Star Wars Toy in the shops ?

Pomse2001 · May 1, 2017

Normally I do not look at the new star wars toy in the shops. But yesterday I was looking at the new star wars toy in the supermarket. There was a lot of lego. But action figures, vehicles etc. etc. There was only a few moc maybe 20 and a few of the big star wars dolls :shock:

I bought in the 80s some of my childhood star wars figures in the same supermarket and in the 80s there was tons of star wars action figures. I remember there was some big metal baskets with thousands of moc in them when I was a kid in the 80s.

So my big question is, was there produced a lot more star wars action toy in the 70s/80s then there is made today ? :?

Bonsai_Tree_Ent · May 1, 2017

I know that 300 million is the 'accepted' number of vintage SW figures sold, but god knows what the production numbers are for Hasbro's modern toy lines. I just tried a google search and couldn't see any info on that.

At least in the UK I don't recall vintage SW figures being sold in supermarkets, places like Tesco and Sainsburys were much less diverse back then and didn't stock much beyond food. The big retailers were Woolworths and Argos, and department stores. And then you had lots of independently owned toy shops (pretty much every town had a toy shop or two). Toys R Us didn't exist.

Today of course you have online sales which don't must account for a significant proportion and probably goes some way to explaining why you don't see such extreme 'walls of toys' in shops.

Nita Nitro · May 1, 2017

Bonsai_Tree_Ent said:
I know that 300 million is the 'accepted' number of vintage SW figures sold, but god knows what the production numbers are for Hasbro's modern toy lines. I just tried a google search and couldn't see any info on that.

At least in the UK I don't recall vintage SW figures being sold in supermarkets, places like Tesco and Sainsburys were much less diverse back then and didn't stock much beyond food. The big retailers were Woolworths and Argos, and department stores. And then you had lots of independently owned toy shops (pretty much every town had a toy shop or two). Toys R Us didn't exist.

Today of course you have online sales which don't must account for a significant proportion and probably goes some way to explaining why you don't see such extreme 'walls of toys' in shops.

Funnily enough, it is Tesco that I remember as having the most star wars figures for sale, in the 80's... Sainsbury did not exist, as far as I was concerned, but we did have Woolworths, John Menzies, Scotch Corner and some independent toy shops, in the local area, (Ayrshire). There was a Jolly Giant toy shop nearer Glasgow, but it was rare to be near there.

Richard_H · May 1, 2017

Tesco did indeed sell SW toys. Don't think the other stores existed back then. Did Safeway?

Nita Nitro · May 1, 2017

Richard_H said:
Tesco did indeed sell SW toys. Don't think the other stores existed back then. Did Safeway?

Certainly, in my neck of the woods, Safeway wasn't around- it arrived in the area towards the latter half of the 80's - we had Presto and Templetons, but I do not remember seeing Star Wars toys in them. 8)

Bonsai_Tree_Ent · May 1, 2017

That's interesting to hear about Tesco, I think the supermarket my mum used to drag me round was a co-op and I just remember it being food only, no toys.

Good shout on John Menzies, that was the main rival to WHSmith and I do remember them selling a good range of SW.

Snaketibe · May 1, 2017

Bonsai_Tree_Ent said:
I know that 300 million is the 'accepted' number of vintage SW figures sold, but god knows what the production numbers are for Hasbro's modern toy lines. I just tried a google search and couldn't see any info on that.

At least in the UK I don't recall vintage SW figures being sold in supermarkets, places like Tesco and Sainsburys were much less diverse back then and didn't stock much beyond food. The big retailers were Woolworths and Argos, and department stores. And then you had lots of independently owned toy shops (pretty much every town had a toy shop or two). Toys R Us didn't exist.

Today of course you have online sales which don't must account for a significant proportion and probably goes some way to explaining why you don't see such extreme 'walls of toys' in shops.

Tesco 'Home & Wear' (as their non-food shops were known back then) certainly sold Star Wars toys when Empire came out, as the one in Ware in Hertfordshire (not a particularly big branch) had a good selection. It was there that I saw my first Wampa and TIE Fighter Pilots in Empire packaging.

