Originally posted by Enzo
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As I said before, for work and pleasure, I travel the length and bredth of England. I even venture into Scotland and Wales occasionally. As a Cars addict, I look in supermarkets and toy stores in all manor of strange places. I take a note of what I get to see and I can well believe the figures that I'm given. Hamleys for example were having ten cases delivered every week! They had 50 case 997V and if they got the same order last weekend, that's up to 50 case 994B too!
If you consider there are nearly 2,500 Tescos; 1,000 Sainsburys; 455 Morrisons; 256 ASDA; 58 Smyths; 75 Toys R Us; 50 Disney Stores; 364 Wilkinsons and 250 Toymasters that's less than half a case for each store, if they got an equal share. Not all those stores get cases or even sell toys. There are 238 Tesco Extra and 481 Superstores. Not all the Superstores sell Cars, that's true. Sainsburys has 572 Superstores and 440 Locals. My local near work gets through two cases a week!
When you consider how many cases some stores get through, it's no surprise at all. My local Toymaster group (of six stores) get ten cases a time. One store can sell the best part of four cases a week on it's own.
London and South East is where the biggest markets are. Cars, even old ones fly off the shelves (unlike Planes). Disney Store Oxford Street accounts for about 60% of all it's Cars sales, so for a run of 250 cases, it sold 150 of them!
I have about 25-30 supermarkets and toy stores in my area. Most have had the 994B case. I think, if I totted up all the case 994B cases I've seen, it may amount to well over 100. Ok, that's mainly one county and a lot of Greater London. If you consider that there are something like 60 traditional counties and the area I cover on a regular basis as a fraction of the whole of the UK and Ireland, it's surprising that there are only 2,000 cases!
Clearly, some parts of the country just don't have the demand. The UK is very reliant on London and the South East.
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