Great Britain & Northern Ireland Finds (Part 1)

[niftynigel]

my experience of tesco is they are far and away the worse uk supermarket for cars stock and it appears they won't be getting any better

http://www.toynews-online.biz/news/r...tionery/040264

It's all down to your local experience as Tesco in my area in terms of the Cars 2013 range has been the most productive, with cases 997P, 997U and 997Q appearing there first. Smyths had 997R first. Sainsburys have had 997V exclusive so far.

It'll be a big loss if Tesco doesn't stock Cars as they are far and above the biggest stockist of Cars product (by volume). No other retailer can order in the region of 5,000 cases like Tesco did at the end of last year.

If it was left to Argos, ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Smyths, Toys R Us, Toymaster and Wilkinson is the market big enough to sustain Cars, without huge price hikes to justify quantities. No! Maybe Tesco isn't great everywhere, but the same is true of all of them, but collectively they shift enough Cars to justfify importing them at a reasonable price level. You better hope that Tesco considers Cars a big enough seller to keep it, otherwise those forthcoming Cars will get a whole lot more difficult to get hold of.

My local Toymaster got their usual Tuesday Mattel delivery. Ten cases of Planes, four for my local shop (six for the other smaller branches), 24 planes, only four left by the time I got there (4pm)!!!!

Anyway, there was no Cars singles delivery as Mattel are still reporting on the manifest that product W1938 is 'out of stock'!

The moral of the story is ...

... Don't blame Tesco, ... , ... It's Mattel's totally inept distribution and supply chain. Tesco have got 996Y cases as that's all Mattel UK could source! Europe couldn't sell these old Cars, but they sell (whatever they are) in the UK.

Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco have ALL had that old case in my area and these old Cars have still flown off the shelves!

OK, they've sold well and Mattel you were right, they've sold well, now can we have some NEW Cars, please!?

[Enzo]

Well said Nigel, it's beyond frustrating that cases 997W and 997Y are freely available in France, Netherlands etc. and have even started to pop up in the US (as case H and J) yet no still sign here in the UK. Case 997V was clearly a one-off.

[madbob]

A depressing visit to Asda, Sainsburys and Tescos resulted in nothing new. All old Cars 2 2102 card backs not a 2013 card back in sight.

[VANDANCE]

Interesting read Nigel, lets hope Tesco continue with the lower value toys and discontinue the bigger, higher priced toys that may be slower moving.

The most recent 2013 card back stock to turn up in my area was a single clip strip in Tesco Express at the weekend. The 8 or so vehicles consisted of Red Ramone, Sally, Marlon Security car, Bomb Mater and LMQ / Francesco. I asked if they had any more but the helpful store attendand told me they only received a single strip of cars. After this I checked 3 other Tesco Express outlets in my area and not one Pixar car in any of the other stores to be found -weird?!

[Junior]

I had a pleasant surprise in Tesco today where I found a whole load of 2013 cards on a clip strip with a Cars1 style Sarge, Victor Hugo, Holly with Screen, Lightning Ramone, Cactus LM, Rusty Rusteze and others, not sure if this would have a case number as such or just a random collection for clip strips, either way a welcome sight!

[Enzo]

I had a pleasant surprise in Tesco today where I found a whole load of 2013 cards on a clip strip with a Cars1 style Sarge, Victor Hugo, Holly with Screen, Lightning Ramone, Cactus LM, Rusty Rusteze and others, not sure if this would have a case number as such or just a random collection for clip strips, either way a welcome sight!

That sounds a lot like the 997P case which also contained Kabuto, Petey Pacer and yes, Rip.

[Junior]

well if rip was there he left before I seen him! il check again tomorrow and the next day and the next day lol

[niftynigel]

I had a article prepared on case quantities produced, but ...

I had a (nasty) surprise at a Sainsburys Local near me. They had got a new case in, well it was actually an old US case, 999C in fact, which dates from May 2011. That was the case that introduced 16 - Rod Torque Redline! The typical car production date was 1121EAA. That effectively rules that store out from getting new stocks anytime soon as those cars are not going to sell. Other Sainsburys must also have gotten that old case too?

Wilkinsons are the same. The got 960 US 999F cases in October last year and they still have over 300 of those very old cases in their central warehouse! Suffice to say that those five Finns in the case are not selling and not much else is!

That is not good news as it confirms that the UK is the worlds old car dumping ground!

Thanks Mattel!

[Enzo]

Nigel, given that all the usual suspects have now been saddled with crap old stock that will gather cobwebs, any thoughts as to the UK fate of cases W, Y etc? Given Mattel UK had no problems cancelling MMs and Deluxes, is it a concern that they might do the same for these later cases? Or possible that they'll divert to another retailer? I'm starting to think the likes of Snot Rod and Brent may not make it here.

[VANDANCE]

I suppose with older cases making a re-apperance once again, am I wrong to hope / suggest that we might see Fabrizio, Sir Harley or the Prince turning up in U.K shops sometime in the near future?

[madbob]

I suppose with older cases making a re-apperance once again, am I wrong to hope / suggest that we might see Fabrizio, Sir Harley or the Prince turning up in U.K shops sometime in the near future?

With Mattel involved I wouldn't bet on it! Its never calculated and planned so I take it as one of those moments when your just about to jump out of a plane and hope your parachute works. A lot of preying and hoping would come into it.

[Enzo]

With Mattel involved I wouldn't bet on it! Its never calculated and planned so I take it as one of those moments when your just about to jump out of a plane and hope your parachute works. A lot of preying and hoping would come into it.

As in "stalking" the toy aisles like a big cat predator?

I now see what the collector vets have had to put up with. Mattel are a joke. The UK arm, well there's not enough swear words available.

[madbob]

Definitely praying not preying, I gave that sort of preying up a long time ago!

[VANDANCE]

Never too old to start again Madbob, Police record or not! I'll be preying on my local Asda this evening and praying right now they have some new old cars in stock at last. I last picked up a GGG from this store in April and the shelves have been empty since (excluding Silver Racers) which are just overpriced peg warmers!

[cac1959]

I think many of us pray that we'll find new Cars we need before we prey at our local stores.