MJ merchandise flying off shelves

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Story Published: Jun 27, 2009 at 8:36 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jun 27, 2009 at 8:36 PM PDT

By Stephanie Smith

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LEWISTON - The 50-year-old King of Pop died Thursday afternoon, spurring international headlines.

Michael Jackson's death has also left fans in shock and store shelves empty of his merchandise, including in the Valley.

Jackson's sudden death has led to skyrocketing sales. Amazon.com sold out of every CD by Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 within minutes of the news of his death. Many other stores are also sold out of everything MJ, including Lewiston's Hastings.

"We were going to make a display in memory of him and we didn't have the product to do it, so it never got set up," said Hastings sales associate Christa Carver.

Employees searched a stack of CDs, hoping to find gold, or in Jackson's case, platinum. No luck.

"We got an email from our corporate office saying they are trying to do their best to get product pushed out to all the stores and that they are going to have more product available for all the people that are demanding for it," said sales associate JD Hopper.

And the demand is high. The store hopes to get in more Jackson CDs and memorabilia early this coming week. In the meantime Hastings is hoping people will sell them used CDs, so they can stock their now-empty shelves.

"He is kind of a big deal," said Carver. "So once somebody isn't around anymore, their demand just jumps. We want to be able to provide it for people, so we're trying."

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