Tracking toy tariffs

If TRU Canada is really introuble, I highly reccomend anyone who misses TRU in the US get up there and visit one - it's like a time machine - even the smell brings you back! Plus it's crazy to see HTF ML US exclusives on the shelves (Gamestop too)!
 
Misfit said:
Based on the comments I see on these boards (and Fwoosh previously) from the Canadian members it doesn't sound like TRU will be missed. It sucks what's happened to that store over the last ten years. And it sucks for all of the people they currently employ.
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Pretty much. Their prices are above the market msrp and even more expensive than individual etailers (CMD Store, Toy Snowman, DJC Collectibles). On top of that they seem to have stopped getting most Target exclusives which was still a fairly big draw for us to go to them. So it was more or less a final stop where you had abandoned all hope of finding something at regular retail.

Still I have spent a lot there recently thanks to the closure of the closest one to me earlier this year. Hell I was able to get a ML Angel for $13 (before tax) and the whole Hydra Stomper 2 BAF wave for a little over $70 after tax. So I'm hoping to do the same with the next closest one that is closing now.

Guess that is all they seem to be good for now....scavenging.
 
It sounds like Canadian TRU is a lot like what US KB Toys was for me. It was almost always located in a mall and had the highest prices on figures. It was the last place I'd check for new stuff, though they often would have what I wanted because it was probably last on the list for a lot of people. And the best time to shop was when they were having a big clearance event. I got a lot of cheap Toy Biz X-Men there over the years. I don't really miss them though because they weren't a great experience, though I'd rather have that version of KB than the nothing we have currently.
 
I remember when the Toys R Us first opened in my hometown, I was probably around 6 years old. Prior to that it was an overpriced KB in the mall, and the toy section in the Clover store near us. I was big into TMNT at the time, and when we rounded into the figure aisle my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw they had like 1/4 to half an aisle dedicated to turtles. It was just when Panda Khan came out, and he was on the rack. I can still smell the place - you're right JRoug!

The TRU closed before I started collecting again as a grown up. But I'd duck in there from time to time for the nostalgia hit. Wish it could be brought back. Bummer it's so expensive in Canada, though, it was one of the cheapest places for figures when I was a kid.
 
I can still remember the exact route I'd take when walking into the store to get to the action figure aisle of my preference. TRU was basically the one store my mom didn't insist I stay by her side while we were in, she knew I was just going to take off once we got through the doors. There are probably people who would say it's not healthy to let material objects affect your state of being to such a degree, but I don't care. That place felt magical to me as a kid.

My son got about 2 years or so of TRU before it closed. I loved taking him there and just letting him roam, check out whatever caught his eye, and just be in awe of all of the stuff around him. He always rewarded me by picking out the cheapest, often most insignificant stuff out of anything which always amused me.
 
That's so nice. My dad used to drag me with him to work on the promise he'd take me to TRU on the way home, which seldom if ever happened. He'd yank me out of the toy isles in stores in literally five seconds. As an adult, when I had some money, I'd go and take hours looking at everything at TRU. I miss that experience. Target/Walmart isn't the same, not only are there way less toys, but there are so many people who just kind of wander down the toy isles without any intention of buying anything. Which is fine of course but it's less common at an actual toy store.
 
canprime said:
On top of that TRU Canada has started another round of store closures this past week. That brings the total number of stores closed/closing in the past 8 months to about 25 (out of approximately 80). The feeling is that TRU in Canada isn't long for this world and I wouldn't be surprised to see it completely close down in the next 12 months.
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A failure that surprises exactly zero people.


