Is Ollie's the only place getting discounted tfs now? Where's the ross and Marshall love... Would love to get that Scrapper for my prime collection.

 

I'm in the New York area, and Ross or Ollie's haven't gotten close enough (Five Below is here, but was under my radar until now).

Now, I have been to several TJX stores, but not seen any TFs in any TJ Maxx or Marshall's. Have I been missing them locally, or has it been awhile since anyone has seen them there? Do HomeGoods carry them (or any toys)?

 

Was this the article which pointed out that Dollar General locations correlate to something like concentrations of crime or poverty?

 

the whole point of dollar general in the first place was for impoverished communities or places with low populations to still have some kind of store that could grow into a whole chain. walmart's everywhere now but dollar general's far more convenient and there are tons of smaller US towns that aren't even big enough for a wal-mart, which is especially where dollar general can shine.

 

of course things are cheaper when they're made in china by slaves in sweatshops with suicide nets

 

Yeah I was gonna say, last time I heard of TF's at Marshall's was when Transformers Prime FE's popped up there, but that was years ago.

 

Ugh, they want to build a DG right down the road from me and basically the entire township is fighting it. There's one about 3 miles away, so no one thinks we need it, and they're bending over backwards trying to accomodate it on a lot that's too small for it.

 

We have a few Home goods nearby that we would regularly visit. At most, they carry stuff like Melissa & Doug and science and learning/toddler toys. The only times I ever remember them stocking toy-toys was several years ago around the big holidays (Christmas, Easter) and Summer where they stocked things like Ninjago Lego sets (maybe Lego Hero factory Jungle themed canister sets too), Mattel Halo Series 1 figures (the ones with the clip on armor and BAF parts) and Halo foam dart launching guns (the late repainted guns with the yellow/flame decos), and late-in-the-line Mattel Justice League movie figures with the elastic-slinging gimmick and role-play items like Cyborg's mask and batman gear. And that's about it. You'd have to check the front-ish seasonal display sections for toys as well as the kids area.

 

I live in a medium-smallish city and Dollar Generals go absolutely hard here. It seems like the apparent rule of how close they can be is being tested here since there are definitely 3 different ones open within a 2-3 mile radius of my house, one of which only opened recently just as the pandemic was starting to get sketchy last year. (There are also two CVS stores at opposite ends of a single stretch of road in the same area for some reason.) There are quite a few more throughout the city the further you go out.

I went into the local Ollie's about a week ago hoping to spot an Earthrise Optimus and came up empty. As far as TFs go they only had a few smaller carded figures from Cyberverse and an Authentics Megatron that I grabbed since I enjoyed the Starscream after picking it up at a grocery store recently. I don't have the opportunity (or even willingness, really) to check over that way very often.

I noticed they also had some of the first wave of 2012 Ninja Turtles, which I'd last seen in Burlington and Ross about two holiday shopping seasons ago. It's wild how those keep popping up.

 

It may be great to get a DG in a food desert, but elsewhere they often supplant already established grocery stores. Usually they are locally owned places and sometimes those owners offer to sell the business and let them take over, but DG prefers to build their own stores and just push the other place out. Sometimes they can even effect larger stores: locally, a new DG pushed Kroger to close a store in a lower income area. This can actually hurt those residents' budgets in the long run as you usually pay more per unit for the same product at DG. They sometimes have specially sized packages just for those stores made to look like you're getting a deal paying less than at a different store, but you also get less product.

 

Things could be made here. 40 years ago the average retail margin was 30%. Now it is 50-60% and in some cases higher than 70%.

If I have a small chain of stores, I can buy $20 Transformers for $13 wholesale, and $12 with a large enough order. Walmart and Target pay $8.75.

What Hasbro pays is a lot less than that. Manufacturing cost is lower. That $20 toy was made in Vietnam for right around $2.50.

Now you know how things can show up at Ollie's for $8 retail and they still make money. The $20 toy never should have been more than $10 in the first place.

 

yep, that's why I don't rush to pay retail on non-exclusives. If I can't get it on sale or clearance at Target or Walmart, I can find it at Ross, ebay, etc later.

 

Yeah, I have to really want something to pay full MSRP when it comes to Transformers.

Even if the manufacturing came back, it would not result in that many jobs. Part of why they moved those plants overseas is that the labor there is cheaper than automating. Move it back to the states, and those jobs will be fully automated unless people are willing to accept factory jobs without benefits and dirt cheap hourly. Those jobs aren’t coming back in any meaningful way.

I’d also add that with 3D printing getting easier and cheaper everyday I’m fully expecting toy aisles to disappear entirely a few decades down the line. My kids actively want to get a 3D printer and learn to make their own stuff. It’s their cheapskate Dad (Me!) that won’t buy them one.

 

Same. I never pay retail for a transformer unless it's an exclusive which would be hard to find later, let alone discounted. I wait for regular figures to go on sale. I've gotten $20 deluxes for $13 and $80 commander classes for $50. These deals often pop up on ebay or amazon with "package" damage but when I get it, 9 times out of 10 there's only slight damage and it doesn't matter to me because I'm not a MISB collector. I figured the money I save can go towards buying more transformers.

 

Burlington here in Brooklyn got 3 battlemasters for $2.99. No Singe though.

There's a store called Amazing Savings in the New York Area. You should check it out if you can.

 

Thanks. Not checked them, although I know they have had toys at times. Dumb move on my part.

Yes, I have. Although not recently. Another dumb move. They have had KOs in the past, but hadn't seen TT ones.

Lot-Less has had a mix of TT and KO stuff too.

 

You know, this could be wishful thinking but I really hope Earthrise Scorponok shows up at Ross one if these days, To be honest I'm not very keen on dropping $160+ on an action figure and It would be cool to get the titans for a cheaper price.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say it won't happen, certainly. But "wishful thinking" seems fair. I got Trypticon that way (Burlington, in my case). I'm not sure I've seen a Titan at one of these kinds of stores since then, though.

 

Yeah, I think Trypticon was the last Titan that went discount. Him being $30 at Ross because of TRU closing made a lot of people lose out on Predaking and Omega Supreme. Silly boffins. If you want something, pay full price. If it's simply nice to have, take a gamble.

 

No Transformers yet but my local Ross added some new Brictek (which is if you ask mom for LEGO® and she says we have building blocks at home) and Power Rangers sets to the once barren toy section. Hopefully it's the start of the Easter toy shipments.