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Walgreens Marvel 'Mates


Gmonkey2k

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So Walgreens isn't getting new waves on shelves fast enough, and are losing sales because people like us can't buy them. Ok, I'm hearing that around different places. They have too much old waves sitting there and aren't putting out the new waves for me to buy. I'm hearing that too.

I'm just curious about everyone's thought process here. These are Walgreens exclusive waves, especially the animated ones, and half the movie ones. If they put out the new waves like they used too right when they get released, what does everyone think happens to all the older mates they ordered?

They have around 9000 stores. A few don't carry mates here, and a few restock frequently. Its fair to say they have a hefty stock of unsold older mates to burn through. The further we get away from black panther and Ragnarok, you think anyone's going to walk in and pick those up with enthusiasm? Old waves and the customer base being too small is taking these a long time to sell through. If this was a comic shop they would have stopped ordering new waves.

Edited by arnim zola
Poor spelling decisions
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Walgreens problem is that they lump all releases under the same sku, keeping all Minimates at the same price regardless of relevancy.  

If the older releases had their own sku, they could discount those to help them move (most Walgreens have a dedicated clearance section) while making room for and allowing the newer product to sell at full price.

I constantly see other clearance toys, while those almost 3 years old Wave 1 GITD Electro packs have actually increased in price from $7.99 to $8.49 at most of my stores.

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2 hours ago, youbastards said:

Walgreens problem is that they lump all releases under the same sku, keeping all Minimates at the same price regardless of relevancy.  

If the older releases had their own sku, they could discount those to help them move (most Walgreens have a dedicated clearance section) while making room for and allowing the newer product to sell at full price.

I constantly see other clearance toys, while those almost 3 years old Wave 1 GITD Electro packs have actually increased in price from $7.99 to $8.49 at most of my stores.

This ? a 1000x this. If the Walgreens buyer guy still lurks around. Listen to this man, @youbastards speaks the truth.

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I think we can all see the way this is going, eventually (soon) Walgreens will decide that Minimates are not worth the shelf space, and they will discontinue them.

If only we had someone,  who maybe worked for the Manufacturing company, that ultimately stands to get or lose our money due to walgreens carrying or not carrying  minimates,

who could be proactive in discussing these problems with Walgreens.

1 separate SKUs for waves

2 discounting older waves

3 having Minimates be available to order on  their website

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Other stores can use the same SKU for multiple waves since those SKUs don’t last very long and are then replaced and items are clearancd. Usually during beginning of the year resets and package changes. The animated minimate SKU is now three years old!

I’ve also given up on trying to figure out what causes a restock. It used to be if they got down to a couple packs or less the Walgreens would restock. Then it was they got every wave but that caused a glut. Now stores don’t get every wave and I’ve been to multiple Walgreens that have 1-2 packs and have been that way for months yet other stores with more packs will get a restock. ?

 

Edited by fwoosheyman
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Last year many Targets stocked the ML Groot BAF wave from Guardians of the Galaxy when Vol. 2 came out. My local Wal-Mart, after finally getting rid of the Absorbing Man wave, restocked with the Sandman wave instead of the new Spider-Man wave. Everyone is bad at this, Walgreens is just a little worse.

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My minimates budget has recently been going to Marvel Legends and Select, prior and new, because I can actually find the most of the ones I missed. This Walgreens mess is too frustrating to keep it up because they don’t have anything else I want. And I’m not giving in on the impulse buys “just because I’m there”. They’re just a poor choice to carry a line that has any depth. 

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I talked to the DST sales rep for WG, and he says Series 8 is doing well. So it is getting out there in enough numbers to register as "selling." I also passed along the concerns here. Walgreens is actually going to be expanding their selection, so hopefully that triggers a change in availability.

I guess since Series 9 is out we'll unveil Series 10 at SDCC! I know people are kinda down in this thread about finding everything, but it's got:

One hero we've done several times but gets complaints almost every time.

One anti-hero/villain we've done several times, few complaints.

One hero and one anti-hero we've done a few times, both likely welcomed.

One hero and one villain we've only done once. 

Two villains we've never done, both pretty cool. 

One GOTG set, one Spidey set, two Avengers sets.

Edited by DSTZach
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8 hours ago, DSTZach said:

Walgreens is actually going to be expanding their selection, so hopefully that triggers a change in availability.

 

 

Does this mean Walgreens is the retailer that will be picking up comic-mates that TRU used to carry? Good that they found a new home, bad that minimates are becoming more and more a drug store chain exclusive. 

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Thanks for checking, Zach.

Until I've found Infinity War Series 2, Animated Series 8, and Animated Series 9, I'm not really interested in speculating about Series 10 or whatever else Walgreens might be offering.

