TMNT Minimates - it's official!

[arnim zola]

I hadn't heard they were doing to be at target again, when was this?

[tones]

I hadn't heard they were doing to be at target again, when was this?

hrmm, i would've sworn i read that Target would be carrying these as well. was that wishful thinking?

[DSTZach]

...They are not going to be at Target.

Comic shops will have them on the counter. TRU will have them on pegs. KMart may have them near checkout, but I am not sure. I believe they will be on a clip strip.

[bzorio]

Zach, DST plans to release how many characters per case will be sold? Can you tell us please? Specially for the specialty case (which Luke will receive, for example).

[tones]

...They are not going to be at Target.

Comic shops will have them on the counter. TRU will have them on pegs. KMart may have them near checkout, but I am not sure. I believe they will be on a clip strip.

thanks Zach, must've gotten my signals crossed on the Target thing, but having an idea of where to look for them in-store is a great help.

you tend to get really strange looks cast your way when you go into every register aisle looking for something in particular

[MisterPL]

I had a rare Minimates dream last night that I'd found these at Kmart. I was tempted to buy the entire case but one was missing so I passed. Then Annette Funicello showed up and... well, that's really not relevant.

[JediJohnson]

I had a rare Minimates dream last night that I'd found these at Kmart. I was tempted to buy the entire case but one was missing so I passed. Then Annette Funicello showed up and... well, that's really not relevant.

Beach. Blanket. BINGO!!!

[Captain Paco]

Are these in K-mart Stores Now?

The local Kmart will be closing after the first of next year and then there will not be any Kmarts in the area (meaning in a short reasonable drive).

[DSTZach]

Blind bag display has 18. I believe a strip does as well. TRU case should be 12 2-packs

I know most KMart stores are getting a strip, but I don't know if that includes stores actively clearing out inventory, if they in fact are closing that soon.

[arnim zola]

I just googled and found out I don't have any k-mart's closer than 2 hours and a state away from me.

[Romeo]

Basically if they are already at the watehouses, then the stores closing will be getting them. The distribution centers are sending the closing stores all of the freight they already had on replenishment order and items up til spring now so they can liquidate inventory and make the company cash. If they're not in the distribution centers in the next couple of weeks, then theres a good chance they won't get them.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Romeo

[Dio]

My store has them now, but the toy department guy doesn't know when they're supposed to be stocked.

EDIT: About some of the stores closing, they're all for different reasons. The one in Oak Harbor closed down because the landlord decided to raise the rent A LOT and Kmart Corporation decided to just close down the store. The one in Marysville closed down because a giant sinkhole opened up in the parking lot. The manager there fixed it, but the landlord was unresponsive. They sued the landlord and won, but the landlord didn't want Kmart to be there anymore out of spite.

Our store in Burlington, is not closing down because our sales are good and Kmart Corporation owns the building. We still get some jerks who come in and ask when our last day is from time to time, but that's because they either don't know what's really going on or they found an article from 2009 and didn't read the date because they just discovered the internet.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Dio

[bzorio]

Zach, DST plans to release how many characters per case will be sold? Can you tell us please? Specially for the specialty case (which Luke will receive, for example).

Blind bag display has 18. I believe a strip does as well. TRU case should be 12 2-packs

I know most KMart stores are getting a strip, but I don't know if that includes stores actively clearing out inventory, if they in fact are closing that soon.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I meant how many of each characters per case of 18. For example: 1 mutagen mikey, 2 leos, 2 donnies, 2 mikey, 3 raph, 1 shredder, 2 april, 2 footbot and 3 foot soldier.

Is there a right number or is it random?

[Onyx_6]

For there to be only 'one' exclusive-variant-chase figure per case, there has got to be at least two of every other figure. That is 17 of the 18.

And, try as I might, I cannot seem to get Zach to tell me/us who is the 3-per-case figure.

[MrClean]

Read this story earlier. My last K-Mart is closing as well.

---

Sears is closing 77 Sears and Kmart stores and cutting 5,300 jobs.

And that’s not even the worst news. The fact that most of these stores will close before Christmas is akin to raising a white flag, since holiday sales are the lynchpin for any retailer’s entire year.

