darkSpyro

I know there's a lot of dislike/hate for various retailers regarding how they handle Skylanders, but I'm curious. Without devolving this thread into, yet another, bash on RetailerX (or bash on MemberX for liking RetailerX), what is your favorite major Skylanders retailer and why?

I'd say ToysRUs.

Quote: Matteomax

I'd say ToysRUs.

I agree 110%.

You have none of the issues listed on post #12 //forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=88903

If you disagree with reason #2, most often then not, reason #4 would cancel it out.

The Toys r us in my area of Texas are crap for Skylanders merch, I have better luck with the Walmarts, always have what I need the day it releases.

Toys R Us around here.

Quote: Xerxxees

Toys R Us around here.

TRU are most consistent; I must admit. Wal Mart isn't that bad either.

Since getting into Skylanders back in July, I can say that Toys R Us and Wal Mart have both supplied me with a vast majority of my harder to find collection (S2 Spyro, S2 Slam Bam, S2 Zook and Fright Rider from WM; Leg. Chill, Leg. Stealth Elf, Voodood and the Camo/Warnado Triple from TRU).

However with that said, I can report I had a great deal of use for Gamestop during their online sale. I made around $80 in store credit from trading in a couple games during their 50% bonus deal and used it all on their half price Skylanders (getting about 4 giants and 7 regular figures with my credit). Plus, after a bit of wheeling and dealing, I ended up with a Royal Double Trouble that I bought there for $10... but that's another story.

I also agree: Walmart is Second

I'll go with Bestbuy and Futureshop.

Quote: skitskat

The Toys r us in my area of Texas are crap for Skylanders merch, I have better luck with the Walmarts, always have what I need the day it releases.

This. Texas TRUs seem crap for Skylanders. They're only good for sales, even then finding something to take advantage of the sale can be difficult. I got lucky in finding S2 Drobot there first. Toys R Us is the most dissapointing store to search at for Skylanders.

-They never have Adventure Packs.
-They stock more of SSA figures than Giants.
-It'll usually be the same stuff with up to like 10 different figures, unless you're lucky.
-They'll only have like 2 different triples, usually one of which being Sonic Boom/Sprocket/Stump Smash the other being Camo/Ignitor/Warnado.

I've only seen each of the Giants Legendaries on one occasion and made the bad choice of passing them up and had to get L-Stealth Elf online and will have to do the same for L-LC Chill.

I would rate TRU as 1/5.

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Target is decent, they've got sales, will often have diversity, and have high tendency in carrying Adventure Packs. However, they'll usually only have the same old shelf-warmers. Don't even get me started on getting a exclusive or any variant from them for that matter. If you want an exclusive, you better pray your local one gets it then be there the day it comes out, when the store opens.

Target gets 3/5.

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GameStop I actually like. Yes, they don't take the coupon and they up their price on some things such as Scarlet. However, they are reliable. They don't often have a high amount of shelf space but they will typically have what you want for a while. I've found several figures from them including Polar about a week before she came out at the one by my work. The people at that one know me and are very nice. They even try to help me with any info they may have regarding an upcoming Skylander.

I was even able to take much advantage of the SSA sidekick promotion having missed it the first tiem around from the chips. However, they don't often get new core figures that often. Though they get variants in very soon for sure.

I'll give GameStop a 4/5.

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Walmart has better stock than Target, though slightly less reliable when it comes to Adventure packs. Exclusives will often stick around for some time, giving plenty of opportunity. I still see GitD Sonic Boom from time to time. Though finding soem of the newer stuff like S2 Drobot or the Firght Rider triple aren't readily available. They're decent for the most part, but their selection of SSA is highly limited to being highly common shelf warmer singles (Ignitor, Stealth Elf, Drobot, Double Trouble, Flameslinger, Stump Smash, Sonic Boom, Cynder, and Whirlwind)

Overall one of the better ones. Walmart I'll give a 4/5.