When Walgreens makes them easily available online to ship free to my store, then I'll be in the mood for reindeer games.

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7 hours ago, MisterPL said:

Thanks for checking, Zach.

Until I've found Infinity War Series 2, Animated Series 8, and Animated Series 9, I'm not really interested in speculating about Series 10 or whatever else Walgreens might be offering.

When Walgreens makes them easily available online to ship free to my store, then I'll be in the mood for reindeer games.

THIS, A THOUSAND TIMES, THIS^^^^ If they're expanding the website is the way to go.

 

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On 7/3/2018 at 7:27 AM, fwoosheyman said:

Does this mean Walgreens is the retailer that will be picking up comic-mates that TRU used to carry? Good that they found a new home, bad that minimates are becoming more and more a drug store chain exclusive. 

If that was the case, I don't see how being in drug stores is any different from being in toy stores or comic stores -- distribution issues notwithstanding. Especially since they have a halfway decent toy aisle and far more locations.

On 7/3/2018 at 7:35 AM, MrClean said:

I guess I’m confused. How can Walgreens tell anyone series 8 specifically is doing well when all series use the same sku number?

SKU numbers show a store what to order, but I believe the UPC codes are still unique.

On 7/3/2018 at 7:51 AM, MisterPL said:

Thanks for checking, Zach.

Until I've found Infinity War Series 2, Animated Series 8, and Animated Series 9, I'm not really interested in speculating about Series 10 or whatever else Walgreens might be offering.

When Walgreens makes them easily available online to ship free to my store, then I'll be in the mood for reindeer games.

I need to re-watch Reindeer Games! Talk to managers. I've had at least one guy successfully ask one to request an item in from another store to their store. Another manager told me he would look into it and got more in. They've all been spotted now, so we know they exist.

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Yeah, I'm kind of over trying to collect these. There are definitely some cool ones that have come out, and I appreciate getting characters that haven't come out in the mainline, but showing up to the different stores in my area and seeing:

1. Peg with two Roadworn Thor/Civilian Loki packs

2. Peg of Wave 7

3. Peg of Black Panther Wave

4. Don't Carry Minimates At All

It's, needless to say, been pretty frustrating. I'd really only been collecting the main Marvel line before these started coming out, so I'm probably just going to go back to sticking with that.

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2 hours ago, Tommy Wiseau said:

Yeah, I'm kind of over trying to collect these. There are definitely some cool ones that have come out, and I appreciate getting characters that haven't come out in the mainline, but showing up to the different stores in my area and seeing:

1. Peg with two Roadworn Thor/Civilian Loki packs

2. Peg of Wave 7

3. Peg of Black Panther Wave

4. Don't Carry Minimates At All

It's, needless to say, been pretty frustrating. I'd really only been collecting the main Marvel line before these started coming out, so I'm probably just going to go back to sticking with that.

I've had the same experience. There are 3 Walgreen's/Duane Reade stores within 3 blocks of my office. One has the latest Wasp sets, one has Animated Spider Man/Iron Fist, and the last is devoid of minimates.

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13 hours ago, Tommy Wiseau said:

Yeah, I'm kind of over trying to collect these. There are definitely some cool ones that have come out, and I appreciate getting characters that haven't come out in the mainline, but showing up to the different stores in my area and seeing:

1. Peg with two Roadworn Thor/Civilian Loki packs

How have you not bought all of the Tommy Wiseau Minimates? :)

As far as I understand it, every store should carry them, so if they have NO Minimates, and are not simply overstocked, you should definitely check and see what's up.

 

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Most of the Walgreens I go into still have the first couple waves of Animated. Even ones I've found newer ones at, will sell out of the new ones, and keep choking on the old ones. I'm getting tired of sifting through the dusty packs, and I can't afford to buy overstock that I already have just to trigger a restock. ?

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We should take a poll and see who has the least amount of mates at their closest Walgreens. Then see what packs are there and see who needs what. Then we can all buy the mates that we need and see if a restock happens. I really just wanna get Cull Obsidian and Animated Skurge. 

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Stopped at my nearest Walgreens tody and found the same 8 or sets that have literally been sitting there for months.  This is a store that never received in any of the Infinity War waves, none of the last two animated waves and took around 2-3 months to finally get the last Ultimate Spidey wave in store.  For a product that has been successful, it's becoming harder and harder to find.  Even eBay has become unreliable, as the most recent waves have had very limited figures available or at a significantly higher price.  This isn't the only product Walgreens has had issues distributing (POP's come to mind), but at least there they've moved to the online storefront and allowed for these items to become more easily attainable.  I hope that they do something similar with minimates if they are going to continue supporting this line. 

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