[US] Walmart -- Post Christmas Sales

graphite

I hit up about 30 Wm's on my drive from GA to FL and back to IA. Came out with quite a bit of stuff. Would've bought more but my small car can only hold so much. Had it completely packed floor to ceiling, backseat and front passenger. Pretty much everything I bought was 50%.

Found one WM with like 8 boxes of CMF series 5. I bought 70. Got about 70 series 8 and 17 series 7 all for $1 each.

Found 4 #8095 grieveous fighters, 1 $79 QAR, and found 5 #7187 Escape from Dragon's Prison's.

Saw one WM that had 4 or 5 #8971 Agents 2 helicopters from 2009 but they were full price so I passed.

bmwlego

@graphite
Now that's some serious hunting! I've hit up 5 Wal-Marts all within a 45 minute one way drive and am happy with my haul but nothing like yours!
What else did you stuff your car with?

Fizzlemesexy

@Bmwlego did you leave anything in the nyc area/have a surplus of anything you're willing to let go of? Havent been able to hit the chains yet- doubt anything is left.

consumption

I picked up a Jabba's Palace for $79+tax. Good deal?

graphite

@bmwlego Car was full mostly with my luggage but i picked up a bunch of the $6 battle packs, couple cool cruisers, and a few of the $12 sith speeders and ewok attacks.

Yodalicious

consumption said:

I picked up a Jabba's Palace for $79+tax. Good deal?

Yup. Not too shabby. Not a bad set either. Just put it and the Rancor Pit together and enjoyed the full set.

klatu003

@consumption - Got that one also and broke my "no Star Wars" rule. At least it is a building....

Thanos75

So...this is my first year stalking WM's for Lego's....I'm fortunate that the stores closest to me still have alot of stock....Does WM usually do further discounts after New Years on the items that didnt sell or drop the items that were only 30% off to 50% off?

bmwlego

@graphite
Cool Cruisers at 50% off is a great buy. Congrats. I'm looking for Hillside House. I like to have 3 so I can build the 3 models at once. (This is a sickness my friend infected me with).

vader34mt

i can finally add to one of these threads...got to walmart finally after a bunch of night shifts...shelves were mostly bare...scanned a few things like moria, quinjet with no luck

then found luke's landspeeder for 12 bucks...a modest find but was happy to pick it up

lordzarak

I found a #7946 King's Castle in a reshop cart. Snatched it up for $49.

Bosstone100

Still no discounts on the Police Headquarters. I'll probably need two for what I want to do but not for more than $50 each.

gmpirate

Strange since they were 50% off last year.

samiam391

Went to my local Walmart today and I kid you not, I saw over 70 Marvel Avenger LEGO Quinjet sets. They were basically falling off of the shelves, and were stacked everywhere manageable. Even on the floor in some places! They took up over 11 different spots across the aisle.

Got excited and took one over to the scanner where it brought up the price of...... $69.97.

I hate my Walmart.

BuriedinBricks

^Similar situation at the Super WM in my area, except they're loaded up on copies of #9525, Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian Fighter. I'm super tempted to still buy one, as I actually think it's a pretty cool looking ship.

samiam391

@iccarus-

My Walmart is even loaded up on those as well. In fact, I think combined with the Quinjet, over half the aisle is taken up by them. It's quite depressing really. I've been going back each day... waiting for some sort of discount. You have to imagine they try to get rid of them at some point.

flyingpig

So how long before the 30% clearance items turn into 50% clearance? Nothing so far on 1 Jan. Maybe this weekend...?

samiam391

At my Walmart? Never.

At other, normal, Walmarts? It's usually 1-2 weeks (more towards 2) I believe as the standard from when the clearance first began.

Thanos75

I dont think there is going to be any further discounts. My WM is stacked with Quinjets,Vampire castles, Mines of Moria's, Sith Interceptors and Police HQ's...tons of them. Checked today and the only items left from the sale are some Dino sets....I would pick them up but I already have plenty

lulwut

Quinjets has to stay at least for a year on the shelves before you start seeing them 50% off widespread. I bought one for 50% off two months ago but I believe that particular store needed shelf space badly.

Pacific493

In my experience, the discounts you see now are the only discounts you're likely to see on those sets. I have seen WM discount additional sets in late January/early February, but have not seen WM increase the discount on already discounted sets.

SquareSide

Picked up the last Recycling Truck for $14.50. They had like a dozen just the other day. lol, All there is left is the Quinjet at $49. I missed out on all the SW & Dinos. Can't wait to have the LEGO aisle full again, so bare and sad looking.

kim43235

I visited three WMs near West Chester OH while I was visiting my parents over the holiday, none of them had any discount or sale except alarm clocks. I was surprised by that.