Also, come Jedi, a large Co-op supermarket near me (now defunct) had racks and racks of carded figures, as I distinctly remember seeing my first Luke Jedi with blue saber figure there, and wondered why the hell they had given him the wrong colour one.

ODB · May 1, 2017

Snaketibe said:
Tesco 'Home & Wear' (as their non-food shops were known back then) certainly sold Star Wars toys when Empire came out, as the one in Ware in Hertfordshire (not a particularly big branch) had a good selection. It was there that I saw my first Wampa and TIE Fighter Pilots in Empire packaging.

Yep the Home & Wear ones had a good stock, I remember my local one had an entire row of ROTJ figures, a serious amount of stock. It wasn't just the Tesco's that had this approach either the 'big' department stores of Debenhams, Army and Navy and Alders all held a big selection. Even the smaller independents/chains (eg JH Lorimers, Gamleys) all had a larger choice than what appears today. Whether or not this is due to low turnover of stock, the old just in time concept, or not holding stuff in the stock room I don't know. My brief experiences with the modern Toys R Us shows that they don't seemingly put on huge displays of Star Wars now.

Gaz46&amp;2 · May 1, 2017

I think there is a lot more competition for peg and shelf space these days. Back in the 80s, we had actual independent toy shops and a lot of chains selling toys (Woolies, WHSmith, BHS, Debenhams etc). Nowadays we have large superstores which are usually Asda, Sainsburys or Tesco. And American style malls which only sell clothes and food and gone are the independents and most of the chains. The local high street is full of coffee shops, banks and pound shops. Street markets now only sell clothes and fresh produce. It's a very different retail environment to what we once knew.

I think there are less Star Wars figures and vehicles available but more variety of types of toy.

StarWarsFan · May 1, 2017

Well have only seen Wave 3 figures in Morrisons and Asda, Neither Toys R us or Smyths have any wave 3 its ridicules

Awl Skulkerkey · May 1, 2017

For me, it was always top floor at Lewis' in Leeds centre. Huge range of SW from 1978 onwards. Aah the memories!

jayums · May 1, 2017

Yep the Tesco in my home town (king's Lynn) used to stock Star Wars figures - certainly ROTJ era.

walkie · May 1, 2017

Richard_H said:
Tesco did indeed sell SW toys. Don't think the other stores existed back then. Did Safeway?

From memory most of mine came from Tesco, Woolworths or my local Co-op.

Pomse2001 · May 1, 2017

jayums said:
Yep the Tesco in my home town (king's Lynn) used to stock Star Wars figures - certainly ROTJ era.

The same do I remember in Denmark, thousands of moc in the ROTJ era in the supermarket.

Pomse2001 · May 1, 2017

Maybe it is the internet and that there is more different toy today.

So maybe they produce less star wars action figures today.

300 million i the 70s and 80s is also a lot of figures :shock:

ScruffyLookingNH · May 1, 2017

Don't forget newsagents. 2 out of the 3 in Holyhead has spinning racks of Star Wars figures. Well, Klaatu's and Weequay's anyway.

Sainsbury's did indeed exist. I have a clear memory of going to "J. S. Sainburys" on Dover High Street in in about 1980/81. No bloody toys.

As although I wasn't aware of Asda's at the time they did exist and stocked toys, too. Here's proof! (thanks to Derek Torc McLean and Trilogo.info for the picture from the excellent "World Tour Wednesday" price sticker thread):

Davaider · May 1, 2017

Yep Asda definitely sold Star Wars figures , Remember My Dad buying me Ewok and E Royal guard and Vader for my other 2 brothers from the local Asda , Guessing they was Tri logos, not sure if Asda had Star Wars figures from the the beginning though.

coomber75 · May 1, 2017

chadds in Hereford... rows of star wars goodness asva kid

Awl Skulkerkey · May 1, 2017

I also remember picking up some mini-rigs/speeder bikes etc on sale in Boots Chemist Leeds of all places! They were getting rid of surplus stock as customer demand faultered in '85

Markzane · May 2, 2017

I remember picking up an INT-4 in Asda in 1982, they had some figures, but not many ( I had all the ones for sale so settled for a mini- rig instead!)

Star Wars Toy in the shops ?

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