. We ran out for a few days and the kids that came were pretty near in tears. We felt bad about it.”
There were people reselling the simple devices for as high as $100. Most places sell them new for around $10.
Trinity has had more arrive now and have another large shipment that’s expected to arrive this week.
“There’s a lot of people of all ages coming in,” Misener said. “We had an elderly lady come in that collects them. She was probably in her 70s. It’s kind neat to see.”
He has caught on to the craze himself a bit. As someone who has always been a pen-clicker, he said he likes the cube fidget. It has a different mechanism on each side of the cube to fiddle with.
“It’s definitely an interesting product,” he said. “It’ll be kind of neat to see what comes after it and what it evolves to.”
Misener said he’s talked with principals of local schools. They told him that while schools out west have banned them from classrooms, teachers here haven’t had a lot of complaints and they have no intentions of banning them.
“Some of them have ADHD and it’s kind of calming their nerves a bit,” he said.
Poulain’s Pharmacy in Stellarton was one of the first places to sell the fidget spinners locally and quickly sold out.
“We have calls and visits daily,” said Sheila Sperry, pharmacy assistant. “There’s days that we have upwards of 50 people looking for them.”
The customers they’ve had come in range in age from four to 40.
While they are currently out of stock, they’re hoping to get more in this week.
