More Good News From Brick And Mortar Retail (Walmart Edition)

Yesterday, my esteemed colleague wrote an article about the Bo-Katan wave showing up at his local Target. Truth be told, he only wrote that article because I told him that if he didn't show proof of life, I was going to call the authorities (to tell them he's a jerk). Being on the opposite end of the distribution pipeline, I'm still weeks away from seeing that wave in my stores. On this coast, we're still working our way through the Emperor wave. To that point, the store in the photograph above is on its FOURTH case of that wave.

That fact in and of itself is amazing and a great sign. This particular store has been a "one and done" store for well over a year now. They would get one case of a particular wave, and then go dormant. It's the reason I never found the Power Droid at brick and mortar. I was a few hours late the day that case went out, and the one-per-case Gonk droid was long gone. That wave was never seen again, and it seemed like an eternity until one case of the Chirrut wave showed up (with perhaps a Fan Channel wave in between). The fact that multiple cases per wave are showing up now is a miracle. In this instance, the wave was stocked twice with two cases each time (and per brickseek, it was two different shipments).

I have to admit that when the second set of cases showed up, I was a bit worried for a couple of reasons. First, most collectors have been using online sellers are their primary means of acquiring figures. So I wasn't sure if there was enough residual demand in this area to sell through four cases. Second, the cards from those final two cases were banged up. Almost every card had a crease along the entire right side. Cards getting damaged in transit is becoming an increasing issue, but that's a subject for a different day. That fact that carded collectors would likely pass on these figures further made me worry that there wouldn't be enough demand for this stock. I think we're all worried that one more retail pile up will spell doom for the Vintage Collection.

To my elation, just four days later, this store sold down to all but three of the 3-per case Landos, which will sell over the holidays. What's even better is that I have to expect some of these TVC figures have ended up in the hands of casual collectors. Huzzah!

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