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Author Topic: Surprise "inside" look at TRU Canada and 50th from my latest order.  (Read 3089 times)

canprime

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I always get a kick out of finding out numbers for Hasbro, TRU, etc. etc.  When it comes to production runs on different products.  A little while back there was someone who worked at TRU Canada on the Transformers boards and he posted the order numbers for certain products (Masterpiece Optimus Prime being the one I remember).  It was great because it gave fans a chance to see what kind of numbers to expect available for sale in Canada.  It was also bad because it lead to a blitz on MP Prime and there was nowhere near enough product for the country. 

Anyway, to my point. 

I recently made another purchase of 50th items from TRU.ca thanks to the great sale they currently have going (look at my other thread to see).  Well my order arrived today and I got a box with 2 DatD sets, and the 2 BBZ sets I ordered were shipped in their case from Hasbro that was sent to TRU.  The interesting thing on the case was that it clearly states: Port of Vancouver, TRU Canada.  So it wasn't some split shipment with TRU USA. 

Then a bit farther down it had Case: 263 of 450. 

Now I take that to mean TRU Canada ordered 450 cases of 2 (so 900 pieces) of the BBZ set.  I would then extrapolate that out to assume similar numbers for the DatD sets.  For the 2 packs and 3 packs I don't know exactly what their case breakdown would be, so I can't guess as to how many total units. 

Anyway, I find it cool to get an idea of how much product was made available to Canada.  Although I am very disheartened to think that in a country of 35 million people, a large retailer can't move 900 units of a once great brand. 

I guess we really have fallen as a fandom further than I would have expected so quickly.  (remember 2007 when 25th single handedly breathed life back into the brand?)
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bandonov

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Re: Surprise "inside" look at TRU Canada and 50th from my latest order.
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2015, 09:55:54 AM »

I think it's more of the Labour dispute at the Port of LA that companies are using Vancouver for the time being.  But I hope you are right and TRU Canada does want to get us these items. 
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ARROW

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Re: Surprise "inside" look at TRU Canada and 50th from my latest order.
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2015, 12:04:54 PM »

This isn't surprising to me, when you consider just how much stock actually appears at a TRU.  You take a look at the pegs at almost any store and it's maybe a case or two of any item, at most, on the pegs.
The brand used to dominate whole rows in the store, and now it is frequently 1/2 single or double row on a wall, with vehicles stacked single-file on the shelves underneath.

That is minimal ordering, and the clearest sign that interest in this brand is almost gone. 
Also bear in mind that those numbers can be for the orders placed IN CANADA. TRU USA could well have ordered 10 times that amount---because the consumer population there is that much greater.  But still, those numbers are sobering.
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