Barbara Fogus had a problem. A memo board she had affixed to her refrigerator had left a mark. So she bought a refrigerator magnet in the shape of a chocolate chip cookie to cover it.

        That was 28 years ago. Today she has 2,500 more in every imaginable shape and color covering the refrigerator and kitchen walls of her Green Township home.

        “After the first one,” Mrs. Fogus, 54, confesses, “we just started finding them everywhere. It's a real neat collection. They are something that I thought nobody else would have.”

Barbara Fogus stands with her magnet-covered refrigerator. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Well, almost no one else.

        According to Phyllis Capote, sales coordinator/manager of Acme International Enterprises of Maplewood, N.J., refrigerator magnets are big business.

        Her company produces “a couple hundred thousand” of the kitschy gee-gaws each year, and she asserts that this makes them the largest manufacturer in the world. Their products are distributed through national chains such as Wal-Mart, Linens 'n Things, Walgreens and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

        When Mrs. Focus' collection outgrew the refrigerator, she began looking for new places to display her magnets.

        “I started out putting them on metal trays,” she says, “But then I lost space by not getting in the corners.”

        So, she mounted sheet metal on the walls of her kitchen.

        “It's the same metal they use to make furnaces out of,” she says. “I cleaned it with alcohol, then found the studs and screwed it onto the walls. Then I covered it with white Contact paper to match the rest of the kitchen.”

STUCK ON MAGNETS?

Do you want to follow Barbara Fogus' example in collecting and displaying magnets? Here's one way to start:     Buy magnets:     • Fridgedoor.com or call (800) 955-3741. $3-$20.     Buy sheet metal:     • Lowes. 36- by 24-inch sheets, $19.97.     Buy contact paper:     • Wal-Mart. About $5.44 per 24- by 18-inch roll. (Price may vary by store.)     Buy a refrigerator:     • Best Appliance, 607 Spring St., Elsmere, (859) 727-3030. $200 and up.

        Mrs. Fogus' collection is divided into categories, but the majority is food-related. There are candies, pastries, jellies, pancakes, waffles, hamburgers and pizza.

        Beyond that are tacos, pizza and ice cream. The ice cream magnets are even sub-categorized into sundaes, banana splits, waffle and sugar cones.

        Another wall holds an entire produce section as well as angel magnets, Precious Moments magnets and holiday magnets.

        She has kept several of her metal trays and uses a Hershey's tray to display Hershey's Chocolate theme magnets, a Pepsi-Cola tray for Pepsi product magnets and a Coca-Cola tray to hold, well, you get the picture.

        “When I started out, I only wanted food magnets,” she confesses. “But, my friends and family started buying them for me.”

        “Most of them are gifts from little kids,” she says with a grin. “They will spend their last dollar from a family vacation to buy a magnet for me. I would never hurt anyone's feelings, so I put them all up. I figure if somebody takes the time to buy me a gift, it goes on the wall.”

        Mrs. Fogus' husband, Roger, a retired Cincinnati police officer, has also gotten into the act.

        “About 10 years ago,” she says, “I talked him into taking a trip to San Francisco just to go to a magnet store. It was located on Pier 39 and was the first store I'd ever heard of that specialized in magnets. I ended up spending $795 and had to buy a suitcase to bring them home.”

        “He didn't say anything,” she giggles. “He was just as crazy as I was. He picked out more than me.

        “I'm always on the lookout for ones that I don't have,” she says. “Right now my favorites are a talking policeman who says, “Step away from the refrigerator,” and a rubber chicken leg. “But I never know what I'll find next.”

        According to Mrs. Fogus, the only drawback to her collection is keeping it clean. It takes her two days to take them down, dust them and put them up again. “It's quite a job,” she admits.

        Most of Mrs. Fogus's magnets come from souvenir stores, gift shops, mass retail stores and card shops. But, thanks to the Internet, you can shop for magnets at two in the morning, wearing just your nightgown and bunny slippers.

        “Last year we sold tens and tens of thousands,” says Chris Gwynn, 42, president of Fridgedoor, a Web-based retailer in Quincy, Mass.

        “I don't give out our exact number of orders,” he explains, “but they have doubled every year since we started business in 1997.” He also claims that Fridgedoor.com is the Web's largest magnet store.

        Most of Mr. Gwynn's business (80 percent) comes from the United States, but 20 percent is international orders from the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Europe.

        “We always have about 2,000 items in stock,” he says. “A lot of them are licensed characters from old television shows such as Speed Racer, Scooby Doo, Batman and Superman. There is even a whole line featuring Dick and Jane from the old school primers.

        “There are two types of customers,” he says. “People who collect refrigerator magnets and those who collect a specific item or character. For example, they are looking to buy anything with Rocky and Bullwinkle on it.”

        “It's pretty funny what people like,” he laughs. “Sometimes we'll come up with little stories about who is buying things based upon their order. Like a combination of Wizard of Oz and Marilyn Monroe items. But almost no one purchases just one. They usually buy five or six at a time.”

       Share your prize possessions with Marsie Hall Newbold by mail: c/o The Cincinnati Enquirer; e-mail: marsolete@aol.com.

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