darkSpyro

Mine is a GameStop that I live about 2 minutes away from

Pretty much walmart, target,tru and rarely gamestop as they are overpriced (in other words i cant get a sale there or a discount, otherwise they rock). All are within 15min of my home.

I live 45 minutes from any civilization. While I do hit the usual retailers I do a lot of online shopping. I buy a lot of used figures and have had nothing but good luck with my purchases. Problem is though I hardly ever get a chance at the cool variants that are out there. As far as basics figures go there are more than enough people willing to sell at reasonable prices. Obviously my biggest issue was the forgotten 8 but Boomer and Ghost Roaster were the only ones that stung the wallet. Still need the two items from Darklight Crypt though.

Walgreens, Target, Wal Mart, Game Stop, TRU, and beleive it or not...Books A Million. BAM is where I found my S2 Slam Bam when he was very hard to find. Never found a chase or a really rare yet unless you include the Darklight Crypts found at Target. Kinda getting tired of chasing and not finding. Seeing if I can get a really cheap chase variant on Ebay is just as challenging and takes less gas!

My "local" hunting run goes in a huge circle starting in RI, going out to Swansea MA (sometime as far as North Darthmouth), then back northwest to Attleboro MA, and then back to RI, hitting just about every Walmart, Target, Gamestop, Best Buy, KMart, and ToysRUs along the way.

So far the only thing "rare" I've found was a Wham-Shell and Jadewing.

I hunt at Toys 'R Us and Walmart, but I sometimes go to Sams Club if I'm looking for Giants. I've found 9 Ninjinis and some Darklight Crypts at Sams, and have recently found a huge shelf of Skylanders Giants figures containing many rares at Walmart.

Walmart and Gamestop!

I'm lucky enough to live in an area that's perfect for Skylander hunting. All within 15 minutes of my apartment there's:

1 TRU
1 Best Buy
1 Target
2 Walmarts
3 GameStops

The closest place to me is a Gamestop (10 min away). It has terrible selection though... But 30 min away I have...

1 Target
3 Gamestops
1 Best Buy
1 TRU

Within 20 mins I have:

4 Walmarts
2 Targets
2 Gamestops
1 Best Buy
1 TRU

Rare Finds: Finding all but Boomer and Ghost Roaster in stores (albeit used for Dino-Rang) of the Forgotten 8.

Finding Healing Elixir, Time Twister, and L-Chop Chop used. All used figures listed were purchased at $5.99 each.

Getting Scarlet and Polar a few days before each was supposed to come out at an amazing GameStop.


Stores:
Within in like 30mins of my house there are:
2 TRU
1 TRU Outlet
2 Best Buy
About 8 GameStops
6 Walmarts
4 Targets

I have to limit what part of my area I go to each time I go hunting as there is too much for one day.

Has anybody ever found a chase variant at best buy?

GameStop gets variants. VERY RARE, as they tend to remove most of them from shipments, but a few slip by.

GameStop is my least used hunting ground. Even though I found Camo and Warnado there, they haven't gotten a shipment in AGES.

The Walmart further away from me has the best stock. There's a close one, but this a** constantly buys and resells them in massive amounts.

ToysRUs has nothing but Flashwing and Cynder. Giants are all common.


Target has decent stock. Still has too many Flashwing and Cynders. They're OK.


Best Buy SUCKS. NOTHING.

I would think that GameStop would be one of the worst places to go to find variants. Considering that all they do is games most all their traffic in store consists of gamers. Plus, I would imagine the staff knows more than any other store employee what is rare giving them prime access to variants before they even hit the shelves. ToysRUs the same. I would think that the unknowing toy and electronic department workers at the bigger retailers would provide a better opportunity for the consumer to find the variants. What do I know though? I have never actually seen one in the wild.

EDIT 1: Best Buy was the best, but they haven't gotten anything new for a long time. Gamestop has just been losing stock. Walmart is overstocked with common things and a few rarer ones. Target has just been losing stock except for the 3 LC s and 1 LC it had the other day.

Original Post 1:None of my stores have gotten shipments for a while.

EDIT 1: I forgot about the couple of S2 , S2 , and bunch of S1 , , , , , , , and at Walmart and the LC and LC at Target.

EDIT 1: I've never found a single chase variant.


EDIT Overview:
1: Rewrote post, and wrote more.

Spent about 10 hours driving to every known hiding spot for Skylanders, and couldn't find anything.

Not a single one.

>.<

I have found one rare, Silver Hot Head got him at TRU. I started 12-26-2012 (have them all from Spyro's and Giants... only one 'chase' rare found) and hunt every weekend.
My location Tri-Citys Washington
Stores near by ... 0-18min drive
Walmart 3
TRU 1
Best Buy 1
Target 2
Gamestop 5
Shopko 1
Fred Myer's 2 (Good spot for S1....No Boomer or DLC...But every thing else)
Hastings Books and Music 1

A bit of a far drive, but Entertainmart always proves a worthy trip due to their selction of used Skylanders.

Been there twice in June.

First time: Bought Dino-Rang & L-Chop Chop (Passed on S1 Zap and S1 Hex which I shoulda bought)

Second time: Bought Magic Elixir & Time Twister (Passed on S1 Zap AGAIN. DX)


Hope to go back soon.

The way i see it the money you spend on gas is so much buying a variant off of ebay is little more than finding a variant at a store.

True, but for a lot of people (myself included) the fun is in the hunt. Sure, you spend $20 on gas, but you can't put a price on fun or excitement. eBay doesn't sell excitement. Just product.

I also go to a cluster of stores 45 mins away

2 Targets
1 Best Buy
1 Toys r us
2 Walmarts

I'm with you ryderZ,hunting is exciting,but the only rare things I've found at a store that I actually need is a series 2 drobot at a store,series 2 slam bam at books a million,and frito lay giants sidekicks chip bags at publix.No chase variants,yet I do have a good collection.

I think the vast majority of people here--who are educated about Skylanders & invest time & effort looking--have never seem a chase variant in a retail store. It's a bummer. I've seen many suggestions as to how they could distribute these type of Skylanders in better ways. I hope it changes at some point. But I seriously doubt it will.

Has anyone noticed target seems to have stoped restocking anything new for over the pass month?? It could just be my area but the 5 targets around here have all the same old same and i check them pretty often as my sister works at one of them.