Toys R Us: Hamster Fisted Profits
And you thought hamsters were only good for scurrying, and BBQing. Turns out TRU is claiming that furry hamsters are saving their bacon.
From the NY Times: Toys ‘R’ Us Trims Losses by Making a Hamster Hot.
So at least they bet on the right horse – otherwise I guess the headline would’ve read –
HAMSTER KILLS GIRAFEE.
or
HAMSTER A GO GO TOYS R US A GONE GONE.
Instead, the furry hamster helps keep the doors open at the TRU so hurray for furry critters … maybe next year, they can bet on rolling objects with eyes with less furs or perhaps … humm, furry CARS … that way when I’m done playing with Fillmore, I have a soft cushion pillow right there!
BTW, It was a touch decision – the other alternative headline for this post was going to be TOYS R US! You Can Milk Hamsters! But I thought perhaps the financial analysts readers of TakeFive would take it the wrong way.
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21 December 2009
24 Comments
Very colorful toys.My 2 boys would love this.Such a great collectors item.Its fun to have a race.yeh!
All of the CVS stores on Long Island, NY got shipments yesterday of the hamsters and many accessories. They even had baby hamsters that don’t do anything, but you can buy a double stroller which the regular zhu zhu pet can push. No one seemed interested in them, probably because no one knows that CVS is carrying them, so I bet if someone was still looking for them you could call around and get one.
I received my daily TRU ad this evening- zhu zhu hamsters are now limit FOUR per household! Rare! HTF! $3.99 after Christmas at Big Lots!
Checking eBay tonight! The party is over. There is hardly a bid for a single hamster on eBay. If there is a bid, it’s for less than $10 each. The accessories have bids. The return lines should be getting long pretty soon as the eBayers head back to the store with their ninety day return receipts in hand. Sorry if you paid fifty bucks for one! Or stayed up nights in line! Merry Forth Day Before Christmas! And to all a good night! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
(MET: So, now I can mount the hamster over the CARS body to recreate the DUMB & DUMBER Dog truck 🙂 ).
Ah, morning already! Yep, I think you can order the 1:24 scale Mater from MattyCollector and hook a dead hamster up to the hook and tow it around!
2 Day Sale at TRU Tuesday/Wednesday
**Lenticular CARS
2 for $6.99 !!!! Woo hoo!
“furry CARS”??? Please MET, don’t give Mattel any more bad ideas for this line, seems they come come up with enough all on their own…
How about Chia Pet Cars? 🙂
I wonder what would grow out of Fillmore? Something a little more exotic than the standard Chia Pet? 😉
I think they’re silly and harmless fun for kids like Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Kids were LOL. I’m just glad TRU found some item to make a profit. I would hate to see them go the way of KB Toys.
My daughter has nearly all the accessories and quite a few of the hamsters themselves too. Haven’t paid a dime over retail and have had zero troubles finding them sitting on shelves in abundance.
For $8 they’re pretty neat, paying anything more than that though is bonkers.
They’re $9.99 at Toys R Us, everyday price.
I think that’s in Toys R Us’s Mission Statement for pricing everything: “Check the competition and then add 25%!!’
My point exactly. Paid less at both WM and Fred Meyer.
Met, I love “Hamster Kills Giraffe!” That is a classic that will be long remembered.
I finally got one today but NOT from TRU. Wal-mart had about 10 cases of them and the toy dept manager was handing them out. I got a yellow one and some surf board thing.
Same here — 100 today, 100 tomorrow, and 100 on Wednesday. Limit of 1 per person. …as long as you exit and then come back in. 😉
Walmart here had about 10 left this afternoon at 3 pm. The hamsters were behind the counter in Sporting Goods. Limit of 2.
If you asked in Toys they would tell you that they were all gone, and to come back in the morning.
Artificial scarcity equals profit! Looks like they took a lesson from Mattel.
I like the “TRU – You Can Milk Hamsters!” idea Met. Do hamsters have “teets?” I distinctly remember Ben Stiller saying that you can milk anything that has them 🙂
😆 I remember that too…
That was the first thing I thought of too Samuel….great minds think alike, even if it is a little warped!
“Meet the Parents” was on TBS yesterday. However, the best scene was when Ben Still and Robert DeNiro race each other between every stoplight downtown. Classic!!
Yeah that was the same train I was on. “I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown!” that was another favorite lines from the movie.