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The "Hot Doughnuts Now" neon sign meant fresh Original Glazed were rolling off the line right now, and you pulled the car over. In the early 2000s that ritual became a full national mania — lines around the block at every new store, a soaring stock, local news trucks at doughnut openings — until the bubble burst spectacularly. The doughnuts were always good; the craze was the stock.
Adorable plush animals from Canadian maker Ganz that came with a Secret Code—enter it online, and a virtual version appeared in Webkinz World, your own customizable digital space. Feed it, play mini-games, decorate its room, and if you neglected it too long, it'd get cranky. The plush-plus-online hook made Webkinz a mid-to-late 2000s obsession, especially among kids who'd aged out of Tamagotchis but weren't ready to leave their digital pets behind.