The Street Date Debate

[Captain Piet]

Well, comics used to be $.25 and now they're $3.99, so I guess that's inflation for you.   

My parents gave out original vintage figures for my fourth birthday party as favors. They were that cheap.

[Phrubruh]

If it was truely inflation, the 25cents comic book in 1977 should cost 87cents now but for some reason they are $3.99.

[Dressel Rebel]

Well, comics used to be $.25 and now they're $3.99, so I guess that's inflation for you.   

Some of the good ones are $2.99

Thunderbolts is the best title, and one of the cheapest.

And let's not forget the sweet $1.00 Marvel Direct reissues of milestone stories.  There's some good ones out this month.

[Keonobi]

So is today the "street date"?  Was at my local Wally today and they had a spot for the new Vintage, SL and CW, but nada.  They did have three versions of Walmart management discussing the arrangement of the toy isles (really, don't they get a print out that shows them where to put everything?).

So "should" they have had them on the shelf today?

[Dressel Rebel]

So is today the "street date"?  Was at my local Wally today and they had a spot for the new Vintage, SL and CW, but nada.  They did have three versions of Walmart management discussing the arrangement of the toy isles (really, don't they get a print out that shows them where to put everything?).

So "should" they have had them on the shelf today?

Technically it's "the week of 8/6/10".  So I guess they haven't messed up until the end of Saturday.

[JediJman]

So is today the "street date"?  Was at my local Wally today and they had a spot for the new Vintage, SL and CW, but nada.  They did have three versions of Walmart management discussing the arrangement of the toy isles (really, don't they get a print out that shows them where to put everything?).

So "should" they have had them on the shelf today?

Technically it's "the week of 8/6/10".  So I guess they haven't messed up until the end of Saturday.

"Week of" is pretty subjective.  Most stores should have stuff out by now, but I found a Target yesterday that doesn't even have any pegs dedicated to SW yet - absolutely no sign that Star Wars is even carried in that store.  Technically, they could wait until 8/12 to get stuff out and still be within the "week of" 8/6 depending on when you start your week.  Lame.

[Dressel Rebel]

So is today the "street date"?  Was at my local Wally today and they had a spot for the new Vintage, SL and CW, but nada.  They did have three versions of Walmart management discussing the arrangement of the toy isles (really, don't they get a print out that shows them where to put everything?).

So "should" they have had them on the shelf today?

Technically it's "the week of 8/6/10".  So I guess they haven't messed up until the end of Saturday.

"Week of" is pretty subjective.  Most stores should have stuff out by now, but I found a Target yesterday that doesn't even have any pegs dedicated to SW yet - absolutely no sign that Star Wars is even carried in that store.  Technically, they could wait until 8/12 to get stuff out and still be within the "week of" 8/6 depending on when you start your week.  Lame.

I dunno, as far as I'm concerned a retail week goes Sunday through Saturday.  That's how all the sales work anyhow.

[Pete_Fett]

Well based on what I found today - five WalMarts with NOTHING, two Targets with moderate stock (i.e. the reset was done, but not everything was filled) and one Target still not reset, I would have to classify this wonderful "launch" as an EPIC FAIL.

Meanwhile in Pawtucket, RI - Daryl DeRetard is popping corks off bottles of Champagne, patting himself on the pack for a successful launch....   

I will say it again and every time in the future that "street dates" are enforced - they don't work, they cause frustration and they cause huge gaps in the flow of product to the stores.

There was no huge new media "event" this year - it's season 3 of the cartoon and that's about it. Heck - there's even a story on the front page of this site that the live-action series is "on hold" - well isn't that fantastic. Maybe now that the new media is restricted to the cartoon and video games, perhaps Hasbro could just focus on having a steady stream of product year-round instead of the fire-hose delivery system we have had to endure for the last three years.

