TRU's Changes: 16.99 Zecoras & New "Brony" Wallet Labeling

[Dragonflitter]

It's true, Maniah. Most 'normal' stores are suffering right now, even the nation-wide chains like TRU have been hit hard.

In all honestly, 'super centers' like Walmart have completely destroyed our economy. They're such global titans that they can command companies to sell them products at a certain price (unlike in normal situations where the company that makes the product sets the price they will sell to retail stores). I know this because years ago I used to work at a book publishing company and usually we would tell bookstores what price they can buy our book at, but Walmart is backwards and tells us what price they'll buy our books at! Amazon is the same way, they're like the internet version of Walmart. It's very backward for the retailer to command the producers what price they'll buy at, but you have to obey if you want your product to be on the Walmart shelves or on the Amazon website.

Walmart and other super centers do this to 'pass the savings on to us' but really all they're doing is making a country that is more and more dependent on the prices you can only get at Walmart.

How many times have you heard someone in your life saying 'I'd rather not shop at Walmart or Target but I can't afford not to?" I certainly hear it a lot where I live. And now people have come to expect that cheap price everywhere, so the smaller stores get irate customers when really they're selling a product at a 'normal' price. It's super centers like Walmart and Target who are making the price a lot lower than what at one time would be considered normal, so it makes the normal price seem excessive to us consumers.

All that being said, I don't like it when a store like TRU releases a toy for a certain price (especially when we were even told at the Toy Fair that they would be sold at that price) and then they hike it up again and again just because it's an exclusive and people can't go anywhere else! Not cool, TRU. That's like stabbing your consumers in the back instead of trying to build a consumer base that is proud to shop at your store.

(Ack. Sorry for the Walmart and economy rant...it just gets me boiling... I'm done now I swear. *steps off soap box, slips away to hide*)