See, I could handle that if I could order my own stock, because I know what people come in for, and what moves and sells, because my area has largely remained the same to a large degree(Same Collectors that used to go to TRU and KB Toys 13 years ago are still in the area and still look for the same stuff.), and I have a fair knowledge of what's popular in other brands from all my time working retail. It's just a question on if we could order new waves or would just get the same waves until Hasbro released new waves.
Since you have confirmed Kb Toys opening by black friday Mr. know it all, let me know when the job postings go up
That's no surprise. As has been noted on here several times (even if people want to dismiss it) there would have been a bit more in play well before now in order to have a chain of pop-up stores open for this Christmas season.
The only real surprise is that they've actually made an announcement, and thus the idea isn't completely dead yet.
Well, if they come back completely and not just as a s"seasonal" store, the wait would be worth it for me.
I don't see it happening. The stock market has been on a sugar high for the past few years, and has been very volatile in 2018. In fact, the last volatility knocked it back to 2017 levels. The big investment firms are in asset protection mode, most are claiming the bear market has already started, and 2019-2020 could be pretty crappy. What that means is that KB would have bad timing, and effectively try to open in a down market. When you have a recessionary market, the first thing to go is personal discretionary spending like toys. Retail B&M cut, they rarely add, during those times. Making matters worse, you have the Chinese tariffs trade war that will cause toy costs to rise: Trump’s trade war on Chinese goods could hit the toy industry hard Then there's the consideration that toys themselves are in a flat market, slight decline, competing with digital goods. (Please ignore the quarterly up/down yo-yo reporting, look at the longer trend.) I'm pretty sure that adults are keeping it afloat, not kids. We're the toy generation, not those before us or after us.
I think the recession (which always happens after a major boom) will be mild this time around. Definitely not 2007-level stuff...the U.S. economy is too strong right now (it's the global economy and lingering trade disputes that will drag us down a bit). If KBToys is smart, they'll move into locations at a discount and bring in the best product that will sell at a high volume or with a good margin of profit - preferably both. Anyhow, looks like I was wrong in giving them the benefit of the doubt that they'd have stores open by Black Friday. Go! Calendar pop-ups are basically the model KBToys is looking at - can they really offer much that those stores already supply? I kind of doubt it unless they go hard in on video games too.
Lately, the Go!s around my area aren't even in a store, just a ramshackle kiosk...of sorts in the middle of the walking path in the mall. Blink and you'll miss it kind of deal. KB can definitely do better than that. Go! used to fill a store with content and this year they're not even trying. Heck, I saw a permanent one in Cleveland in Tower City and it was awesome. Unfortunately, it went out of business, even in a heavy foot trafficked area. =\ KB has a pretty large uphill battle, I doubt this will come to fruition when it's all said and done. Most of the country doesn't have a Toy City and those that do are sitting on old stock, Go! is a bunch of pop-ups at this point and TRU died. I think the age of a specialty store has come to an end when you have Amazon, Target, and Walmart carrying the bulk of the burden.
They do both, depending on the mall. I've been to one in Kansas City and two in Wichita that were full store set-ups so YYMV depending on where you live. I still think KBToys wouldn't offer much different, though, and the pricing will almost certainly be the same. To that, I can agree. I don't think it's impossible. But I do think it will be a challenge. The key will be cheap real estate and exclusives, exclusives, exclusives.
I don't think it'll be a recession, just a harsh correction that brings the market back to reality. It's been growing on its own, divorced from the rest of the economy. A strong economy needs not just a good stock market, but strength in all financial areas. In the business world, never assume this. Having a location at a discount sounds good at first, but you have to remember foot traffic may also be down. That's why it's discounted. This is only true if you live somewhere like NY, LA, Chicago, Dallas. Most Walmarts outside the largest metro areas have sparse stocking. Target is somewhat the same. At least smaller cities had malls with Kaybee and Circus World back in the 80s/90s, sometimes mall TRU location in the 2000s/2010s. Now you may have Gamestop in a mall with a small rack of picked-over figures. Walmart with last year's peg warmers. Honestly, of all the places to get figures, Walgreens is often best. A drug store. How sad. Same, nothing, zero confidence anything like that will ever appear.
Strategic Marks Seeks Funding for KB Toys Relaunch More funding sought by Strategic Marks for KB Toys relaunch | Toy World Magazine
Huh. Knew there was more to the delay, it was what a lot of us thought: They weren't capable. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have an actual toy store, again, but I'm not sure this is it.
I'm more surprised by anyone that is surprised by this. Those are the same people that still think HasCon 2019 is happening.
