Penney's sold out and the store couldn't get more until after Christmas.
The Gazette reported the 80 dolls received one afternoon at the west-side Target were gone inside of an hour. No one rioted, but tempers flared when shoppers were met with empty shelves. The dolls were scarce in Cedar Rapids, as well. Police were called when Miami shoppers toppled shelves and knocked over an older shopper in their efforts to nab a dollar.Ī Maryland store hired six police officers to keep order, while another store allowed only 10 customers in at a time. Short supplies led to reports across the nation of arguments, bribes and thefts.Ī Pennsylvania woman suffered a broken leg during a rush for the dolls, and a grown man snatched a Cabbage Patch from a child in Charleston, W.Va., while women and children were knocked to the floor. They made history, becoming the best-selling doll ever. The dolls hit the store shelves for the 1983 Christmas season. A computer program guaranteed each doll was a little different from any other doll. The soft sculpted faces were swapped out with plastic, but the doll bodies remained soft cloth. Coleco licensed the dolls as Cabbage Patch Kids. In 1982, the concept caught the eye of toymaker Coleco Industries in Hartford, Conn. By December 1979, Roberts expected sales of $750,000 on dolls priced at $90 to $110 each. The dolls, originally priced at $55, quickly became popular. The dolls were created at Babyland General Hospital, where they were customized with belly buttons, dimples, a variety of hairstyles and even diaper rash. The success of the dolls led Roberts to open his company, Original Appalachian Artworks, in Cleveland, Ga., in 1978, where he copyrighted his design ideas.
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