Yodalicious

Finally...Recycling Truck. Found 3 at the old WM in my area no one goes to anymore. Only got 1, so if anyone is in Tampa, FL, they still have 2 left at the Bearss/Dale Mabry WM. Still $14.50.

dragonhawk

^ How much gas money have you spent to get that deal ? ;)

gmpirate

^ lol, no kidding. Last year some discounts were staggered and there was more inventory to be had. This year the stores are bare after the first day or second day. Not worth driving around still :P

cbaker1974

From here on out the Wal-Mart clearance reductions will be store-by-store...sometimes there is a small additional wave of clearance in the summer, but it will be on different sets and more regional than chain-wide.

Yodalicious

dragonhawk said:

^ How much gas money have you spent to get that deal ? ;)

Fortunately, today's trip was the only 100% completely unnecessary one. So round-trip about $3. Haha. I'll take it.

Yodalicious

gmpirate said:

^ lol, no kidding. Last year some discounts were staggered and there was more inventory to be had. This year the stores are bare after the first day or second day. Not worth driving around still :P

Well, that's all relative really. For a reseller with limited inventory and discounts, it might not be worth it. But for someone like me that really wanted the set to keep, build, play, etc. I'm fine with hunting it down. That and I like that thrill a little. My grandmother owned an antique store and my father was a collector for years, must have gotten the thrill of the hunt gene from them.

madforLEGO

Well if you were looking for a set for yourself then gas is not a big issue, especially if they are sold out online.
If you are looking to score big on items to turn around and sell then it is debatable as to how much gas and time you are willing to spend...
To be honest the WMs by me could have had tons on clearance, but I know last year that was not the case, nor was in the middle of the year when I think they also had a massive clearance in some stores so I just sleep better knowing that each time I have checked before nothing was there on sale.. saves me a ton of time and gas money IMO.
Ignorance is bliss sometimes :-)

mikersoft

Since I never seem to have good luck finding sets I want on clearance, I was excited to also find the Recycling Truck for $14.50 the other day :-)

-Mike

Shpadoinkle

Today I followed a pile of toys near price scanners and found another clearance area in my local WM (garden section) and found several more lego sets. That makes three separate clearance toy areas AND the regular aisle. Nothing great to write home about, but got a #8677 for $14.50. Works out to about 5 cents a part (including lots of brown and a little sand green) so I was happy!

odshowtime

Yodalicious said:

Finally...Recycling Truck. Found 3 at the old WM in my area no one goes to anymore. Only got 1, so if anyone is in Tampa, FL, they still have 2 left at the Bearss/Dale Mabry WM. Still $14.50.

I'm glad to hear that I kept wanting to tell you they had them at Waters and Hanley as I recall you're from Tampa but every time I saw you ask for that set I was on my phone that doesn't post right. And then I'd forget.

I was at that Bearss walmart on Monday and didn't see any recycling trucks. I guess some stores still have even more discount stuff in the back they haven't put out.

So I suppose you haven't seen any 50% republic frigates around here have you? I'll drive a bit for that.

Yodalicious

^Kept wanting to check the Waters/Hanley one, but that one is closer to where I work and I've been off the last 2 weeks. It was next on the list though. Thanks for trying to tell me though. Haha. :)

That Bearss/DM one had only 1 of the other sets they had except the 3 Recycling Trucks and about 20 of the Captain America cycle.

Nope. No Frigates up my way. I'm close to the Lutz WM on north DM. Got my frigate there for $79 back in September. Haven't seen it anywhere near me since then.

pteric

Sometimes it the search, not how much you save or spend in gas to find something. Plus no telling what else you may find.

Basta

pteric said:

Sometimes it the search, not how much you save or spend in gas to find something. Plus no telling what else you may find.

I think some over state the fuel cost thing a little, as it only takes one of the larger sets at 50% off to potentially recoup the fuel cost of a couple of days worth of hunting. I think its worth wasting a half tank of fuel for the thrill of the hunt :)

Granted if it was 100% business and 0% pleasure you may think differently.

lulwut

Basta said:

as it only takes one of the larger sets at 50% off to potentially recoup the fuel cost of a couple of days worth of hunting. I think its worth wasting a half tank of fuel for the thrill of the hunt :)

Yeap. Decided to gamble $20 in gas today and hit another jackpot. The Dino Defense HQ I nabbed easily covers the gas that day.

pumperx

One observation, ghost train from MF does not seem doing well. I've seen multiple WM have it on clearance for 30% off but they are still not moving well. Thoughts?

gmpirate

lulwut said:

Yeap. Decided to gamble $20 in gas today and hit another jackpot. The Dino Defense HQ I nabbed easily covers the gas that day.

