Charlotte retailers ride the squishy craze

Good morning! Today is Monday, August 10, 2026. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.

Need to subscribe — or upgrade your Ledger e-newsletter subscription? Details here.

Hi Ledger readers, Ashley here. It’s not often that I can say I was ahead of a trend — and perhaps I wasn’t on this one, either — but I’ve had a NeeDoh squishy ball on my desk for the past couple of years. I found out from today’s lead story that NeeDoh products are all the rage among today’s tweens and teens. Regular Ledger contributor Michelle Crouch gives us the inside scoop on why NeeDoh and other “squishies” are flying off the shelves of Charlotte retailers.

by Michelle Crouch

For most of its history, Charlotte’s Fable gift shop rarely had teenage customers. The quirky boutique, which moved to Ballantyne Village from Madison Park in 2022, specializes in home décor, battery-free toys, jewelry and gifts.

But the moment a clerk unlocked the door on a recent Saturday, middle and high school students streamed in, some with younger siblings and parents in tow. A few minutes later, about a dozen were crowded around a colorful display near the checkout counter.

The teens and tweens were hunting for one thing: NeeDoh squishies.

The soft, squeezable stress toys went viral earlier this year and quickly became this summer’s must-have item. With demand outpacing supply, NeeDoh retailers in Charlotte and across the country are coping with crowds of squishy seekers, constant phone calls, empty shelves and occasional bad behavior from adults taking advantage of the craze.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Fable owner Susan Sloan-Lieb. “Yes, it’s caused chaos. Thank goodness my non-squishy-buying customers have been so kind and understanding.”

To control the chaos and better serve her customers, Sloan-Leib said she moved the squishy display to the front of the store, hired more help and limited sales to two per person. She also answers 50-plus Instagram messages each night from people asking what she has in stock, then wakes up early to search for inventory.

“I’m up at 4 a.m. looking for squishies,” she said. “The good ones are hard to find.”  

NeeDohs have been around since 2017, but became popular this year after a flurry of social media videos showed influencers squeezing and smooshing them. Ranging in price from $2 to $20, they come in all colors, shapes and sizes. Some of the most popular NeeDohs are shaped like cubes, “fuzz balls” and popsicles. 

Other squishy items, such as RMS dumplings, Speks and blobs filled with coconut oil, are also trending, store owners said.

At Harper & Skyler’s Toys & Sweets in Park Road Shopping Center, owner Dan Weiss said the demand has been unlike anything he’s seen before. Families have driven in from as far as Atlanta and Tennessee, he said.

“It’s nuts. It’s like Christmas every day,” he said. “I had to hire two or three extra people just to stay on top of it.”

The shop limits NeeDoh sales to four per family, Weiss said. In March, the store also started selling $50 “mystery boxes” that contain five squishies (including one guaranteed NeeDoh) and a half pound of candy.

The boxes have been popular – Weiss said he’s sold hundreds – so he recently introduced bigger boxes. The $250 “Ultimate Squishy Mystery Box,” which debuted earlier in July, promises 15 squishes, including eight NeeDohs and two dumplings, along with a pound of candy. Weiss said he sold more than a dozen in the first two days they were on sale. 

On a recent afternoon, a crowd of middle-schoolers took turns squeezing and comparing the store’s unboxed samples before choosing a few to buy. 

Among them was 12-year-old Avery McCall. Avery, who already has five squishies at home, said they’re fun to play with, but what she likes even more is hunting for them with friends. Young collectors often share tips on social media about which Charlotte shops have them in stock, she said.

She and other kids told The Ledger that if you’re lucky, you can find NeeDohs at the following local retailers, in addition to Fable and Toys & Sweets: Toy Mania in Cotswold, the Mole Hole gift shop off Colony Road and national chains including Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and Five Below.  

“I know people who wake up at 3 a.m. and wait in a two-hour line at Walmart or camp out for them on the days they are known to restock,” Avery said. “My mom thinks it’s crazy.”

While the squishy trend has boosted the bottom line for small shops, it also has created challenges, shop owners said. Packages get opened, inventory disappears and some adults cut lines and try to cheat the purchasing limits.

“There’s a lot of greed out there,” Weiss said. “We try to have a limit per family, but we have people paying separately who say they aren’t related but walk out together and get in the same car.”

Another problem that has recently surfaced: Squishies can explode if they get too hot, potentially causing burns. In response, shops have posted signs warning families not to leave them in a hot car and urging kids not to microwave them (which, inexplicably, is the latest viral trend).

Sloan-Lieb said she had to stop posting on social media about “restocks” or “drops” when she got new inventory. The two times she did it, people lined up before the store opened, creating a frenzy and leading to disappointed customers when the product sold out.  

“It wasn’t fair to working parents who couldn’t get out and get in line,” she said. “Now, I kind of hoard it, and then I put it on the floor in little bits, usually on weekends or at times when kids may be in the store. Then they get to experience the excitement instead of mom having to be out there at 5 o'clock in the morning.”  

On a recent Saturday, Waxhaw mom Noelle Reeves was squishy hunting at Fable with her children, Ainsley, 14, and Rylan, 11. She said her kids have been collecting NeeDohs since last fall, when they were easy to find and it was fun to see each new shape that came out.

“It’s absolutely insane now,” she said. “It’s all about being on social media, knowing when they pop up, and then chasing after it.”

Even so, she said, she sees an upside to the trend. The squishies help her son stay focused while doing schoolwork, she said, and they give her kids something to do with their hands besides reach for a screen.

