Brookside toy store slammed by last-minute buyers of eclipse glasses

With time running out to buy solar eclipse glasses, hundreds stood in a blocks-long line Saturday outside a Brookside toy store to snap some up.

“They’re nowhere,” said Lori Beebe, who waited in line outside the Brookside Toy and Science store on 63rd Street.

Irene Moore, another Saturday shopper for the glasses, said she’d never seen a longer line than the one that extended from the front door of the toy shop to as far as four blocks away.

“That’s the longest line I’ve ever seen in my life,” Moore said, adding that after searching online, Brookside Toy seemed to be the last place left with glasses.

Store owners Jim and Mary Jo Ward have stocked their store with glasses since May. They first ordered just 100 pairs of glasses. Then doubled their order. Then doubled it again.

Recently, they’ve been ordering 10,000 a day just to keep up with demand. And still, “it never seems to be enough,” Jim Ward said.

“Everybody wants them,” Mary Jo Ward said.

The store will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, and the owners expect to have glasses in stock. The glasses are being sold for $5 each.

Some have turned to welding lenses to use to safely gaze up at the sun, but USA Today reports that only a shade 14 welding lens is strong enough to protect the eyes from damage.

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Brookside toy store slammed by last-minute buyers of eclipse glasses."