Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2018/19/20/21/22/23 Finds

[niftynigel]

My nearest / only local B&M at Tolworth just had a solitary Scavenger Hunt Cruz Ramirez. I knabbed her - it would've been rude not to, sitting there on her own!

[Bombolo]

That moment when you realize you've hit the jackpot at the pegs!

[VANDANCE]

Awesome finds, VANDANCE! Congratulations! That was a very difficult case to find in the US... I wish they'd have made that case available to Get Me Collectibles to order, but it was a store exclusive (Target I believe) that got canceled by the retailer... I saw it one week at Meijer... and just recently it appeared at Big Lots stores - some got a full case, others just got a handful of singles from the case... I was fortunate to find a SH Chick with a bad card so I could open one... I haven't opened the others yet - I need more display cases for my diecast Cars.

Yes I’ve found these hard to come by but there were 3 at least of each SH model, all hung separately on the pegs. I was surprised to see so many of each in one shop.

[cac1959]

Awesome finds, VANDANCE! Congratulations! That was a very difficult case to find in the US... I wish they'd have made that case available to Get Me Collectibles to order, but it was a store exclusive (Target I believe) that got canceled by the retailer... I saw it one week at Meijer... and just recently it appeared at Big Lots stores - some got a full case, others just got a handful of singles from the case... I was fortunate to find a SH Chick with a bad card so I could open one... I haven't opened the others yet - I need more display cases for my diecast Cars.

[VANDANCE]

Also, in a different branch of B&M I got the rest of the scavenger hunt series including Chick with piston cup, Cal and Jackson. There was also a metallic hunt Marilyn as well as a few mainlines. All priced at £3.99

[VANDANCE]

I found some XRS drag racers in B&M store today, £3.99 each and had 2 cases in stock.

[niftynigel]

The UK has the most competitive supermarket situation, with Waitrose and Marks & Spencer (who also sell clothes) at the top end. We then have the 'big four', Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA and Morrisons. There is also Co-op, who tend to have smaller stores competing with small Tesco and Sainsburys. We then have ALDI and Lidl at the bottom end.

[niftynigel]

B&M Bargains are one of a number of retailers, that generally sell a range of different items, some brands found in most places and other bargain brands at generally cheaper prices than High Street retailers or supermarkets. There are others like Home Bargains and Poundland who sell a similar wide range of products at low prices. There are other stores like Savers that sell just toiletries and smaller homeware and cleaning products and a small range of groceries.

B&M etc will either sell cheaper brands of toys, not necessarily end-of-line and other lines, like Cars, where manufacturers want to get rid of old stock at reduced prices. Cars are generally £7 in the UK, but around £4 at B&M.

The Entertainer and Toymaster groups of High Street toy stores sell a mix of old and new. They have recently concentrated on old Cars for £4. TK Maxx have done the same, but generally only in the run up to Christmas in recent years.

Cars 3 overstocks hit the market bad. Many stores have now given up, Wilko being the biggest. Wilko is in every High Street, so they are a major loss. They are effectively the modern day Woolworths. It was a very sad day in British history when Woolworths closed.

[cac1959]

Nice find on the Scavenger Hunt Cruz with rubber tyres, VANDANCE... after finding a few almost a year ago at a Meijer in the US, that case showed up at the Big Lots consolidator chain... I take it B&M is a close-out type of store?

Distribution is an issue everywhere... had I not bought cases from Get Me Collectibles I'd have huge holes in my collection... I have seen case E or F in a couple of stores once on a trip to Indianapolis... locally case D twice is the most recent singles case I've seen... I have received E, F, G, and J from Get Me Collectibles (I skipped D and H)...

The US economy is still in the process of opening back up... I may make a quick Cars run this weekend... I haven't gone to any out of town stores just to look for Cars in 3 months.

[VANDANCE]

I found the scavenger hunt Cruz with rubber tyres in B&M this week. Otherwise it’s repeats of the Harvey Rodcap, Sliver Chick, Paul Conrev singles on clips strips. Still seeing metallic Cal cases everywhere else. Distribution is sooo poor I can’t begin to vent my frustration. I have found it’s almost impossible to find new cars in shops and have to pay more on line. Fingers crossed this improves one day

[niftynigel]

When I was out and about for work today, I popped into a few supermarkets on my way home. I saw the remnants of what looked like a new case, with a date stamp of N12A. The previous newest date stamp in the UK was M45A. I'll have a look around and see if I can find any more - all the cars I would've considered buying were all gone!

I'll post info as soon as I have any to report!

All the main supermarkets in the UK, ASDA, Morrisons, Sainburys and Tesco have queuing systems on entry and some have one-way systems in store.

[boogity]

bout ye , all, only shop i,ve been in is tesco cos of work, but nothing there, got a few ferraris and stuff for my train set, i,m just working away driving my tesco van doing home deliveries,,, it like christmas everyday, i,m knackered
stay safe everyone

[niftynigel]

I made a rare venture out this week. Our local Sainsburys Superstore had the Met. Cal Weathers case, indeed it looked like they had about three of them! Another collector told me that his local Morrisons and ASDA both have this case too.

Smyths had put a new case on their website, but that's now disappeared - they are just down to the remnants of the Met. Chick Hicks case!

[VANDANCE]

Morrison’s have Cars on offer at £5.53 right now, it’s the metallic Cal case.

[boogity]

found some nice stuff in smyths, but it not nice enough at 6.99 to buy, also why would trainer cruz have the microphone\speaker on the inside of the packing......