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If you don't mind used and are looking for some of the older, more hard to find stuff, go to Entertainmart (highly likely a regional place only around me.) They have a case full of used Skylanders and sell anything they get in for $6. I've seen nearly every of the Forgotten 8 there, only missing Wham Shell. I've also seen every piece from every Adventure Pack there. It was thanks to them that I got Boomer, each piecce of the Darklight Crypt, and L-Chop Chop.

Great place, though finding new stuff is not gonna happen. I don't recall ever seeing Ninjini or any Giants variant there.

Entertainmart gets a 5/5.


tl;dr, Entertainmart is great for used SSA stuff, otherwise I find checking Walmart and GameStop often to prove the best.

TRU for me. However, I have 3 Walmarts all within 30 minutes of my house in either direction so I get a lot of my stuff from there too. There is one Walmart where I found DinoRang and Whamshell at just a few months ago so it's been my favorite.

I worked at TRU many years ago, and they deal with a lot of crazy parents going insane over various rare or collectible toys of the season. The management was keen to make sure things got stocked properly and that there wasn't anyone looking to empty out the shelves to go sell it online, including employees. For this reason I'd imagine that if all TRU are run like the one I was at, it's probably more likely you'd find a better selection of stuff there, or have a chance of finding something good. I haven't been into my local TRU to look for Skylanders, as they are too far away, but maybe I should check it out when I get a chance.

Quote: Friendzie

I worked at TRU many years ago, and they deal with a lot of crazy parents going insane over various rare or collectible toys of the season. The management was keen to make sure things got stocked properly and that there wasn't anyone looking to empty out the shelves to go sell it online, including employees. For this reason I'd imagine that if all TRU are run like the one I was at, it's probably more likely you'd find a better selection of stuff there, or have a chance of finding something good. I haven't been into my local TRU to look for Skylanders, as they are too far away, but maybe I should check it out when I get a chance.

MY TRU is like above, when new Skylanders are released they only allow 1 per person. This way everyone gets one until they run out, of course if you are not there within the hour of release (i.e. Blue Bash, Ninjini, ThumpBack, Eye-Brawl...) you may have to wait until they hit the other stores.

Plus, if you sign up for their HOT TOY ALERT, you will know when the new releases are coming before anyone else does.

I like TRU selection around here but they charge $1 more than Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. I used to see lots of variants,etc there but the stock has slowed a lot in the last few months.
My second choice is Walmart as I've had the best luck there for Adventure Packs and new release Giants. They have the second best stock/selection around here.
Target is ok, selection is small depending on the location. I did luck out this spring when an employee saw my son and I looking at figures and brought out a Jade Flashwing without us asking. He said they kept the Jade Flashwings behind the counter to keep people from buying more than one or the figures from walking off. I wouldn't have known to ask at that point so I really appreciated him noticing us and offering the character.
GameStop is alright as we got Hot Dog early in a mislabeled battle pack. I didn't realize how valuable that stuff is on eBay or I could have saved it. Otherwise there selection is small and can be great or a big disappointment.
Best Buy barely has anything anymore.

Mine in oz will be target... As TRU is not as big and convenient around here.. And i have bad experience buying legendary chill online at TRU... Their customer service take long time to reply and the staff was not appropriate... Target has the bravest and good deal of BoGo or bargains on special times...

Personally i only buy skylanders at TRU and EB games for their exclusives..

For me Target. Why? Because i get my employee discount there <.< Other than that i would have to say TRU just cause of their wide selection, the sales are kinda "meh" to me BOGO on figures that are over priced doesn't come out to saving that much. Walmart will generally have an up to date selection (I have the best luck finding new waves here) but if you cant find what you want then there is no use asking cause 9/10 times you will just get blown off. Gamestop can be useful especially since i have about 10 in a 5mi radius of my house. The small selection and lack of sales is a turn off but if you're cool with your local Gamestop employees then they will look out for you. It can come in handy if they get a box of a new wave in

For me its been...Fred Myers....always a good selection...

