Topic: Germany

[Darth More]

I hear you Shawn. It's a crying shame where the hobby has gone in the past 12 years. Toys R Us is missed heavily. Heck, if Smyths Toys wouldn't have bought all their stores here in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, I would be almost completely dependent on online dealers, too!

Yet, the U.S. have many specialists and stores that we can only dream of here in Europe. I'll try to cheer you up a little over the coming days and weeks. In fact I had a job offer last week. Jens from Legacy Arts asked me if I wanted to work for his cousin in Los Angeles.
Back in 2010 it was my biggest wish to move to the U.S., but my chances to get the Green Card are so low, that I stopped dreaming.

I'm surprised by the quantity and shape of the Star Wars figures on pegs at Smyths. If you go there frequently, chances are high to get those figures case fresh. If I bought my figures there for regular MRSP, I'd probably ask an employee when they usually restock and just get them right of the shipper before anyone else can touch them. Their employees are usually friendly if you ask them kindly.

It's good to see the Star Wars section expand again. The Jazwares X-Wing is the beginning of a new era or just the return of it. I wasn't expecting their Micro Galaxy Squadron line become available here in Germany. But I'm even happier now that it has.

I just got permission from the owner of a store in The Netherlands to share the pictures that I took at the beginning of August. If you still enjoy my store reports from Germany, I can add those pictures to a new thread. But I'm not sure if it's a good idea.
When you see pictures of that store, you'll either hate me or convince your family to move to the Netherlands with you.
They have some of the very best and most specialized stores all over Europe. I just love the Netherlands and many Dutch love to come to Germany as well.
One cannot have it all at one place I guess...

[Darth More]

Store report: Smyths Toys Super Stores


Düsseldorf, Germany

Tue, Aug 30, 2022


LONG LIVE SOLID CASES! THANK YOU HASBRO!

SALE

You know that things have changed when toy stores start selling gaming chairs for children...

The discounts for LEGO weren't overwhelming.



What have we here..?

Now that's some accessories there. More content for less $$$ from MATTEL.


Talk about weird proportions. Such a beautiful woman and I think they made the headsculpt well, but the body is too big in relation.

I must be vaccinated against these FUNKO!s...

In loving memory of Alan Rickman. He was a good man.

Jurassic World

We talk about 15 feet of space on the aisle here! JW still prospers. Dinosaurs will always rule toy sales.




STAR WARS

The STAR WARS section has grown, again! It was at an all-time low with one peg for each line after Christmas when TVC Kuiil was released That's a very positive development in my book. Düsseldorf is one of the wealthiest cities in Germany, so sales should be good here.








The 501st Legion Trooper is a rare sight. They had 5 on pegs here!

The Mando Warrior is reduced to 14,90€. And I was amazed by the quantity of TVC figures on pegs!
Long live solid cases! Thanks Hasbro!


MARVEL, MOTU & He Man







WWE & ROBOTS






LEGO




The AT-TE is currently sold out here. It flew off shelves everywhere after it dropped to 129,99€ instead of 139,99€ MRSP. So did Cad Bane's ship, but this one has a MRSP of 169,99€. That went down rather quickly: within 2 weeks to be precise. No surprise with 4 1/2 figures less than the AT-TE.



POKÉMONPOKÉMON




Hot Wheels


These were pretty sought after a couple months ago. Now they're on shelves in solid quantities. The Best of Germany presented by Matchbox.

And the real deal for daddy is sold outside about 70 yards away from SmythsToys.

They had 3 Lambos in the show room. Two Aventadors which were covered and one Urus in dark grey metallic.
So with another grey box for my figures from Kaufland, I took the next train home. Thanks for reading! Come and visit our car thread in the Imperial Break Room.

[Tamer]

Man I would love to go through those vintage pegs. Lots of great figures there. I haven't seen tvc pegs like that in a long, long time. Great report.

[Darth More]

A friend of mine was motivated by my store report to go to Smyths Toys in Krefeld on August 31. I forgot to share the pictures. This is what he found:





Tamer, when you shared that new Avatar line by McFarlane Toys, yesterday, I immediately contacted the customer service of Smyths Toys. Today I got a reply already. They say if the products are not listed in their online shop, yet, they cannot tell if and when they're going to sell them. I should ask in store to get further information. Funny.

[Starchaser]

Well, Philipp. I must say your  Smyths sure seem to be doing better than our Targets or Walmarts.

[Tamer]

Way more on your pegs than I have seen in years, maybe even a decade and I have been all over since then. I think the trend in the US is to force folks into online retail.

