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A History of the Kmart Cars2 Collector Events

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  • A History of the Kmart Cars2 Collector Events



    Greetings all... on Saturday October 20, 2012, Kmart held their 9th in-store Cars Collector Event... this event was the 4th event to showcase Cars from Cars2... it featured 5 Silver Racer Series Cars (4 new and the same Lightning McQueen from Kmart 8) as well as 2 first to market Cars, Alexander Hugo with Party Hat and Mary Esgocar... and once again, due to case assortments and distribution, it made for a very long day and weekend.

    I have attended all of the Kmart Cars Collector events and as I like to help out others, it makes for a long and tiring day...

    I first wrote about the Kmart Collector Events in the following article: http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...thread.php?172

    I've since added more text and photos to the article and we've exceeded the maximum length... so, I've decided to break the article into multiple parts as I got ready to add a recap for Kmart 8... I didn't even ask my grandson if he wanted to attend Kmart 9 with me; as I left the house at 7:30 am and got home at 6:30 pm, it's probably a good thing that I made the trip alone... and I followed it up with a 9 am to 4 pm trip the next day... 400 miles driven over 2 days... in search of Kmart 9 Cars.


    Kmart 9: October 20, 2012



    Kmart 9 was the 2nd Kmart event to start at 9 am as opposed to 11 am... once again, if the earlier start time was to attract more customers, it didn't work... for the store I started at, I was once again the only customer... I bought 60 of the 96 available Kmart 9 Cars, got the store poster (which turned out to be creased), and a couple posters from the master carton... the store once again only received 1 master carton (4 cases of 24 Cars)... that turned out to be the way it was at almost every Kmart store... I noticed several Kmart 6 rubber tire racers but went up to the register where I paid for my Cars and headed on to a second store.

    Here's a picture of the Kmart 9 master carton:


    I used the box to store Cars during my travels...

    Here's a picture of a Kmart 9 case (1 of 4 inside each master carton)... packed day 246 of 2012...


    I talked and texted with a couple friends and was able to get their help with Lewis, Mary, and Alexander... I didn't know if I'd be able to find enough to help out everyone on my list on my own.

    I got to the second store at 10 am... no sign of the event anywhere... I asked an employee who went to the manager's office and came back 5 minutes later with a "sealed" master carton... I could tell by looking at it that had been opened and re-taped... they opened the master carton and there were 3, not 4, cases inside... each had been re-taped... I was told I could open one of the cases and have any of the Cars inside... luckily I got a "full" case and got the 2 Lewis, Mary, and Alexander - Mary and Alexander were the most requested Cars from the friends that I helped... I mentioned that I knew the cases and master carton had been re-taped but the employees denied it... and in a sign of Cars-ma, 2 weeks later, when I went back for the November 3 Hot Wheels event, I found 3 each of Mary, Lewis, and Alexander on the pegs and bought them.

    I made a wrong turn and ended up going to a 3rd store which I'd given up on previously as it had been picked over at events 6, 7, and 8... believe it or not, at 11 am, I was the first customer - all 96 Cars were on the table... I bought all 8 Lewis, Mary, and Alexander, and headed to a 4th store... I got to the 4th store at 12 noon - during the previous 2 events this store had been my 2nd best store... this year, I bought no Kmart 9 Cars at the store - all the Lewis, Mary, and Alexander were gone, and there were probably less than 40 Cars remaining.

    I headed to a Target and Toys R US, and then stopped at Red Robin for lunch... it was now about 12:30... I heard from friends in California that there store(s), which previously would get 3 or 4 Master Cartons, only got 1... and 4 cases does not go far with 20 people... I told them I'd try to help them out.

    At the 5th store, they told me the event had been in electronics... there was no sign of any Cars there or on the pegs... I got out my iPhone and determined there was another Kmart about 20 miles east... I'd never been there... and while I didn't find many Mary or Alexander, I was able to get not only several of the Kmart 9 racers but also some other Kmart racers... I checked my Maps app on my iPhone and noticed I was 25 miles due south of a town that used to have 2 Kmart stores but was now down to 1... I made the leisurely trip north on US 68 and eventually arrived at my 7th store.