Wal-Mart is my first choice. Admittedly there's a few in my area and not all of them are great, but at least two of them consistently have fresh stock and carry the store exclusives and short-packed figures when they've been announced. I remember with SSA I had all but given up on getting the last few figures, then randomly checked one day and they had Warnado and Camo. S2 Drobot was another recent Wal-Mart find.

Toys R' Us is ok. The ones in my area just don't seem to refresh their stock as often as they should, considering they're one of the top Skylanders partners and the devote tons of display room only to have a lot of empty pegs. I'll often check one location as its on my way home from work, and occasionally I'll score new releases such as Lightcore Pop Fizz. Some points for re-stocking the Legendary Giants 3-pack and Bouncer on occasion.

EB Games is a total toss-up. Figured having one near my work meant I could score some rare finds on my lunch hour, but it seems every working parent in the area has the same idea. I lucked out getting a Wham-Shell once, and that was the only Wham-Shell I saw for months.

Target is too early to tell, having moved into Canada 3/4 of the way into the Skylanders Giants release schedule. Constantly stocked but nothing special. Surprised we got Jade Flashwing. Curious how they'll handle Swap Force.

Best Buy / Futureshop: I've really stopped checking these two as my figure-hunting needs are fulfilled by the above and I've never scored a rare or new release from eithe retailer. That I picked up my SSA starter pack at Best Buy and got Volcanic Vault was a fluke.

I'd have to say target

Some will say that my grading system here is too harsh, because I didn't give an "A" to any retailer. That's fine, if you feel that way. My reasoning is that I do not believe any of the major retailers for Skylanders is optimizing their sales or distribution of Skylanders figures, at least to date, and every retailer has at least one gaping "hole" in their services. The criteria I used here include: product availability, re-stocking efficiency, knowledge of sales and managerial staff, corporate-level support, ease of use and reliability of the retailers' .com sales/website, pricing, marketing/advertising, and general store policies and reputation.

In Summary:
Good: Amazon, Target, Toys R Us
Fair: Wal-Mart
Awful: Best Buy, GameStop

In alphabetical order, the details:

Amazon: B: Pretty darn good. Usually good availability and very timely updates on product availability. No mysteries; they either have it in-stock or they don't, and you don't have to leave your living room to find out. Shipping is reliable (at least for domestic orders), and reasonably quick even for the Free Shipping promotional level shipping option. Unlike all other retailers, Amazon will lower the price on a SPECIFIC Skylander if that specific Skylander isn't selling well or if Amazon has too many of that character sitting in-stock. Really my only gripe about Amazon is that one has to wait for his/her purchase to arrive, and that's not too bad, really. Their online customer service is mediocre but I've never really encountered an online customer service (for any website) that was better than mediocre.

Best Buy: D-: Best Buy sucks for Skylanders. Their stock is always depleted and the Skylanders display area is usually in shambles. The salespeople are worthless regarding Skylanders. They rarely have good sales/promotions. And Best Buy's recent change to their Returns Policy is garbage. The only thing keeping Best Buy from receiving an "F" rating is that the ability to purchase a Scarlet Ninjini through their website, but pick it up at a local storefront ... that was really cool. None of the other retailers that offered Scarlet Ninjini were doing that when she released in the USA earlier this year.

GameStop: D GameStop sucks for Skylanders, too. Small in-store displays. WIDE variance in the knowledge level of employees and local managers. VERY shady marketing/advertising practices. Unlikeable distribution practices at the corporate level, especially regarding "chase" variants. Terrible track record of communication between the corporate level and the local store level. Prices raised for variant characters in-store (no other retailer does that). Overall, just plain terrible. The only saving grace that keeps GameStop out of a "F" rating is that somehow they managed to procure the retailing rights for the forthcoming Dark Edition Starter Pack for SwapForce.