“They’re not giving anybody confidence that they’re going to be around long-term,” said Allan Ellinger is senior managing partner at MMG Advisors, an investment bank that specializes in fashion and retailing. “It’s sad, these were once among the industry’s leading brands.”

Even the stores that won’t close until after the holidays are already holding going out of business sales rather than gearing up for seasonal promotions.

Fitch recently downgraded Sears Holdings to just above default status, suggesting the company may not have cash to continue beyond 2016. Standard & Poor’s may do the same. S&P analyst Toby Crabtree said the company’s cash crunch is worse than he had anticipated, and that it’s closing more stores than he had expected it to before the end of the year.

The store closing list was first compiled by the web site Seeking Alpha, and confirmed by local news reports in the affected communities. A Sears spokesman declined to comment on the list except to say that the company has notified store employees.

“We stated in our second quarter earnings that we would be closing unprofitable stores as leases expire and in some cases will accelerate closings when it is economically prudent,” said spokesman Howard Riefs. “If a store is not generating a profit, it is straightforward that the store should be considered for closure.”

Forty six Kmart stores will close while the Sears brand will shutter 31 locations, including those that have both a Sears store and Sears auto.

The company reported that it had nearly 1,900 U.S. stores between the two brands as of the end of August, down 166 from a year earlier.

---

Not really somewhere to hang your hat if you want exposure. Definitely not a place to try to find exclusives...

[MisterPL]

My company does business with Kmart. We've been doing less business with them over the past four years in anticipation of them going tits up. It may end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy but they haven't been perceived as a safe bet for a while.

Personally I'd love to see them bounce back, if only to save all those jobs.

[DSTZach]

Seems like a store that has 1000 locations, frequent closeout sales and a diminishing clientele is exactly where you want to find exclusives, but that's just me.

We're hanging our hat in 1000 stores because 1000 stores bought these figures. The toys will be out this year. By Christmas, definitely. The future of the chain has no bearing on anything we are currently doing, and the number of outlets is still higher than most. I don't think markdowns are a real concern here, like I presume they are with PL's firm.

I just googled and found out I don't have any k-mart's closer than 2 hours and a state away from me.

Well, that's what you get for living in the Negative Zone. Real estate is cheap there for a reason.

[Trekker 42]

Dio, you said your store has some in? Are they supposed to be going out on the floor anytime soon? I was gonna check the one near where I have a date tomorrow, but if they're not supposed to hit the floor yet, there's no reason to go in.

[Romeo]

If they have a street date it will be on the box or when scanned on the handheld units. I have not seen a street date in the system for these and when I put the upc in my Item master information system, it doesn't give me a "pos lockout until" date. I'm not sure about other regions, but the west coast region pretty much has the go ahead with getting these out.

[Onyx_6]

The non-closing Kmart I hit yesterday said to check back Tuesday; that is when they get stuff in. They said to call first when I explained I lived 75 miles away....

[Dio]

The non-closing Kmart I hit yesterday said to check back Tuesday; that is when they get stuff in. They said to call first when I explained I lived 75 miles away....

Then why don't you just order them online? They already added some of the new sets so it's a matter of time when they put the TMNT blindbags on there. I believe you will get free shipping too.

[Trekker 42]

The non-closing Kmart I hit yesterday said to check back Tuesday; that is when they get stuff in. They said to call first when I explained I lived 75 miles away....

Then why don't you just order them online? They already added some of the new sets so it's a matter of time when they put the TMNT blindbags on there. I believe you will get free shipping too.

Can't fondle bags online.

[Mnemosis]

Well, not with THAT attitude

[Onyx_6]

Would love to, Dio, if they would actually sell them online. And allow me to order an adequate quantity to assure I get a complete set. And allow me to return them in stores.

The problem is that I have had trouble in the past ordering from Kmart online. Granted, that was with DC figures that all shared an assortment number. But then I had a haste returning the incorrect figures in stores where they actually charged me for the item a second time instead of returning it.

[TENIME_art]

Well, not with THAT attitude