A Walmart Tour:  North Jersey Edition

Visited this store Saturday night. I was here a few days earlier and found only the older figures. I had assumed this store stood no chance of getting a replenishment, but was surprised to find remnants of at least one TLJ case. If it was a single new case, then nobody was interested in the Rose figure until I picked one up myself, along with the last Luke. This was the first time I had seen new 3.75" SA figures in the wild since the Rogue One wave first came out.

Inventory:
10 x Finn
6 x Han Solo
8 x Leia
1 x Ackbar
3 x Rose (purchased 1)
1 x Luke (purchased 1)



Inspired by my find, I went to a second store on Saturday night and found no new Black Series figures. But on the pallets that were waiting to be unwrapped and stocked, I did see 2 cases of the Force Link Activator and a case of lightsabers. So there's that.

Inventory:
13 x Finn
9 x Han Solo
9 x Leia
1 x Poe
1 x Phasma
1 x Rey
1 x Jyn



Sunday morning before the Giants game, I travelled south outside my typical radius and found one Rose along with another pile of older pegwarmers...

Inventory:
4 x Finn
5 x Han Solo
8 x Leia
1 x Rose



Sunday afternoon, after the stomach-punching, groin-kicking, soul-sucking Giants game, I needed some time to regain my inner alignment, so I drove to another Walmart. This store was packed with at least 15,000 people, and I actually crossed my fingers hoping not to find an Executioner or Praetorian, because there was no way I was waiting on those lines. I swear the self checkout line extended into the center of the store. Mercifully, there were no new figures, and just the following were present:

Inventory:
8 x Finn
1 x Han Solo



After stopping by a Target and picking up the newest Yoda and Obi-Wan 5POA figs (for the Bantha Skull galleries and reviews, not because I actually wanted them for my collection) I hit one last Walmart:

Inventory:
10 x Finn
3 x Han Solo
5 x Leia

So here is the combined Walmart inventory that I discovered on my tour:

Total for 5 Walmarts in North Jersey:
45 x Finn
24 x Han Solo
30 x Leia
1 x Ackbar
1 x Poe
1 x Phasma
1 x Rey
1 x Jyn
4 x Rose (purchased 1)
1 x Luke (purchased 1)

After a lot of driving, I managed to score two new figures, and I can tell you that I still get that little thrill from the hunt, even with a relatively minor find. It's been a while since I found something new - that Death Trooper seems so long ago. What do we learn from this? Not a ton, really. If you're looking for Finn, Han, or Leia, I can grab one for you, no problem. Frankly, I hope Walmart chokes on them. But it does seem that even with pegs clogged with inventory that's over a year old, it's still possible that new cases can replenish. I'm not too worried at this point, because Walmart's chokehold on our classic line will soon end, so even if I can't find the last two figures, I should find them more easily somewhere other than Walmart in the not-too-distant future.

Also, for those of you whining about not finding the 6" Gree, I stopped into one Toys R Us, and they had enough Grees to put them out of business (probably wouldn't take much, actually). TRU, for all its faults, has always been good for an easy-to-find exclusive. Hopefully they can manage to get their act together and stay in the game.

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