Target: B Overall, good. Target stores have disappointed me with how they have allowed a lot of "shelf warming" to occur between roughly May and August of this year. Other than that, Target is a really good outlet for Skylanders. They do an average job of just about everything that I used for criteria in this grading report. Target has the best pricing and most frequent sales/promotions for Skylanders; "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" happens a LOT, and that basically amounts to 33% off all three items that you purchase during these promotions. I absolutely love Granite Crusher and Jade Flashwing. And when I ask Target employees for assistance, if they don't know the answer to a question, they're honest enough to tell me that they don't know, and I appreciate that. Bad/false rumors about Skylanders tend to take root based on bad/false information that arises from GameStop or Toys R Us employees ... I never hear about that happening at/from Target. On top of all that, I love that I get 5% more off by using my Target Red Card. When I combine the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" offer with the 5% off using Red, that drives the price of a $10 Skylander down to $6.30 each.

Toys R Us: B- Decent overall. Pricing Skylanders $1 higher than all the other retailers is annoying, but Toys R Us is fairly consistent with frequent promotions/sales. Customer service is highly suspect, but stocking and re-stocking are always at least average, and sometimes better-than-average. Web sales policies and procedures not particularly likeable, at all, usually, but selection is good and shipping prices are fair. Legendary variants are really awesome. Corporate-to-storefront level communication is bad, but not as bad as GameStop. Toys R Us consistently has the largest in-store display area of Skylanders

Wal-Mart: C+ Good prices. Decent selection. OK re-stocking. Terrible customer service. Cool variants. Better-than-average website.

There is a big question as to what "favorite" means. Favorite is not equivalent to where I get the most of them.

I prefer to buy stuff at Best Buy, I get reward points, I like to shop there, I have two nearby stores. However, I rarely buy Skylanders there, frankly because their stocking sucks, badly. I have never found anything other than common figures there.

Now on the other hand, I'm not a huge fan of shopping at TRU, mainly because they charge more for practically everything, but they have Legendaries, are well stocked most of the time, get stuff early and send out emails the day before a big figure release. The employees at the one I go to are typically really nice too. So I buy a lot there.

Walmart, I hate shopping at there, period. From the principle of how they treat employees, to the lack of caring from employees that is caused by that. But, they do get some things in quick and their prices are typically good.

Target, I like shopping there. Decent prices, good sales and the Red Card discount. However, they typically don't get things in as quick, so by the time they have it, I already bought it.

Gamestop, dislike shopping there in general. Well documented reasons. But, they do get some things in quickly, and have some exclusives, so I suck it up and do the necessary.

All things being equal, if every store had a figure and I were to make my choice of where to shop it would be in this order:

Target->Best Buy->TRU->Walmart->Gamestop

However, all things are NOT equal, so it ends up being like this:

TRU->Walmart->Gamestop->Target->Best Buy

TRU is the best varient wise
walmart as a close second

I usually got most of my variants from my local Flea Market in perfect condition. Don't know about you guys.

Walmart is best. No TRU here, plus they charge more there.
Target 2nd.
Best Buy+Gamestop tied for 3rd/last. Gamestop has better employees, but Best Buy has better stock. Best Buy had HUGE stock when Giants first came out. Now - Wow, that's terrible...

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Some will say that my grading system here is too harsh, because I didn't give an "A" to any retailer. That's fine, if you feel that way. My reasoning is that I do not believe any of the major retailers for Skylanders is optimizing their sales or distribution of Skylanders figures, at least to date, and every retailer has at least one gaping "hole" in their services. The criteria I used here include: product availability, re-stocking efficiency, knowledge of sales and managerial staff, corporate-level support, ease of use and reliability of the retailers' .com sales/website, pricing, marketing/advertising, and general store policies and reputation.

