Sanrio's My Melody holders sold out at McDonald's
In just seven hours, limited-edition food and drink holders featuring Sanrio's rabbit character My Melody were sold out islandwide.
Fans formed snaking queues outside McDonald's outlets early yesterday, ready for sales to begin at 4am.
By 11.30am, the holders - originally sold in Japan - were sold out, said McDonald's in a statement.
Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that by 3.30am, almost 50 people were queuing at the McDonald's outlet in Hougang Avenue 8.
The first customer said she started queuing at 2am.
The newspaper also reported that outlets at Jurong Central Park and Pioneer Mall had sold out the holders by 6am.
Shin Min Daily News reported that a family of six had driven from Kuala Lumpur to snag the collectible holders.
Mr Xia Ye Xing, 38, who owns a construction business, told the paper that the holders were not sold in Malaysia so his family bought 15 sets to give to friends and relatives back home.
Sold for $6.90 each with any purchase, the holders were available at all McDonald's outlets with each customer limited to a maximum of five pieces per transaction.
Anticipating long lines, McDonald's implemented a system of assigning queue tickets, with crew present to manage the crowd.
NO NEW STOCK
Despite the demand, McDonald's said there are no plans to bring in additional stock.
On Wednesday, online marketplace Carousell had sellers taking pre-orders and payment.
By Thursday afternoon, The New Paper saw the My Melody collectible going for as much as $80 on the portal.
Some sellers said it was the effort of queuing - for a number of hours in some cases - that pushed their prices higher.
When contacted, one seller who was offering four of the holders at $18 each, told TNP that she had been queuing from around 3am.
But as of 8pm last night, she had not sold even one of the four.
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