    I got to the 7th store around 3:00 pm... 6 hours after the event... not only did I see a couple cases worth of Cars on the table, I saw 6 cases on a cart - 2 of them hadn't even been opened! The store had gotten in 2 master cartons - 8 cases of 24 Cars... I stocked up on Mary/Lewis/Alexander and many of the racers... I also found several of the McQueen/Fillmore with headset exclusive crew chief 2 pack (but no Jeff/John, Francesco/Guiseppe, or Carla/Cruz)... I paid and headed towards home... on the way I decided not to make a detour to another small town... I just wanted to get home and order a pizza...

    At 6:30 I got home... Holley was glad to see me...

    The next day I decided to try a few more stores... I was able to find more Alexander/Mary/Lewis at the first store on Sunday, 50 miles north... next I headed south and then east to the small town I'd gotten the Kmart 8 poster at... even though it was the day after the event, I was able to get the store poster and several more sets of racers and a couple more Mary and Alexander... I drove the 30 miles south to the first store I went to Saturday and got several of the Kmart 6 rubber tire racers.

    Here's the Kmart 9 foldout poster - there were 3 per master carton:



    There are still several Cars on that poster that we're waiting to see... they were supposed to appear in the 4 cases that Mattel canceled so that Walmart would get them... we're still waiting for them at Walmart.

    Here are pictures of the Kmart 9 Cars:

    4 opened racers:


    Mary and Alexander:


    Alexander Hugo with Party Hat:


    Mary Esgocar:


    Lewis Hamilton:


    Miguel Camino:


    Max Schnell:


    Nigel Gearsley:


    Nigel is my favorite silver series racer from Kmart 9... I'd hoped we'd find Rip but alas, it wasn't meant to be... I hope there's a Kmart 10 event in June 2013, but I'm not sure there will be... Attendance has declined from Kmart 5 to the present... when I can get to the event 2 hours after it starts and be the first person to show up, that's not good... we'll have to see what happens in June.


    Kmart 8: Saturday June 16, 2012



    The Kmart 8 event was the first one to start at 9 am... Kmart hoped to attract more customers by starting at 9 am as opposed to 11 am... How did that work out? It depends on the store... at the first store I went to, I was once again the only customer... I helped them set up the table and cut open the master carton... I took out a few Cars that I did not need and headed to the checkout... I asked about the store poster and was told yes... I also got all 3 of the foldout posters... by 9:20 I was done and on my way to the next store.

    The Kmart 8 case assortment consisted of 24 Cars; 20 were Silver Racer Series Cars (6 McQueen, 4 Francesco, 3 Raoul, 3 Jeff, 2 Shu, and 2 Carla), 2 Acer with Torch, and 2 Chase Celine... I've only read of 1 instance where someone got a mispacked case although I've not opened mine up yet.

    Here's the master carton from the event:


    Here's the case:



    Here are the 8 carded Kmart 8 Cars:


    I know some of you say you don't care for the Silver Racer Series Cars... until I actually saw them at the event, I was not excited about them... Seeing them in person caused me to change my mind... that and the fact that I was helping a few friends who wanted them.

    I got to the second store a little around 10:15 am... I went to the customer service desk and asked about the event... I was told that they didn't participate... I went back to Toys and saw no sign of new Cars... As I was walking out between 2 closed check out aisles I saw 4 opened cases that I recognized... it looked like about 4 Cars were gone from the boxes... there was an empty cart by the aisle... I picked up 38 more Cars and headed to an open aisle and checked out.

    By 11 am I'd stopped at a 3rd store... This is the one where I've not found much on Kmart Day... and this year, there were not many of the 2 per case Cars left... the Chase were all gone... I got a few more Cars and headed to the next store... At the 4th store, I did not find the table back in toys where it normally is... I asked an employee who showed me where they'd held the event this year... At 12 noon I found the table - one set of 8 Cars was missing... I got what I needed and headed to lunch.