[Darby]

I think there's a lot of valid thoughts in this thread.  My two cents:

We may not like it, and I don't, but I think the Q/A with DePriest over at SSG's recently spoke a lot to Hasbro's thinking on this.  Retail has 'requirements' (demands?) and Hasbro has an incentive to match launches to media (minor as it may be) which results in what we see.  Can we complain?  Sure.  Is there a lot for us to complain about after 15 years of ever increasing quality and selection?  I say no.  They can give it to me when they got it, and I'll buy it if I want it.  If it becomes a chore, or not fun, or work, then I'll stop knowing I got more than I ever wanted or needed.  I'd be ok with that somedays.  I look at these new vintage figures with equal parts joy and dread.  Do I want to?  Really?  The past is the future now, and maybe the future needs to be something new.

[Jesse James]

Retail has 'requirements' (demands?)

More the latter quite often.   I've had first-hand experiences with WM's "requests"...  When you're the #1 toy seller in the US, you become a bit brazen in what you expect, and they're really not alone either.

[Brian]

I stopped by WM checking for Jabba yesterday, and they still hadn't done any sort of reset.  No Star Wars to be found in the aisle at all really, and - at least at our store - a pretty boring toy section overall.  Mainly just movie stuff (Iron Man 2, Toy Story, How to Train Your Dragon, etc.) and not a whole lot else.  No DC stuff at all (Classics, Batman, etc.) and no Marvel stuff really outside of the Spider-Man line.

[Scockery]

3 Wal-Marts within 20 minutes of me. One had a few new vehicles. That was it. One had no figures at all (its the worst of the three for finding anything). One had two Clone Wars Anakin versions. The other had lingering BAD leftovers and 2 IG assassin droids (the smallest and most "ghetto" of the three, best for finding figures).

[Brian]

I checked our three WMs this weekend, and it was sort of varying what they had out.  Our local store, which I visit most often, still hasn't reset at all.  One had pretty much everything out (and a shelf space for Jabba - but no Jabbas), and one just had the figures out and not really space for much else.  I'd say they are definitely lagging behind Target and TRU as far as getting the new stuff out there.  All of our Targets are reset, and well stocked.

[Diddly]

3 Wal-Marts within a 5 mile radius of my house, and all of them are pretty much empty when it comes to toys. What little merchandise they do have is all over the floor. Doesn't help that they're going through pointless remodels either. The only new product I've seen at any WM in town was Jabba a few days ago, and this was at a WM in the ghetto part of town.

TRU is picked over, as they've had stuff out for a few weeks. My local TRU doesn't like restocking though, so I doubt I'll see anything there for quite some time.

Target is the winner so far. They're resets have definitely been half-assed but they're slowly stocking every toy line. They've gotten multiple cases of Vintage at each store, it's selling out fast and they're pretty quick to restock the shelves.

[Dressel Rebel]

Target is the winner so far. They're resets have definitely been half-assed but they're slowly stocking every toy line. They've gotten multiple cases of Vintage at each store, it's selling out fast and they're pretty quick to restock the shelves.

Same here for me in my part of NY.  2 Targets, both stocked to the rafters with all the new figures, vehicles, and AT-ATs.  $7.99 for Vintage and $6.99 Clone Wars is okay with me.  Vehicles on sale today for $19.99 so I caved and got the snowspeeder even though I don't find it all that different from the older mold.

Walmarts?  3 of 'em around here, all of them looked like a bomb went off there today.  1 of them had a few Vintage figures laying all over the shelves with some Yarnas.  No vehicles, no jabba, no AT-AT.

My lone TRU nearby had been pretty good.  Stocked vintage twice but for $9.99 who cares.  I only bought 1 figure there 3 weeks ago just because.  Left everything else because I'm not going to be ripped off.  I did buy the AT-AT at TRU because the price was fair.  If it was 20% higher than everywhere else, like the figures, I wouldn't have bought that either.

So Target got all of my business.

I really wonder why Walmart is always trashed and Target is always relatively neat.  Not just the toys section, but the general condition of all the merchandise in the whole store.