[Darth More]

Well, Philipp. I must say your  Smyths sure seem to be doing better than our Targets or Walmarts.

That's pretty crazy. I hope the good ole days will return one day. But to be fair, Smyths Toys are specialized on toys. Whereas toys are only part of the assotmnt of TARGET and Walmart.

Way more on your pegs than I have seen in years, maybe even a decade and I have been all over since then. I think the trend in the US is to force folks into online retail.

Maybe. Distribution, staff and shelf space have become crazy expensive over the years of pandemic.

[Darth More]

My local dollar store was pretty scarce today. Looks like some other collector(s) took a bunch of HotWheels and Matchbox. Or the store hasn't gotten any new cases recently.
Anyhew I still found 10 nice cars for 1€ each at T€Di:

[Darth More]

Two more reasons to support your local Comic Shop instead of online stores!

Today I went to a local comic shop to ask for the upcoming Avatar line by McFarlane and to also buy a few Deck Boxes for my game cards.

Here's the deal:

1. Amazon Germany listed 2 Avatar items so far, which sold out within a day. So I asked SmythsToys if they were going to sell this collection. They don't know.
So I looked on the website of the European distributor heo if they had listed the items. And they do!
Therefore I was almost certain that I can pre-order the items at a comic shop. And I did.
I could also sneak a peek onto the screen at the comic shop.
The purchase price from heo for a Jake Sully on Banshee is 13.61€. The retail price is 29.99€, which I'm willing to pay. 19% sales tax to that amount is about 6€, so my dealer makes about 10 bucks out of it.



He has to pay his only employee more than 10€ and I'm quite shocked if I think about that margin.
That's the math for action toys here in Germany. I wonder how much heo pays for the figures when they buy them from MATTEL.





This diorama can be built with 8 different sets and the display comes with 24 "blind" sets and retails for 200€ here in Germany as I learned today! 8.33€ will probably be 9.99€ each and 80€ to get them all. That's not too bad I think.




2. I needed some Deck Boxes for my WOTC game cards. The cheapest ones I found on Amazon are 3.11€ each. At the comic shop I got them for 1.90€ each. Sorry Jeff.




And here are some more pictures of their inventory:



Incinerator Trooper & Grogu were 39.90€.

First time I saw that figure in person. Retails for 24.90€.

[Tamer]

This new avatar stuff is really looking awesome, I can't wait to see it  hit stores.

[Darth More]

Same here! Thank you for spreading the word about this new Avatar toy line. I'm glad it'll be available here in Europe as well. And I'm glad that the previous line was so rare and expensive on the secondary market, that I didn't even buy a single figure of it.

[Darth More]

Yesterday, I went to a store similar to Best Buy to get an extension block. They also started selling some merch, books ad toys a few years ago, so it's always worth taking a look at Media Markt.
And this is what I found:


Really like that AC/DC Monopoly. I'm always surprised what Hasbro come up with.

This audio book of the Thrawn Trilogy is fantastic! I used to have the entire box with 14 CDs. Got it on Amazon for 50€ years ago. At the store an inclomplete set was sold for 2.99€ each, but 5 CDs were missing unfortunately. Still an interesting find.





The new LEGO AT-TE is currently sold out almost everywhere. So it was surprising to find one out in the wild.

[Tamer]

Neat looking shop. I could see me spending a dime or two in there.

[Darth More]

Thanks for your comment, I needed to correct the first two pictures. Lately, I have some issues with imgur when it comes to copy & paste action.

[Darth More]

Store report: Smyths Toys Super Stores


Dresden, Germany

Mon, Sep 26, 2022

The Star Wars section has doubled in pegs for the 4th Quarter!

That's a good sign in my book! The Star Wars and MOTU sections have grown by 2-4 feet each since my last visit. This was to the disadvantage of the WWE section which used to be 12 feet wide, but has now shrunk to 3 feet.



STAR WARS






Many new arrivals for the Holiday Season!

RETRO Collection is growing stronger here as well!







And even a load of overstock under the ceiling!








Looks like Star Wars isn't the only toy line with CARBONIZED figures...fortunately they're a thing of the past at least for Star Wars now. They fly now!















If you're looking for a vehicle for your 6" figures, here is a good alternative to Hasbro's latest Ghost Rider HasLab.
This one is only $40 instead of $350. ShartimusPrime made me aware of this Bratz' Cruiser which has an amazing blast for the buck!
What a Deal!! - Bratz Car Rock Angels Cruiser Marvel Legends 1:12 Scale MGA Vehicle Review