    I had a great lunch at Red Robin... I love their Bacon Cheeseburger and endless fries... I checked in on the website and saw that a couple of my friends in Texas were having bad luck at their closest Kmart store... I made a phone call and told them that I'd help as much as I could but that I was having trouble finding enough Chase Celine for everyone - I'd left some Cars they needed behind and didn't have time to backtrack...

    I stopped at a Toys R US store and found the cube... No Vladimir... several Victor H and Chase Ramone, most with bent cards... Nothing else worth buying... I decided not to even stop at Target and headed onto my next Kmart... I got to the 5th Kmart around 1:30 pm... there was no table in Toys where it was usually set up, but I found remnants of the Cars cases in a cart, found a few in the boxes, and decided to check the pegs... some the Kmart 8 Cars were on pegs, behind other Cars singles... Whether it was someone else hiding them or the employee had rotated the new stock to the back I don't know... but I got a few more Cars, including 3 more Chase Celine, and went to the register and paid...

    I decided to skip the 6th Kmart store in the town I lived in growing up and headed to a small town Kmart that's 70 miles from my house... I'd gotten lucky with Crew Chief 2 packs there before... there were less than 30 Cars left at the table - I bought 6 and headed out... I was going to head home but as often happens, I decided to make one last stop... The 7th Kmart store is about 40 miles from my home and I'd never really found much there before... this year I got a little lucky... I bought 18 more Cars including 3 Celine and asked about the store poster - they told me I could have it... so I got 2 store posters this time... I got home at 6 pm, 10 hours after I left the house - I was exhausted...

    I was on the phone quite a bit during the day... texting while in stores or parked in the parking lot, and talking with friends... one of my friends found a few more Chase Celine for me so I asked him to get them for me... I now had enough Cars for those that asked for help in advance of the event as well as 3 friends that asked for help that day.

    I normally stop at several Target/Walmart/Toys R US/Kohl's/Meijer stores on event day... This year I just stopped at 1 TRU and 1 Walmart, Red Robin for lunch, and 2 gas stations - the first gas station was out of gas!

    Here are some photos of the opened Kmart 8 Cars:

    All 8 Cars:


    6 racers:


    Carla:


    Francesco:


    Raoul:


    Shu:


    Jeff:


    Lightning McQueen:


    Acer with Torch:


    Chase Celine:



    I did place orders for cases online during the presale... once again, there were problems with orders being canceled... Had I gotten my cases before the event I could have posted pictures before the event which might have resulted in more friends wanting them and an increase in sales for Kmart... As it was, I got my cases Wednesday June 20 and still haven't opened my case to verify the contents.

    Less than 1 week after the event, I hear that stores have left Lightning McQueen and Francesco, and that's about it... there are lots of them for sale on eBay... I think we may see some returns in a few weeks... time will tell.

    And I still need to get Cars packages ready for several people... that's on the list of things to do tonight and this weekend... I'm also sending one of my sets of 8 Kmart 8 Cars to the 5 year old boy that Outlawbak mentioned in a post on June 16.


    Kmart 7: October 22, 2011

    One thing on the Kmart 6 master carton poster that caught my eye was this:



    We'll see 7 more rubber tire racers during the October 2011 Kmart event... The specific date was not listed on the poster, but if history is any indication, it will be the 4th Saturday in October which would be October 22, 2011...this will give us 10 of the 11 racers with rubber tires, missing only Rip Clutchgoneski...

