Lamenting The Binary State Of Retail For TVC As 2019 Closes

The retail situation for our beloved 3.75" line exists in either of two highly undesirable states. It just so happens that there are only two national brick and mortar retailers left that stock The Vintage Collection. It seems these two retailers have decided to each take one half of the misery coin. That's very equitable of them.

State A: Persistent peg warmers prevent stores from ever replenishing their stock. This becomes exacerbated when the glacial sales pace dictates that the stores shrink the showroom footprint. No use wasting a lot of retail space for a product that doesn't sell. The smaller footprint means that the amount of inventory that triggers replenishment also gets smaller. It virtually dictates that the pegwarmers must sell out completely before the store will be triggered to replenish. So in order to get figures that will actually sell, the store needs to sell out of figures that will never sell. It's a paradox, and a tightening noose that never loosens. This is actually the exact pattern which undermined The Vintage Collection the first time. Enter Target in 2019:



Target clearly thinks that TVC is toxic at this point. Clearancing out a half dozen or so peg warmers would have zero impact on a store's bottom line. The store could easily get new product, but they probably assume there's no point. Can you blame them? From a mile high perspective between the 2012 and 2018 launch waves, TVC probably looks likes the Mattel Green Lantern line to Target analysts. It's depressing.

State B: The retailer does clearance out those figures that will never sell. This gets the inventory pipeline flowing. New product that will sell gets stocked, and actually sells! But for reasons likely ranging from incompetence to indifference, the replenishment for that product never gets worked out from the back room to the retail floor, at least not in a timely manner. For those same reasons, the footprint designated for TVC gets usurped. This now makes working that product out virtually impossible. Walmart steps up to the plate and says, "we got this":



The end result is the same thing. From the mile high view, it's simply going to look like TVC does not sell, and the true reason, stores being unable to work the product out, is not visible from that perspective. TVC's brick and mortar relevance shrinks further. What often adds insult to injury, in these case, the product gets worked out after it's viable retail window closes. This display, which I'm positive had been in store for weeks to months, was worked out late Christmas Eve. Had it been brought out in time, the product would have sold, but now it's destined for clearance.



The sad thing is that I see no remedy for this. With the current state of things, TVC will not be a brick and mortar product for much longer, so I must resort to prayer:

Dear Baby Yoda, please help your devoted followers and fix the brick and mortar landscape for TVC. Due to the prevalence of carded collectors and a desire for openers to pick the best paint operations, brick and mortar is still a vital part of the TVC collector experience.

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