Last week, a piece of school assessment had me heading over to Houston, Texas for a few days. It was a great chance to check out some stores, and see what kind of stock was (still) available over there. There was one unavoidable conclusion I came to during my travels: we got damn lucky here in New Zealand. While we may have missed a couple of lines entirely (most notably, Micro Machines), it seems that the ratio of supply to demand was much better met here. I visited about half-a-dozen Hasbro retailers, and the story was the same at every one: no Rens, no Phasmas, no Rey's speeders, no 2-packs, and no TFA 6" Black Series figures of any kind. I spotted one Armour-Up Luke at a Target store - but other than that, the line was completely absent. Even the Titanium Series and Micro Machines lines were severely decimated, with most remaining vehicles only being those from the OT.
First up on my shopping tour was the Houston Galleria Disney Store. I have to admit that, out of all of the retailers I visited, this was definitely my favourite.
Disney just know how to do atmosphere. While I was in the store, "Across the Stars" was blasting from the stereo, and the Force Awakens trailers were running on a loop. It was also great to see a line of collectibles that is - for now - unavailable on New Zealand shores. The die-cast vehicles and figures are gorgeous, and if I wasn't already heavily committed to several other lines, I'd be all over these.
Next up was Toys 'R' Us, who had really gone all-out with a number of cardboard decorations throughout the store (not to mention a very cool clock counting down to the release of The Force Awakens). Toys 'R' Us turned out to be the most well-stocked of all of the retailers I visited - they at least had some 3 3/4" TFA figures on offer. It was here that I also came across the new 48" Jakks Pacific First Order Stormtrooper and Darth Vader. I knew these were going to be big, but dang, they are massive in person!
Finally, I checked out Target - a store which had clearly borne the full brunt of the Star Wars frenzy. Stock levels were at their lowest here, but the store was decorated with some great promotional material (including a full-size BB-8 that I would have loved to add to my collection).
Honourable mention also goes to Kroger Supermarket. While they didn't have any Hasbro products in stock, they were displaying some very cool party items - including giant inflatable Chewbaccas, R2-D2s, and Stormtroopers!
Despite the limited stock at a number of these stores, I still managed to pick up a few choice items (including all but one of the Micro Machines sets on my Force Friday wishlist). Stay tuned for updates on these items over the coming days!