    Update: Kmart 7 was indeed held on Saturday October 22, 2011... Here's the store poster:



    I went to the same store I've been going to since the Kmart 2 event... I was the only one in attendance... they only had one master carton with 4 cases... the actual case assortment turned out to be different from that which had been announced... 5 Lightning McQueen, 3 Miguel Camino, 3 Raoul Caroule, 3 Jeff Gorvette, 2 Max Schnell, 2 Carla Veloso, and 2 Lewis Hamilton... Here is a photo of the 7 racers:



    When I learned there was only 1 master carton, I contacted a couple of friends who helped me out by buying Cars for me... I then went to another Kmart store - no one had shown up... they let me buy Cars from 1 case and that was it... I went to another Kmart store - they had only sold the newest released Cars (Max Schnell, Miguel Camino, and Lewis Hamilton)... I went to a 4th Kmart store around 1:30 pm, over 2 hours after the event - they too had gotten only 1 master carton and had only sold 1 set of the 7 racers so I able to buy more Lewis Hamilton - at that store I also found a new case of the Carla Crew Chief 2 packs (but left the 8 Fillmore/McQueen)... after lunch I went to a 5th Kmart and found 2 Lewis out of 15 remaining KM7 Cars... and at the 6th and last Kmart I went to, they hadn't had anyone show up so they took the master carton to the back... the manager said that they'd bring it out so I could help myself... after 10 minutes he came out and said that the master carton was gone and that it had been sold unopened to one person... strange...


    Cars Collector Event #6: June 25, 2011

    The 6th Cars Collector event was June 25, 2011 - it's been a long time since the 5th event... with the launch of the Cars2 toys on May 16, the Kmart case will consist of the last 3 racers (excluding Apple which won't be released) as singles from Cars (Lightning McQueen, Chick Hicks, and The King) as well as 3 racers from Cars 2: Nigel Gearsley, Francesco Bernoulli, and Shu Torodoki and the High 'N' Low Ramone.

    Thanks to rpag for allowing me to use his photo of the Kmart 6 store poster:


    (Photo used by permission)

    EDIT: The Kmart 6 Cars were on the pegs at the local Kmart this morning (6/17/11):








    I'll still be going to the event on Saturday June 25... I hope to get the store poster and other items and will be helping some of my friends who do not have access to a Kmart store... I was told today that there will be free posters for each $25 purchased...

    I hope that we'll also see the Kmart exclusive 2 packs (racers and crew chiefs) at the event but it's not looking likely...

    I'll be heading over in the next couple of days to the store that I have been to for Kmart 3, 4, and 5 to make sure that they are going to be participating...

    Update: June 25, 2011

    Kmart 6 has come and gone... once again, many more Cars than people attending... I arrived at the Kmart store at 9:15 am... they still did not have the Kmart 6 Cars in the back... I was told the truck would be there by 10 am... Nothing like waiting until the last minute... At 10:30 I headed to Toys with my shopping cart... one other family was there - a 10 year old boy I've helped before was there with his mother and grandfather... he's up to 300 Cars in his collection now... we talked Cars for a while and I told them about Walmart and ToysRUs exclusives... at 10:55 they brought out a table, 5 tubs, and 3 master cartons... 12 cases (240 Cars) for 2 of us... I asked if we could help them unpack the cases... the employees just dumped the contents in the tubs... we got what we needed and started sorting the Cars in the tubs so they'd be arranged and stacked as neatly as possible... there was no room for the 12th case, so the worker did hand it to me, opened but the Cars had not been removed...



    We each got a master carton poster:



    They did have the 3D posters - I was able to get a couple...



    The workers left the set up at 11:05 am... we continued to arrange until all Cars had been sorted... we headed up to checkout, stopping by the cube first so my friend could get some 2 packs that he wanted... By 11:45 I had loaded up my car and decided to stop at a few more stores...

    At 1 pm I stopped at a second Kmart 28 miles away... I saw the store poster, and that was it... I asked the manager on duty and found out that no one showed up for the event at their store, so the unopened master cartons were still at customer service... he brought me one and said I could have whatever I wanted... I got the posters from the master carton, 6 new Cars, and 8 older Kmart 3/4/5 racers for a friend... they had no 3D posters.

