The Valley of Squishmallows

EDINBURG, Texas- The popularity of Squishmallows grows more and more every day globally and the Rio Grande Valley has caught on. 

Squishmallows are soft, plush toys that have been around since 2017 and range in size from 3.5 inches to 24 inches. Some Squishmallows are only sold in certain countries since they are exclusive to that country. For example, in Canada, a collector can find Squishmallows that are not sold in the U.S. such as Clover the Bull Cow.

Additionally, Squishmallows are released in squads, meaning that they become exclusive. Once that group of Squishmallows is released, the next one will be a different squad and so on. Stores like Target, Walgreens, Five Below, Walmart and Costco sell Squishmallows, where prices range from $3 to about $60 depending on their size. 

One can also buy them from websites like eBay, Etsy and Mercari. The only difference is that resellers tend to sell the plush toys at higher rates than its original retail price, especially if it is a seasonal Squishmallow that was part of an exclusive squad. These seasonals are considered rare and their resell prices could be at least $2,000 or more. 

In the Rio Grande Valley, the community of Squishmallow enthusiasts keeps growing, but in the midst of growth, the group has also faced some problems. X created and ran a private Facebook group page called RGV Squishmallow Hunters for those who like, sell or want to trade Squishmallows in the Valley.

However, following an incident in the group, X had to step down as admin and chose one of her group moderators to replace her. Kayla Ozuna, a 27-year-old Montessori teacher, is the new admin. 

“[The original creator] got stressed about the incident and told me, ‘Look, I know you can handle it. I know you can take care of the group. I’m going to go ahead and pass it down to you’ and I said, ‘OK cool,’” Ozuna said. 

Now, the group page team consists of four moderators and three admins, unlike before when there was just one admin. Ozuna said she decided to ask Christine Escalante, a moderator, to become her second admin because she saw Escalante efficient enough to manage the group with her.

“Since I became a moderator and now an admin, I hope to create a very loving and friendly environment for the people who join and for them to know that the people in the group are good people, that they are nice and for them to not worry about getting scammed,” said Escalante. 

Escalante mentioned the group is trying to plan future events that she hopes will gather many local Squishmallow collectors. 

As an admin, one of the most difficult tasks Ozuna has to endure is resellers because she wants to build an environment where everyone helps each other out when it comes to “hunting” for Squishmallows. 

“It’s hard enough to find squish here, especially with people who have a habit of reselling them for a ridiculous amount of money on Mercari or eBay. We find most of those people [resellers] through the local Mercari, and I mean, there is nothing we can do about it because we don’t know those people, but for right now what we can do is help each other out. That’s what this group is about, that’s who we are,” said Ozuna. 

In addition, Ozuna said that a former member of the group became a problem recently during the summer because of reselling issues. 

The problem happened when the store, Quips ‘N’ Quotes, located in McAllen and Harlingen, had announced that their stores were going to be stocked with the popular Squishmallow, Malcolm the Mushroom. Many Squishmallow fans around the Valley gathered outside the McAllen store to buy one, including Ozuna, Escalante and some other members of the group. By the time they got in the store, the Malcolm Squishmallow was sold out. 

“My friend Clarissa, who is a moderator on the group, had actually … went to the one [Quips ‘N’ Quotes] in Harlingen and she had called and said, ‘Hey did you all get the Malcolm Squishmallows?’ They told her they had some,” said Ozuna. “By the time she goes, they’re all gone, the mushrooms, about three or four of them and she asked the employees, ‘I thought you all said you had the mushrooms’ and they told her, ‘We did but some guy just came in and bought them all.’ So then later on … we had kicked this girl out … because she was selling Squishmallows at a ridiculous price … We found out that she was a reseller and we actually found out from her Mercari that she was the one who took all the Malcolm the Mushroom Squishmallows from the Harlingen Quips ‘N’ Quotes location. Her partner went all the way over there [Harlingen] just to go get them,” said Ozuna.

According to Ozuna, she had to kick that person out because they do not allow resellers in the Facebook group as it goes against their rules. When the admins confronted her about this issue, Ozuna said the ex-member said she had no shame in reselling because she does not think there is anything wrong with it. 

“It wasn’t just the admin and moderator team who suspected. Other members came to some of us [the admin and moderators] and told us they suspected as well because they saw that her username on Mercari kind of matched her actual name on Facebook. Also, the pictures she had on Mercari matched the pictures she would post on the group, before she was kicked out,” said Escalante. 

Now, the admins and moderators created 10 rules to avoid problems in the group, including “scammers and price gougers are not allowed.” 

As the Valley is limited to fewer stores, the group thinks that these rules will help everyone in the community get a chance to buy their favorite Squishmallows, without worrying that a reseller will “shelf clear” stores and later sell them for high prices on websites like Mercari. 

“We only have Target. We only have Walgreens and Five Below. Sometimes Quips ‘N’ Quotes and Hallmark, but I mean other than that, there is nothing here that we know is set in stone,” Ozuna said. “Everybody is hitting up the same stores because they know that once it’s out, that’s it— it’s gone.”

Illustration by Paola Raygoza