toy sections being scaled back

[Dominic]

Even though I am dropping toys, I am still keeping an eye out for stuff on behalf of friends.

It looks like Stop and Shop, as well as Marshall's are scaling back their toy sections. I have seen two Stop and Shop outlets, each using different floor plans no less, that used to have substantial amounts of TFs and Joes recently sell out *and* scale back. There are not even peg-hooks for TFs and Joes. The only legitimate brand that I saw in any real quantity was "Hot Wheels". Other than that, the boys section had plenty of generics, and some scattered K'inex.

The girl's section looked similarly truncated. There were some Barbies (which, along with Hot Wheels, are made by Mattel), but nothing else from any legitimate brands that I recognized. (Obviously, I am not going to recognize as many brands here. But, you get the idea.)

Marshalls/TJ Maxx has scaled back its toy section considerably. Oddly, the majority of the reductions have been made to the peg-hooks, but *not* the shelving. They seem to be focusing on large boxed crap, mostly RP and other "confused grandmother" gifts.

Rite Aid is also scaling back, at least locally. Wal*Greens is as reliable as they have been in recent years. If I wanted to, I could get most TF: Prime figures there. (Anybody looking for anything? Shoot me a message.)


Is anybody else noticing this? Part of me thinks that economic realities are catching up to stores, and they are assuming that people will be spending less money on toys. (As a possibly comliment to this, I am noticing much thinner pickings at Target of late.)


Dom
-looking for toys is not going to be fun....

[Onslaught Six]

This kind of thing tends to happen yearly, really. They scale back for summer, and then around late Fall things beef up for Christmas.

[Dominic]

This seems more severe than in previous years. At this point last year, I was finding yellow card figures (mostly Scouts and Legends). If I recall, I was finding Universe2.0 at this point in 2010. Now, the toy sections are little more than rolling racks full of the kind of stuff that you would expect to find in that sort of toy section.

Marshall's and TJ Maxx buy merchandise that has been remaindered (not purchased by larger retailers). Think of it as the kind of "discount chicken" that price wary customers play, but on a larger scale. If Marshall's does not have something, it means that they did not buy it either because it was not available or because they do not have confidence that they can sell it.

Given how badly Hasbro has distributed toys of late, the first scenario would be plausible. But, I am not sure how other companies (such as Mattel) have done. (Truth be told, Mattel seems to have a healthy presence where I haunt, but I do not follow them as closely, making it hard to be sure.) More likely is that Marshall's is assuming that people will be more reluctant to buy toys, and are purchasing/ordering accordingly. (Of course, I have no idea how long the toys that they do have have been sitting there.)

Stop and Shop and Rite Aid likely use a similar business model.

In contrast, Wal*Greens seems to have been ordering toys when they are new in recent years, as evidenced by the fact that they became a credible stop on toy hunts lately. (I found RtS Jazz and Tracks as well as a number of Joes at Wal*Greens.) Similarly, they reliably have new Marvel (movie) figures.


Dom
-thinks that this bears watching.

[Tigermegatron]

Toy stores in america always have huge toy sections from October thru December. to cash in on the christmas buying season months. this is when toys are bought the most & are in the most demand.

Then as soon as January thru April comes each year,the toy sections get reduced in stores. parents spent small fortunes giving their kids all those toys for christmas. so parents hardly buy any toys for their kids from january thru march. this is why retail stores in america use these months to scale back,order next to nothing & do their yearly inventories.

The May thru july months start seeing the toy aisles in stores getting slightly bigger. this is when toys are the second most in demand in the year because kids are home from school for the summer & need toys to be entertained with

August thru october see store toy aisles resets to make everything bigger for the christmas season months. things start picking up in high gear. as some parents do their christmas shopping early. while others waits a few more months to do their christmas toys shopping.

[Tigermegatron]

I just got back from a huge toy hunt today. I traveled well over 70 miles back & forth. hoping from one store to the next trying to find all the newest TF toys on my wish list to buy. I went to one TRU store,5 walmarts stores,2 target stores,2 Kmarts stores,One Kohls store & one TJMaxx store-----> NEEDLESS TO SAY MOST TF TOY SECTIONS WERE POORLY UNDER-STOCKED TO THE POINT THEY WERE HALF BARE PEGS/SHELVES. MOST STORES HAD OLD STOCK FROM MONTHS AGO.

CLEARLY THE GOLDEN AGE OF HUGE FULLY STOCKED TF TOYS DISPLAYS THAT EXISTED FROM ARMADA THRU ROTF ARE LONG GONE. Starting with DOTM,TFP & BH Most stores stock these toys in such low amounts that the TF shelf/peg space is almost 75% empty.

I did find some newer BH toys stocked on store shelves/pegs today. TRU had this one loner Generations Deluxe Kickback toy that some troll/thief tried to steal,he ripped oped the blister card but was un-successful at stealing the toy inside. A TRU employee put 5 staples in the blister card to try to reseal the card.

Walmarts & Target stores had the next newer waves of BH Legions & next newer waves of BH Commanders. I saw & bought one Twinstrike & One Hungurr. I saw & didn't buy BH Commander sized Shockwave,Commander sized starscream,commanders sized Trailcutter,Commander sized Hardshell. I saw & didn't buy Legions sized BH Prowl.

I gotta say if your a basics/commanders fan/buyer,Than your clearly getting your moneys worth/quality with BH commanders sized Shockwave. it's thus far the biggest commander sized toy in the 2013 BH lot. the toy is beautifully sculpted & looks a bit better/more solid/G-1 than the BH Voyager sized Shockwave toy. SINCE I LOATHE SUPER TINY TF TOYS THIS WAS A NO BUY.

Sadly I didn't see any newer BH Deluxes nor did I see any newer BH Voyagers today.

I did see a whole bunch of newer KREO Star trek building sets at TRU & A whole bunch of newer BH Kreo building sets & KREON combiners gift sets. didn't see any kreon blind bag packs at TRU. apparently only TRU stores in my area are carrying KREON TF toys.
other stores like walmart,target & kmart are not stocking KREON TF ON SHELVES/PEGS---> most likely due to 2 years of bad sales & 2 years of deep clearance to get rid of the toys.