Walmart: Poor Wally’s WWE section looks like the store is going out of business. There’s a few kids’ belts, maybe some rings, a few basics if you’re lucky, and the garbage can known as the “Masters of the WWE Universe” line. These replaced the Retros (at a $5 price increase) in a crossover with He-Man that nobody was asking for. The only fresh WWE product to hit many Walmarts before Christmas was basic series 100 (which vanished immediately) and the ring for the Masters series. As I stated in another post, Mattel has a huge problem getting WWE product into Walmart in a timely fashion and this wasteland of a section is the result. Despite cranking out tons of figures through the year, they hit Walmart in waves, and definitely not in January.
The diecast section of Walmart is also a wasteland, with leftover B case from before Christmas and nothing since then. Walmart has received small amounts of the premium “Boulevard” line, and they vanish within a day. There is also the Walmart “American Steel” Hot Wheels line, and they also disappear as quickly as they arrive. I picked up 5/10 of those today so I’m on the lookout for the rest. Once I get to 10/10 I’ll make a post of them.
Outside of Hot Wheels; M2, Autoworld, and Johnny Lightning (US Walmarts don’t carry greenlight), those pegs are down to the scraps with just a few leftovers here and there. On the Walmart I check most often, they have received maybe one case of these lines since the end of the year. Simply not enough to keep things going, and the unfortunate part is it makes it seem as though the stuff doesn’t sell when actually it’s not available to buy to begin with.
As far as Meijer, Kroger, and other places that usually pay off, they’re all on pause as well. Meijer will sneak out some greenlights here and there, but on the whole their sections have stayed the same since the Holidays.
This time of year is torture on collectors, because there is a constant flow of previews of new items that are coming soon. For example, WWE elite series 73 is starting to hit from what’s been seen online and preorders have been shown as far out as Elite 75. In the diecast world, there are constant updates on new product, and the famous online sources have shown as far out as 2020 F case in hand. Auto World and Greenlight have previewed tons of upcoming product so far this month. The social media aspect drives a “fear of missing out “(FOMO) anxiety and sends ravenous collectors out to the stores, made more determined by each dud stop. Anything new is snapped up immediately, if for no other reason than thrill of the purchase. Collectors see the items online and it begins a mania of excitement that new stuff is coming. But in January, it remains a wasteland.
