From Harajuko to Santee Alley: The Squishy-ification of Swap Meets is Here

Needohs, dumplings, butter and cheese squishies… I am positive if you are reading this, you have seen the craze of squishy toys that has taken over the internet. All of these are a type of sensory toy that are soft and squishy that have boomed in popularity with both children and adults. So pretty much they are all different versions of stress balls and a lot of the appeal has come from how cute they are and the exclusivity, as they’ve been hard to even buy. I’ve seen videos of people lining up and fan made schedules of when different stores have their restock days.

Like many toys that boom in popularity and sell out quick, vendors in places like swap meets and Los Callejones in Downtown LA take the opportunity to import dupe versions of those toys from overseas to sell them at retail or in bulk. They get a lot of time to sell before big box stores are able to replenish their stock. The same thing has happened in the past with Hello Kitty, Anime merch and even Labubus last year.

This is not the first time that squishies have been popular. Back in 2016 foam squishies were a huge hit, but it was the ones made of soft rising foam that had people in a chokehold. There are also so many Japanese brands dedicated to creating the most elaborate squishy designs. i-Bloom in specific is the top tier squishy brand in Japan with a dedicated fanbase and a flagship store, Mooosh Squishy Store, in Harajuko. I actually passed by this store on a previous trip but it was so popular and packed inside that it was too overwhelming to even try going into. Another thing that really stuck out to me is that i-Bloom squishies have amazing resale value. You can find them on reselling apps like Depop and Mercari but listings go pretty quick.

Mooosh Squishy Store Flagship Store Located in Harajuko

I’ve also seen a more niche squishy community develop from this trend. Moriah Elizabeth has a whole Youtube channel dedicated to fixing and making over foam squishies. Also, there are plenty of videos online of people opening up newer squishies and replacing the inside material with different fillings for a better squish. And I can not complete with this post with out at least mentioning Mrs. Bench and the $35 squishy trading mat she sells on her site. My personal favorite squishy creator is Meicatcrafts who makes videos creating a variety of the cutest homemade squishies from scratch. She even agreed to collaborate with me on this post to help bring my dream Latine squishy to life. There are so many food squishies and of course a lot of them tend to be Japanese or other Asian inspired treats, as the toys originated there. But I had the thought that if I were able to design my own squishy line, they would definitely be inspired by pan dulce. With this idea in mind, I asked Mei if she could create a pink concha pan dulce squishy and she absolutely delivered. Hopefully one day a whole line of these exist, but in the meantime below is a video of what I know to be the only pan dulce squishy in existence.

The Mexican pharmacy chain, Farmacia Similares, has also hopped on to the squishy trend. They’ve gained popularity over the years from releasing merch of their iconic mascot, Dr. Simi, which as of last week now includes sugar squishies in the shape of Dr. Simi’s head. This gives me hope that maybe some Mexican snack brands will hop on this trend soon as well. I’m thinking Sponch Cookies, Paleta de Payaso and even a Mazapan cracking squishy. Like those need to exist for real.

Have you fallen into victim to the squishy trend? Or are you one of the OG squishy enthusiasts? I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you want to share your squishy collections I would be more than happy for you guys to send pictures to my Instagram DMs @kawaiiylatina