    After stopping at 2 Target, 2 Walmart, and 1 Meijer stores, I stopped at one more Kmart that's next to a great pizza place... I noticed the store poster as I entered... I went to the back and the table was still set up, all the Cars and 3D posters were sorted nicely on top... I got a few new Cars, 4 older Cars, and a poster and went to the service desk to ask about the store poster... She called the manager and I was told that I could have the poster...



    I loaded up my car, went to the pizza place, and then headed home... I left at 8:30 am... I arrived back home at 5:30 pm... it was definitely a long day...

    Kmart stores are not going to be getting many new singles in for awhile... people evidently just weren't excited about the assortment...

    Here's my updated rubber tire racer collection as of June 26, 2011:


    Thanks to having a custom Apple, I have a complete Cars1 36 Car rubber tire collection.

    Anyway... the fact that most stores only received 1 master carton for the last 2 events meant that there were a lot fewer available Cars to purchase... stores aren't going to have very many Kmart 8 Cars left over... that may result in higher prices as demand may be greater than the supply... that could help stimulate interest in Kmart 9, assuming there is one... or it could be the end... time will tell.


    In Conclusion

    I really have enjoyed the Kmart Cars Collector events... I would like to see better case assortments and more Cars available for purchase... I'd also like to see Kmart completely overhaul their online ordering system and order fulfillment.

    I really hope we see Rip Clutchgoneski with rubber tires so we can complete the 11 Car rubber tire racer set... I don't expect to see the Ultimate Chase Cars released with rubber tires but that would be fine with me... I also hope that we see Rip Clutchgoneski in the Silver Racer Series... and Rip Clutchgoneski with plastic tires as a single... I'd love a 3 pack with just Rip (rubber tires, plastic tires, and silver series racer)... kind of like the Kmart 5 McQueen/Faux Wheel Drive/Gask-Its rubber tires, just with Rip instead.

    I know that MarknotaMack was in the US for the June Kmart 8 event... I wish that more of you would get the opportunity to attend and event... it would be great to attend an event with some of my friends.

    As always, thanks again for reading...

    Chris
    Last edited by cac1959; 11-10-2012, 03:27 AM. Reason: Added Kmart 9 content and photos


    I am cac1959... I am a Cars-a-holic... and a proud supporter of Nathan's Playroom

  • #2
    Nice article once again Chris, those are the only three events I've been to and you summed them up really well!

    Comment


    • #3
      Great article Chris

      Its interesting to know about the events over there as here in the UK we dont have anything like this. If we did i suspect it will all be snapped up by ebayers and not collectors/or for kids.

      It was very sad to hear about the little boy who missed out due to one person! Very selfish and cruel as after all these are toys and were designed for kids! It was very generous of you to help the little lad and it shows that there are some kind people still around in the world

      Always love reading your articles, Very informative! Thanks for taking the time to write them/take photos etc

      Comment


      • #4
        Another great article Chris, you really are dedicated to the cause my friend . I must admit I haven't really been interested in the metallic cars but I do like Celine, she is a pretty cool car. Of the racers I think Geoff works best.

        Comment


        • #5
          I went to the event just to get Celine and Torch Acer and ended up buying the silver cars. Seeing them in person changed my mind. Had to look at them carefully to find ones without paint defects. At least one was free. Hope we will see the rest including Rip in October. Not planning on opening them until I get a complete set. Not going to open my TRU metallic paint cars until I complete the set either. Once again, another great article.

          signature courtesy of BomBom77
          http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...ars-for-trades

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          • #6
            great article cac1959,it must be even better participating in the events themselves.pity none of the stores in the uk would do something like this.

            Comment


            • #7
              Thanks for the article and cars Chris...

              Comment


              • #8
                late to this thread...but very nice article and nice content

                Up to date, Carla, IMO, is the best looking silver racer.

                It makes me very sad that we don't have these up here in Canada.

                Any chance you have an extra Slver Carla for sale?

                Transformers for Trade
                Feedback: pixarcarsdiecast.com; cybertron.ca; tfw2005.com; ebay.ca

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