In Summary:
Good: Amazon, Target, Toys R Us
Fair: Wal-Mart
Awful: Best Buy, GameStop

In alphabetical order, the details:

Amazon: B: Pretty darn good. Usually good availability and very timely updates on product availability. No mysteries; they either have it in-stock or they don't, and you don't have to leave your living room to find out. Shipping is reliable (at least for domestic orders), and reasonably quick even for the Free Shipping promotional level shipping option. Unlike all other retailers, Amazon will lower the price on a SPECIFIC Skylander if that specific Skylander isn't selling well or if Amazon has too many of that character sitting in-stock. Really my only gripe about Amazon is that one has to wait for his/her purchase to arrive, and that's not too bad, really. Their online customer service is mediocre but I've never really encountered an online customer service (for any website) that was better than mediocre.

Best Buy: D-: Best Buy sucks for Skylanders. Their stock is always depleted and the Skylanders display area is usually in shambles. The salespeople are worthless regarding Skylanders. They rarely have good sales/promotions. And Best Buy's recent change to their Returns Policy is garbage. The only thing keeping Best Buy from receiving an "F" rating is that the ability to purchase a Scarlet Ninjini through their website, but pick it up at a local storefront ... that was really cool. None of the other retailers that offered Scarlet Ninjini were doing that when she released in the USA earlier this year.

GameStop: D GameStop sucks for Skylanders, too. Small in-store displays. WIDE variance in the knowledge level of employees and local managers. VERY shady marketing/advertising practices. Unlikeable distribution practices at the corporate level, especially regarding "chase" variants. Terrible track record of communication between the corporate level and the local store level. Prices raised for variant characters in-store (no other retailer does that). Overall, just plain terrible. The only saving grace that keeps GameStop out of a "F" rating is that somehow they managed to procure the retailing rights for the forthcoming Dark Edition Starter Pack for SwapForce.

Target: B Overall, good. Target stores have disappointed me with how they have allowed a lot of "shelf warming" to occur between roughly May and August of this year. Other than that, Target is a really good outlet for Skylanders. They do an average job of just about everything that I used for criteria in this grading report. Target has the best pricing and most frequent sales/promotions for Skylanders; "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" happens a LOT, and that basically amounts to 33% off all three items that you purchase during these promotions. I absolutely love Granite Crusher and Jade Flashwing. And when I ask Target employees for assistance, if they don't know the answer to a question, they're honest enough to tell me that they don't know, and I appreciate that. Bad/false rumors about Skylanders tend to take root based on bad/false information that arises from GameStop or Toys R Us employees ... I never hear about that happening at/from Target. On top of all that, I love that I get 5% more off by using my Target Red Card. When I combine the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" offer with the 5% off using Red, that drives the price of a $10 Skylander down to $6.30 each.

Toys R Us: B- Decent overall. Pricing Skylanders $1 higher than all the other retailers is annoying, but Toys R Us is fairly consistent with frequent promotions/sales. Customer service is highly suspect, but stocking and re-stocking are always at least average, and sometimes better-than-average. Web sales policies and procedures not particularly likeable, at all, usually, but selection is good and shipping prices are fair. Legendary variants are really awesome. Corporate-to-storefront level communication is bad, but not as bad as GameStop. Toys R Us consistently has the largest in-store display area of Skylanders

Wal-Mart: C+ Good prices. Decent selection. OK re-stocking. Terrible customer service. Cool variants. Better-than-average website.

The May-Aug situation with Target is why I personally grade them below Wal-Mart, because of the consistency. I too liked Target better when they were on their A game.

My shopping mostly is target>walmart>tru>bestbuy>gamestop

Gamestop only when they have something I have to buy there because no one else is allowed to have it...ie sidekicks/polar
Bestbuy I stopped shopping at once they changed their return policy to 15 days.Once in awhile i order stuff online from them as i get 5% back with discover but only if i plan to not possibly want to return it. like 4.99 eyebrawl once and the 9.99 battle pack.
Walmart i go to often cause my wives mom works there and it's right up the street.
Target I go to cause i like the store better and i get 15% off cause of my sister and my red card.

Sam's Club.
They seem to have the best prices.