Reporting in -- DC/Virginia area-Week#5 (+ I have some traders)

[agnes!]

Yikes!
Three out of four stores in the metro DC area (that I know of) were "shorted" on the Figaro pin...Montgomery Mall, Pentagon City Mall & Springfield Mall. Also, as of now, the Reagan National Airport Store will NOT be carrying the pins at all. Tysons Corner Mall Disney Store seemed to be VERY well supplied on all the other pins, but even they ran out of the Figaro waaaaaaay before ANY of the others.
I think that I might visit some of my favorite/close-by stores on upcoming Fridays to see if any of the pins are going to be in *very* short supply on Saturday morning...
Does anyone know if there was some sort of manufacturing problem with the "Figaro"s? Did ANY Disney Store anywhere in the US or Canada get an over-supply of them?
I know some folks have been unable to get some of the pins, so I'll list my extras for posiible trades here...
#3-Eeyore
#6-Minnie/1928/B&W
#9-Mickey's Gala Premiere
#10-Snow White poster
#12-Rocketeer
#14-Mickey & Friends
#24-Grumpy("train" pin)
#30-Fantasia poster
#31-Dopey("train" pin)
#35-Atlantis dangle
Hope the coming weeks are fun...that's what pin trading/collecting is supposed to be .
Take care, stay safe
and
See you on The Boards!
agnes!

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

It appeared that the Columbia, MD store received their entire quota this weekend.

I arrived "late" at 9:15. There were at least 20-25 people ahead of me. Everything was perfectly orderly. We all sat or stood along the rail, outside the store, waiting for the 10:00 AM opening. A few folks actually had their pin books this week! By the time the store opened, there had to be more than 30 people in line.

When the store opened, everyone entered in order without any problems. The CMs were well prepared and gave out two full sets to each person in order, or fewer pins if that's what the guest requested. I think they had complete sets available until they they got to about 4-5 people ahead of me.

As in past weeks, many of the guests who had been at the front of the line had waited to see if they could help others make up sets. We traded around a bit, and I believe everyone who had been in line got what they needed. (Thank you again, Jim Kazooie1, DW Margaret, and DD Tory!)

Once again, I had the opportunity to meet a couple new pinfriends while waiting for the store to open. I also introduced one new collector to this site, dizpins, and pinpics. You just have to love the look you get when you tell them there are about 7,500 pins in the pinpics database.

 

[lynxstch]

I got there at 8:30 after a 50 minute drive to find I was #2 in line..(and this week I got there half an hour earlier than last week)..2 non working cm's arrived at 9..and got in line..by 9:15-9:30 the line had grown quite a bit, but were all orderly..making a lot of new pin friends while waiting in line..when store opened at 10, the line was out the door, but still very calm..the store received it's full allottment of pins, so I think everyone got what they wanted..a lot of people are only taking one full set of each, with a few just picking and choosing a pin here and there..though more and more people show up every week, keeping the pins behind the counter saves all the confusion of people shoving and grabbing..I do wish they would do the "put one set on display" thing though...as anyone who has no idea what pins came out that week..(-gee don't they all belong to DIS and know where to look?-LOL..) tries to look over everyone's shoulder while the clerk is ringing them up..all in all, it's still pretty friendly and non warlike at our store!

 

[Brise Nannie]

The CMs at my TDS are kind enough to come out before the store opens with the pins in a box to show us what they look like. We call it our "PREVIEW." It helps everyone decide in advance what they want to buy. I've actually changed my mind about buying some pins after seeing the preview.

 

[JudithM]

At the Store where I've been buying my pins, the pins are in the display case at the register. I definitely agree that the pins behind the counter is a much better way to handle the influx of guests wanting pins than hanging them on the rack.

 

[n2mm]

At the Frederick store only the first 11 people in line got all of their pins. The next couple got a few and then ALL the pins were gone. So I'm guessing we got about 24 each with just a slight shortage on a couple. The line was long mostly because Lakeforest didn't get any Dopey pins and posted a sign so most came to the FSK store. Got there 45 min. earlier than last week and was number 8 & 9. Husband stopped at Dulles as he does every Saturday night, and they only had 101 dal. & Altantis pins left. He did pick up a couple of Snow Whites for trading. Going to WDW this week and wanted a couple of extra traders. Somewhere I read that as this goes on the amount of pins each store was to receive was going to be increased. I don't know about anyone else, but the shipments seem to be getting smaller. About 10 or more people in line were turned away with no pins. All of that lost money...too bad. Pins were behind the counter this week. Thanks to SUZANNE!!

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

The Columbia, MD store got a mid-week shipment of #8 (Tigger) and #10 (Snow White Poster) and so had lots of these on the rack yesterday.

If anyone is desperate for either of these, please let me know. I could probably run up there later and pick them up for you. My shipping charge is slightly less than $6.95.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Eeyore's Pal - LOL! Thanks for the chuckle! Do you supply $5 off coupons too?

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

But, now that I'm thinking about it, I see a couple of drawbacks:

1. Do I really want repeat customers ?

2. I think we would be violating some law of economics. How can I offer $5 coupons if I end each week (hopefully) breaking even ?

I think we can safely say that Disney can rest easy . . . I am not even an emerging competitor!