Barnes & Noble & Starbucks: Weekly consumerism news
Barnes & Noble continues to take over where Borders left off, on the designer animeesque (& other geeky) toyfront. Last time I was thrilled to see a full line of the newest Tokidoki/Footzeez/Kidrobot/Uglydoll plush AND Dark Horse glow in the dark Domo! It's still kind of surreal to see these types of products at a retailer as mainstream as B&N. I had to pick up the Tokidoki Donutella plush:
OMG, isn't that the cutest thing ever? Tokidoki is an Italian designer, but their stuff is very anime-influenced and has become popular in those circles. At $19.99 minus discounts plus taxes it ended up being slightly over $15, which is still a little pricy but whatever. This matches the Kidrobot Yummy Cupcake that I bought at the Borders going out of biz sale! Sigh, how I miss Borders. But Barnes & Noble, which I rarely went to while Borders was alive, is doing an amazing job at filling the void in my life that Borders left.
Barnes & Noble also has blank Dunnys/Labbits AND many of the Kidrobot blind boxes--Dunny Azteca, Futurama, Street Fighter, AND Simpsons Vinyl! And, Yummy Donut & Dessert mini-plush. The unfortunate thing about having a full selection of blind boxes at a place like B&N whose customers include 12-16 year olds is that people go through and open up the blind boxes. :-\ Even the ones like the Yummy Donut plush blind box, which includes NO special editions, most of them were still opened. Ugh. At specialty toy stores they're behind the counter and/or monitored very closely. B&N can't do that...I'm afraid they'll stop stocking these altogether. :( (Although at $9.99 apiece for a 2-3" vinyl figure, I don't buy too many of these regardless. Even at Borders I never bought them unless I had a 40% or greater coupon.) Anyway, here's a picture of some of the blind boxes!
Also last week noticed a bunch of the Kidrobot special edition Kozik Labbits, which were cool, but not cool enough for the $17.99 price tag (unlike Donutella, which was very cool for the even more expensive price tag!) I would love to see them stock more of the "Yummy" series. The 12" donuts/fruits/pie/ice cream sandwich would be pretty awesome--and even more awesome with the use of COUPONS!
One major reason why I love seeing these at B&N (and loved them even more at Borders) is the coupons! Granted it was much better at Borders, where they sent out multiple 30-33% off coupons every week and even 40% off more than occasionally. About once a year they got up to 50% off. B&N's coupons aren't quite as good (which is one reason I preferred Borders), usually only 15%. But lately, they have been doing more 20% off coupons. AND--with B&N coupons, they take them off of the lowest marked price, not the list price, so that's one plus that Borders didn't have. My Dad buys a membership each year, so I get an extra 10% off (that's 10% off already discounted price, not list price.) This makes things 23.5% and 28% off respectively, so closer to the 30% off that was common at Borders. Without the extra discount, it may not be worth it. Once in a blue moon B&N sends out 30% coupons, but these are as uncommon as the 50% off coupon at Borders. Also, sometimes, although this is very unlikely, they will go on clearance for up to 50% off, but it is even MORE unlikely at specialty toy shops.
Next on the agenda: Starbucks! The handmade Refreshers are finally coming, in Summer Phase II! Most of the stores already have the ingredients but they won't serve them until launch...sad face. Oh well, I waited an entire year, I can wait a few more weeks. :P Also Friday 7/13 from 2-5 PM they will be serving _FREE_ Refreshers at all Starbucks. I will be at Comic-Con, but should I sneak out to wait in line for a free Refresher? Hmm...it's tempting!
OMG, isn't that the cutest thing ever? Tokidoki is an Italian designer, but their stuff is very anime-influenced and has become popular in those circles. At $19.99 minus discounts plus taxes it ended up being slightly over $15, which is still a little pricy but whatever. This matches the Kidrobot Yummy Cupcake that I bought at the Borders going out of biz sale! Sigh, how I miss Borders. But Barnes & Noble, which I rarely went to while Borders was alive, is doing an amazing job at filling the void in my life that Borders left.
Barnes & Noble also has blank Dunnys/Labbits AND many of the Kidrobot blind boxes--Dunny Azteca, Futurama, Street Fighter, AND Simpsons Vinyl! And, Yummy Donut & Dessert mini-plush. The unfortunate thing about having a full selection of blind boxes at a place like B&N whose customers include 12-16 year olds is that people go through and open up the blind boxes. :-\ Even the ones like the Yummy Donut plush blind box, which includes NO special editions, most of them were still opened. Ugh. At specialty toy stores they're behind the counter and/or monitored very closely. B&N can't do that...I'm afraid they'll stop stocking these altogether. :( (Although at $9.99 apiece for a 2-3" vinyl figure, I don't buy too many of these regardless. Even at Borders I never bought them unless I had a 40% or greater coupon.) Anyway, here's a picture of some of the blind boxes!
Also last week noticed a bunch of the Kidrobot special edition Kozik Labbits, which were cool, but not cool enough for the $17.99 price tag (unlike Donutella, which was very cool for the even more expensive price tag!) I would love to see them stock more of the "Yummy" series. The 12" donuts/fruits/pie/ice cream sandwich would be pretty awesome--and even more awesome with the use of COUPONS!
One major reason why I love seeing these at B&N (and loved them even more at Borders) is the coupons! Granted it was much better at Borders, where they sent out multiple 30-33% off coupons every week and even 40% off more than occasionally. About once a year they got up to 50% off. B&N's coupons aren't quite as good (which is one reason I preferred Borders), usually only 15%. But lately, they have been doing more 20% off coupons. AND--with B&N coupons, they take them off of the lowest marked price, not the list price, so that's one plus that Borders didn't have. My Dad buys a membership each year, so I get an extra 10% off (that's 10% off already discounted price, not list price.) This makes things 23.5% and 28% off respectively, so closer to the 30% off that was common at Borders. Without the extra discount, it may not be worth it. Once in a blue moon B&N sends out 30% coupons, but these are as uncommon as the 50% off coupon at Borders. Also, sometimes, although this is very unlikely, they will go on clearance for up to 50% off, but it is even MORE unlikely at specialty toy shops.
Next on the agenda: Starbucks! The handmade Refreshers are finally coming, in Summer Phase II! Most of the stores already have the ingredients but they won't serve them until launch...sad face. Oh well, I waited an entire year, I can wait a few more weeks. :P Also Friday 7/13 from 2-5 PM they will be serving _FREE_ Refreshers at all Starbucks. I will be at Comic-Con, but should I sneak out to wait in line for a free Refresher? Hmm...it's tempting!