The Olympic rings, which light up Vancouver's Burrard Inlet, were not made using hula hoops, but many locals have made their own versions using the plastic toys. (CBC)

A surge in Olympic spirit has led to a shortage of hula hoops in Metro Vancouver, with toy stores and wholesalers reporting the plastic rings are flying off the shelves as people snap them up to create Olympic displays.

The iconic five-ring logo, using metre-wide plastic hula hoops, has started appearing in windows, yards and on balconies as Metro Vancouver residents embrace the Olympic spirit

Standing in a warehouse full of toys, the owner of Great West Wholesale, Michael Shew, points to a row of cardboard containers usually reserved for the plastic rings.

'I find that people buy them in fives.'—Kaboodles toy store owner Lee Richmond

"This is normally where they are, in these empty boxes here," he said. "They're totally empty. As of two days ago they were over-brimming."

In a normal three-week period, Shew's wholesale operation might sell three dozen hula hoops to local toy stores, but on Tuesday alone he sold 100, he told CBC News.

"In the last two days everyone has picked up the Olympic fever and decided the hula hoops are a good way to represent it," he said.

Lee Richmond, who runs the popular Kaboodles toy stores around Vancouver, just ordered the last of Shew's supply.

"I find that people buy them in fives," he said.