Ainsley agrees:

“If I’m sitting down and there’s nothing in my hands, I get kind of weirded out,” she said. “Before, I would scroll on my phone. But now I can just play with my squishies.”

Michelle Crouch is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to The Ledger.

Today’s Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by PBS Unspun. Wondering what politicians are thinking but not saying? Watch PBS Charlotte Fridays at 8 p.m. as former Governor Pat McCrory delivers no-spin answers. Stream anytime on demand at wtvi.org/unspun.

It’s been a little more than three years since the city’s Unified Development Ordinance went into effect. One of its signature — and controversial — changes was allowing duplexes, triplexes and quadraplexes to be built in more places across the city.

Since June 1, 2023, when the UDO went into effect, a total of 8,537 duplexes, triplexes and quads have been either submitted or approved through the CLT Development Center, the city government office that reviews development projects, according to an analysis of data provided by the city to The Ledger.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that 8,500-plus such residences have been built since June 2023. In fact, it’s most likely that far fewer have been built, since builders file for projects all the time without actually putting a shovel in the ground. Permitting is a Mecklenburg County function and, therefore, isn’t tracked by the city.

The data obtained by The Ledger is broken out into two categories: Land Development Individual Residential Lot (LDIRL) and Land Development Construction Plans (LDCP). The biggest difference is the scope of the filing, with LDIRL typically used for single-lot or infill projects, while LDCP is usually used for a more substantial development.

It’s unclear exactly how many of these housing types were being built pre-UDO, but it was much more likely to be in the hundreds versus thousands range. —Ashley Fahey

Atrium Health’s proposed combination with Raleigh-based WakeMed Health & Hospitals continues to spark debate as Wake County commissioners weigh whether to approve the deal.

At a heated town hall last week, it came out that hospital leaders have been meeting privately with commissioners in groups of three to discuss the deal — below the four-member quorum that would trigger open meeting requirements. Commissioners who attended the briefings said they agreed not to disclose details the hospitals consider confidential or proprietary.

Community members at the town hall pushed the hospitals to release the terms of the agreement.

“If this is such a good deal, why is it done in the dark?” asked Rob Stephens, the North Carolina organizing director for The Patients Union, which organized the event.

The proposed combination would give Atrium, the state’s largest health care provider, significant oversight over WakeMed, a community-focused system with five hospitals. WakeMed leaders say the deal would bring more access to advanced care, up to 3,300 new health care jobs and $2B in local investment.  

Wake County commissioners were initially scheduled to sign off on the deal through a quick vote on their May 4 consent agenda, but they delayed the vote after loud public opposition. The board has scheduled a public hearing for Aug. 17.

Read more about the July 27 town hall, the private commissioner briefings and one commissioner’s claims of a “nasty” email exchange at The Ledger’s partner North Carolina Health News. —Michelle Crouch

It's time for another edition of “You Ask, We Answer,” where we tackle questions submitted by Ledger readers.

Today, Ledger reader David wanted to know why one of south Charlotte's busiest interchanges looks a little rough around the edges.

David asks:

Thanks for the question, David. It’s pretty timely, considering the Charlotte area’s first Wegmans grocery store is supposed to open in Ballantyne in two months. 

The good news is that the current condition isn't necessarily permanent.

According to the N.C. Department of Transportation, the I-485 Express Lanes project is still an active construction project, meaning the contractor — not NCDOT — is responsible for maintaining the landscaping throughout the corridor. Once the state accepts the completed project, which is expected to happen by late fall, NCDOT will take over routine maintenance.

From there, the maintenance plan is modest. NCDOT says it plans to mow the area five times each year between April and the end of October, pick up litter monthly and remove large debris as needed.

If the City of Charlotte were to take over maintaining the landscaping in the future, the department says the area could receive more extensive beautification than NCDOT typically provides, which would include things like sod and wildflower beds.

As for David's idea of organizing volunteers, NCDOT says residents are welcome to participate in its Adopt-A-Highway and Sponsor-A-Highway programs, but volunteers aren't allowed to landscape highway interchanges because of safety concerns. Volunteer groups would need to stick to low-traffic roads near neighborhoods, schools and churches. 

So while the Johnston Road interchange may not be living up to its potential today, drivers should see improvements once construction wraps up and the state takes over long-term maintenance. —Lindsey Banks

Have a burning question that needs some journalistic investigation? Let us know at [email protected]

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11: “Yoga at the Mint,” 5:15-6:15 p.m., at Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St. Participate in a one-hour yoga class with Dancing Lotus Yoga + Arts every Tuesday. Registration required. Free for Mint members. $10 for nonmembers.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12: “Public Policy Meeting,” 10-11:30 a.m., at Alchemy CoWorking, 2459 Wilkinson Blvd. Join Bryan Holladay, Public Policy Chair of the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce for an engaging conversation with State Auditor Dave Boliek. During the meeting, Auditor Boliek and Bryan Holladay will discuss what exactly auditors do, their processes and its impacts on the city. Registration required. Virtual registration is an option, and the meeting link will be sent upon registration. Free.

AUGUST 26: “August After Hours,” 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Town Brewing Co., 800 Grandin Rd. Please join Business Leaders of Charlotte for its monthly networking event. This is Charlotte's best networking event for professionals who build business through relationships. Everyone is welcome to attend. Free for members. $10 for non-members (pre-registration). $15 for non-members (at the door).

➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.