On a recent Thursday, the Magnetz store at the International Market Place in Waikiki had gotten three customer inquiries by noon asking for anything Obama.

The queries for merchandise featuring President Obama are growing, says Uilani Inase, a supervisor at the store with thousands of refrigerator magnets clinging to metal walls stretching from floor to ceiling. People even come in asking for coffee mugs, which the store clearly doesn't carry.

"They feel like we should have a lot of it," said Inase, who said the store has sold out of several hundred $4.99 magnets with Obama's picture on it and hopes more are shipped soon.

"Everybody is asking for them."

Obamania has filtered onto the retail scene in Waikiki, though probably not near the rate one would expect given Hawai'i's home state status and the mounds of memorabilia featuring the new president. It still only represents a fraction of souvenirs sold here, though it is growing.

Nationally, Obama has become a retailing phenomenon that's probably unlike any president, giving rise to quips about him being a one-man recession buster. His popularity has borne plates embellished with his image, commemorative coins and home-shopping specials on QVC. There's also been the rise in collectible ephemera, such as campaign materials and inaugural passes.

The boom in "Obama-mobilia" has also produced some questionable ventures pushing the boundaries of taste, with White House attorneys reportedly working on a policy to control some of the use of Obama's image.

That probably doesn't apply to some of what's being offered locally, though on eBay there's a poorly done "Aloha Obama" refrigerator magnet from a British Columbia seller. It features Obama's head atop someone's muscular body wading in the surf in tight swim trunks.

"The bottom line is you can take a good thing too far and perhaps that is happening," said Chuck Freedman, executive director of the Democratic Party of Hawai'i, noting the organization has been focused elsewhere.

"Not that we're not concerned about that, but we're concerned about the stimulus package and testifying at the Legislature on measures that will help out dire economic situation," said Freedman.

LOCAL CONNECTION

What can be found easily here are T-shirts playing off Obama's formative years in Hawai'i. Local retailers report that magnets featuring Obama's picture sell briskly. There's talk of a shipment of Obama bobbleheads soon gracing store shelves, along with coffee mugs.

There also are Web sites, coffee, books, postcards, maps and tours being produced here heralding Obama's ties with the state. Last month, Kona Blue Water Farms proudly promoted its Kona Kampachi fish in a press release, headlining that it was served to the Obama family during their December vacation.

At a Town & Country Surf Shop in Waikiki, one of the top-selling T-shirts is one proclaiming "Obama in Da House" with a red, white and blue screening of a lei draped over the White House. Another depicts a lu'au in front of the U.S. Capitol and commemorates Obama's inauguration.

The "Obama Surfs" T-shirt that prominently features Obama bodysurfing at Sandy Beach is also a top seller at the Crazy Shirts store on Kalakaua Avenue. As with other stores interviewed in Waikiki, the shirt attracts its fair share of interest from international visitors, be they from Australia, Canada or elsewhere.

"People come in and huddle around it," said Katie Graham, a sales associate, speaking about the shirt that debuted shortly after Obama's November election before shuttling off to help a Japanese tourist who wanted to buy one.

Dana Alden, faculty director of the department of marketing at the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said the simple reason for all the merchandise is obviously Obama's popularity.

A CBS Poll last week found his approval rating at 62 percent, or higher than George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton at this point in their presidencies.

"People just love Obama," said Keika Albarado, manager of the Butigroove store on Pi'ikoi Street, which has been among the most active retailers, producing Obama shirts, hats, tote bags, stickers, postcards and pins.

Broken down from a marketer's perspective, Obama becomes a brand. And as a brand the 44th president has several key attributes that marketers seek.

Alden said those include the fact that he's been top-of-mind with people around the globe for months. That extreme awareness of Obama is coupled with Obama being perceived as a quality brand. Alden said that may come from his message of hope at a time when the country is facing economic and political crises.

"It's a message that everybody can endorse and believe in," he said. "He's got the right message at the right time."

UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES

Then there's the fact that Obama is almost one of a kind. There are not many people who can claim they were born in Hawai'i to a black father and white mother, headed the Harvard Law Review and went on to win the presidency against tremendous odds.

Add in Obama's eloquence and his personable style and you've got a marketing phenomenon.

"If you put all those things together — awareness, quality and uniqueness — that makes for a very powerful and unique brand, or in this case person," Alden said. "People want to identify with that."

Or incorporate it into their lives through a coffee mug, pin or bumper sticker. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann used a picture of himself, his wife and Obama in political advertising last year.

Freedman remembers he even bought a pin from a street vendor during the national convention in Denver.

He also remembers having his convention passes and lanyard yanked from his neck by a thief as he walked out of Invesco Field on the final night of the convention. Freedman turned to watch the culprit disappear into the darkness.

"I just stood there thinking, my goodness, someone is going to put this stuff up on eBay," said Freedman.

Last week there were more than 100 items on eBay in a search of the words Obama and Hawai'i. These ranged from Hawai'i newspapers from the days Obama was elected and inaugurated (The Honolulu Advertiser has sold such issues on its own Web site), along with items ranging from the pedestrian (an Obama basketball trading card) to the absurd (the Aloha Obama magnet).

On www.Zazzle.com, there are dozens more Obama Hawai'i products listed, including some that may include copyright infringements, such as a dishwasher-safe mug featuring the cover of The Honolulu Advertiser the day after Obama was elected. The Associated Press has brought up copyright concerns about its photographs being used in products.

Elsewhere on the Internet, the Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau has devoted part of its site to Obama, while Honolulu resident Rob Kay has put together a site called http://www.Obamasneighborhood.com that provides information on the president's childhood in Hawai'i, along with pictures and addresses of places Obama lived.

Kay declined to say how many visitors or how much he is making from the site, but that it's modest given the amount of work he's put in. The work has attracted national and international press coverage and gets most of its revenue from simple text ads provided by Google.

Kay also takes orders for a map produced by Hawaiian Resources Co. and Franko's Maps detailing Obama's childhood stomping grounds. Hawaiian Resources President Peter Cannon said the map has done well in stores.

"In stores that have picked them up, the Obama map is outselling the O'ahu guide map, which is surprising to me," Cannon said.

Not everyone has bought into the Obama-mobilia yet, though. Miles Oda, a buyer for ABC Stores, said he isn't convinced the merchandise is a surefire seller in the tourist market. He is going to start testing sales at some retailers ubiquitous stores in tourist areas.

"As far as customers coming in and asking for it, it has been here and there," he said.

It may too be that Obama merchandise sale have peaked already — that sales swelled around the election and inauguration and that demand will slow for the products.

At Butigroove, a store that's donated a portion of its Obama sales to the campaign and related causes, there's no question the store has benefited and that it is still doing well with the merchandise.

"I guess we're still riding the wave of excitement," said store manager Albarado.