All stores having low stock

[pandaprime]

I'm pretty sure it's not just me but for anyone who regularly visits stores selling action figures the stock has been supremely low all the time. How long has it been like this? I have noticed the longer this continues the griping continually increases on the internet. How many years has it been since stores had reasonable stock levels??

[Tkim87]

I only really started noticing this after Christmas of last year.
Now they seem to have gotten their stock back up to some level, but still seems to be lacking alot.

[Toy Gremlin]

Yeah, i noticed this too. I keep on seeing the lone figure that nobody wants or just empty pegs for the past few months now. One store that I went to even removed the tag for the product. I guess this is the slow time for retail and it will probably pick up soon. I hope.

[Evan]

At Zellers, Transformers and G.I. Joe seem to be stocked up in my area, but as soon as everyone notices that something new is out, the pegs quickly empty, and then it seems like weeks and months before more stuff comes (but maybe it just seems longer because I am waiting).

Iron Man 2 obviously always has pegs and pegs full. Marvel Universe, not so much. Ben 10 seems to always be full as well. I don't follow that line much, so I'm not sure what's new or old, but it always looks full anyway.

Walmart's selection always looks...empty. It always looks like they space out the toys on the pegs, so it looks full, but there's really only ten toys there. Again, maybe it's a case of catching them on a day when new stock is put out, but if it's moving that fast, then order more!

[pandaprime]

Originally Posted by Evan

At Zellers, Transformers and G.I. Joe seem to be stocked up in my area, but as soon as everyone notices that something new is out, the pegs quickly empty, and then it seems like weeks and months before more stuff comes (but maybe it just seems longer because I am waiting).

Iron Man 2 obviously always has pegs and pegs full. Marvel Universe, not so much. Ben 10 seems to always be full as well. I don't follow that line much, so I'm not sure what's new or old, but it always looks full anyway.

Walmart's selection always looks...empty. It always looks like they space out the toys on the pegs, so it looks full, but there's really only ten toys there. Again, maybe it's a case of catching them on a day when new stock is put out, but if it's moving that fast, then order more!

good points! yeh I guess I meant the non-movie figure stock.

[ARROW]

Originally Posted by pandaprime

I'm pretty sure it's not just me but for anyone who regularly visits stores selling action figures the stock has been supremely low all the time. How long has it been like this? I have noticed the longer this continues the griping continually increases on the internet. How many years has it been since stores had reasonable stock levels??

Maybe its because you live in a denser population centre, where more fans and consumers live, and therefore shop for more of the same things.

I say that because I have lived where you live, and now live in a much smaller city a couple of provinces away, and the collector base is both smaller and stuff is much easier to find. Curious how that is, eh?

[pud333]

Couple weeks ago I noticed some stock at Walmart was back up, but that's a rarity. More often than not lately, I've come across bare shelves or shelfwarmers. I expect this kind of stuff from places like Walmart where toys aren't their priority, but TRU nearly always disappoints. For a toy specialty store, you'd think they'd be more active in their buying process, so that they always have the new stuff ready and available. But maybe it's more difficult than that. Whatever.

I've given up on Toys at retail. I find I am always too late to the party. I hear of new stuff being sighted, and by the time I get there, there's nothing good left. And the rare times I do go hunting, I always show up at empty shelves.

The only time I have had any real success at retail (and by that, I mean a decent haul where I find more than a couple figures at a time) was when I go down to the US to hunt. That's the only time I do any real hunting of any kind. the last two times I went to the US, I've gotten some pretty big hauls. The drive down from Vancouver to the Seattle outlet malls is just rife with various Target stores. I usually find something at every store I hit up. Within a couple of hours, I can hit up three or four Targets and a couple Walmarts. Maybe even a TRU if I have time. I love Target.

[Marvs]

Retail stock has been so dismal the past few months around here. I have just started ordering all my stuff from online stores. It is just too frustrating to buy from retail stores. Toys R Us use to be my go to store, but now they are so hit and miss.

[Hantei]

I think the problem is probably because retailers are only carrying 1 case of the new wave at a time. At least around here, with the rare occasion of 2nd or 3rd restock of the current wave. So you get the dry spell, where the pegs a pretty much bare, until the new waves come. This is in relation to Marvel Universe and GI Joe POC.

I'm curious to see how the new Marvel movie merchandise is gonna be handled this time. Are we gonna see a bloated effect like IM2 (making the later/last waves of line very difficult to find)? Or will they actually be reducing stock carried now.

Transformers I've found to be pretty easy to find what I want. Everyones always stocking the new stuff, and there's pretty big self space dedicated to the line.

The TRON Legacy stuff is interesting, WM is carrying the Light Jets, while TRU hasn't really restocked anything since January. Wave 2 of the figures I've only seen at Superstore so far, and seems unlikely to find found anywhere else.

One thing I'm curious about is whether the Kung Zhu stuff is actually selling. There's so much space saved for the stuff, and it's always full.

[Robimus]

Transformers has amazing distribution when compared to other toy lines.