Misfit said:
Based on the comments I see on these boards (and Fwoosh previously) from the Canadian members it doesn't sound like TRU will be missed. It sucks what's happened to that store over the last ten years. And it sucks for all of the people they currently employ.
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Yeah, as I'm sure other Canadian ... Articulated Thoughters? Thots? Can we call ourselves Thots, please?
Anyway, as other Canadian Thots can tell you; TRU Canada is a fucking joke. 44.99 for a regular Classified figure that retails at Walmart for 36.99 and EB Games for like 34.99 if you have an Edge Card, which you probably do if you buy more than one figure a year from EB. Without exception, every single product at TRU is double-digit percentage points more expensive than it would be anywhere else. There's a TRU in my city that's NEXT TO a Walmart. Like.. same strip mall next to. A board game at Walmart that is 21.99 is 37.99 a fifteen second walk away at TRU.

TRU exists for no other reason in Canada than to take advantage of A) the occasional item you can't get anywhere else and B) people too dumb to buy somewhere else.
 
Misfit said:
Based on the comments I see on these boards (and Fwoosh previously) from the Canadian members it doesn't sound like TRU will be missed. It sucks what's happened to that store over the last ten years. And it sucks for all of the people they currently employ.
Click to expand...
I miss my local. They had decent stock and were my only shot at a lot of figures over the years. Plus when they put HMV in, it was the first time in years I found Cowboy Bebop and FLCL shirts so I could relive my halcyon days of youth.

Also the only convenient shot for me to get LEGO CMF.

Yeah, they charged more, but I'm paying some asshole on Marketplace or a toy show if I don't get it there.

Thankfully EB has really stepped it up for me.
 
Damien said:
A failure that surprises exactly zero people.



Yeah, as I'm sure other Canadian ... Articulated Thoughters? Thots? Can we call ourselves Thots, please?
Anyway, as other Canadian Thots can tell you; TRU Canada is a fucking joke. 44.99 for a regular Classified figure that retails at Walmart for 36.99 and EB Games for like 34.99 if you have an Edge Card, which you probably do if you buy more than one figure a year from EB. Without exception, every single product at TRU is double-digit percentage points more expensive than it would be anywhere else. There's a TRU in my city that's NEXT TO a Walmart. Like.. same strip mall next to. A board game at Walmart that is 21.99 is 37.99 a fifteen second walk away at TRU.

TRU exists for no other reason in Canada than to take advantage of A) the occasional item you can't get anywhere else and B) people too dumb to buy somewhere else.
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Whoa, your WM has Classified?
 
altcunningham said:
Whoa, your WM has Classified?
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Once in a while. Fewer and fewer with each passing month. My local WMs have also mostly stopped carrying Black Series. They're typically relegated to some random back end now with a single shelf tag and nothing in the main aisle. Joes still have shelf tags, but it's super hit-and-miss if there's anything there to buy. Because WalMart is more expensive than EB, I generally don't look for Joes at Walmart anymore anyway. So I couldn't accurately tell you what the selection is like. Can just say they do still have Joes here and there.

Pretty much only get Classified online now or occasionally at EB.
 
JRoug said:
If TRU Canada is really introuble, I highly reccomend anyone who misses TRU in the US get up there and visit one - it's like a time machine - even the smell brings you back! Plus it's crazy to see HTF ML US exclusives on the shelves (Gamestop too)!
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I legitimately miss the smell. How each TRU had the same smell always fascinated me.
 
Hard to believe less than 20 years ago any surrounding town that could support a decent big box store also had a national toy chain, TRU for the bigger populations and Toy Works for the smaller towns.
 
vicious said:
That's so nice. My dad used to drag me with him to work on the promise he'd take me to TRU on the way home, which seldom if ever happened. He'd yank me out of the toy isles in stores in literally five seconds. As an adult, when I had some money, I'd go and take hours looking at everything at TRU. I miss that experience. Target/Walmart isn't the same, not only are there way less toys, but there are so many people who just kind of wander down the toy isles without any intention of buying anything. Which is fine of course but it's less common at an actual toy store.
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My Walmart's toy aisle is the direct path the pickup order fillers use to get to the outside door and it's like grand central station.They come barreling down the aisle right in the middle barely paying attention. I risk life and limb just trying to browse.
 
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