Really? Which one did you hit? Or was it just one set that could have been a return or something. I can't imagine there's still an untouched store around Socal.

Ma1234

gmpirate said:

lulwut said:

Yeap. Decided to gamble $20 in gas today and hit another jackpot. The Dino Defense HQ I nabbed easily covers the gas that day.

Really? Which one did you hit? Or was it just one set that could have been a return or something. I can't imagine there's still an untouched store around Socal.

I'm sure there's plenty. Last year I was finding lots of deals in SoCal well into mid-January (I don't resell, though, so I am only on the hunt for one copy). SoCal is excellent for finding LEGO on clearance.

There's also a huge amount of LEGO being returned all week and put back onto shelves.

gmpirate

^ Last year I agree -- plenty into February. This year is a different story. The inventory was not there to begin with. The only sets left in stores now are current ones -- and there are not many of those even.

There's a few stores I know of with a big inventory, but the inventory does not consist of the discounted ones.

Returns and misplaced sets aside . . .

Basta

So I think I need to become a mad scientist or something, so I can make 1000s of clones to camp at the return counter at all the WM's and the like for me. :p

odshowtime

Yeah I think around Tampa at least anything worth picking up at a discount now would be returns and it's not worth my time to look much for them. I'll be scanning barcodes for cools sets at Walmart from now on though whenever I stroll through. But I need to accept that this is a rare treat to have clearances.

madforLEGO

lulwut said:

Basta said:

as it only takes one of the larger sets at 50% off to potentially recoup the fuel cost of a couple of days worth of hunting. I think its worth wasting a half tank of fuel for the thrill of the hunt :)

Yeap. Decided to gamble $20 in gas today and hit another jackpot. The Dino Defense HQ I nabbed easily covers the gas that day.

Unless of course you find nothing... and not everyone can say oh sure Ill just waste 20 dollars in gas.
Again those who can, great, but some do not want to waste gas or their time.

Crownie

pumperx said:

One observation, ghost train from MF does not seem doing well. I've seen multiple WM have it on clearance for 30% off but they are still not moving well. Thoughts?

Well, my main thought is that The Ghost Train was the weakest of the entire line. I loved the Monster Fighters, and despite nitpicks with certain parts of the sets, I bought them all. Except The Ghost Train. I just find it really aesthetically unappealing. Making a steam train was a good idea. Making it entirely black? Not so good IMO.

So I'd say it's not moving because its ugly and overpriced. :P

Yodalicious

^That and the ghosts. Everyone has different likes and dislikes obviously, but for me the ghosts are one of the least desirable minifigs.

red237

Hello. I have been scanning walmarts , and in some cases the same one every couple of days since it is near my house hoping for decent returns. To my surprise, today they had a lot more out than the week before Christmas or even Tuesday - that they must of unearthed in the back, some sets EOL'ed a couple years ago even, still at 50 off, tape intact! I was shocked. I had to search tons of aisles and places. I swear, my Walmart looks like they had an earthquake 2 years ago and no one bothered to clean up after. Like a crazy mob has been in trashing the place and they are leaving the evidence! I will list them when I get a chance to empty the car.

kim43235

^ where are you? It must be excited to see EOL'ed sets at retail stores.

Ma1234

red237 said:

Hello. I have been scanning walmarts , and in some cases the same one every couple of days since it is near my house hoping for decent returns. To my surprise, today they had a lot more out than the week before Christmas or even Tuesday - that they must of unearthed in the back, some sets EOL'ed a couple years ago even, still at 50 off, tape intact! I was shocked. I had to search tons of aisles and places. I swear, my Walmart looks like they had an earthquake 2 years ago and no one bothered to clean up after. Like a crazy mob has been in trashing the place and they are leaving the evidence! I will list them when I get a chance to empty the car.

What did they have from a few years ago? I still find Worls Racers every so often.

red237

OK so there were some World Racers, Fire stuff from 2005, pyramid stuff, persia stuff, and some creator from the last couple years. Most, with the exception of the sphinx sets, had only one or two boxes, tops. I have to wait for my 4 year old to go to bed tonight to investigate if they are indeed full of appropriate bags and stuff. Also, some straggler returns mostly at 30% off. My closest Walmart automatically breaks the seal tape on a box and looks inside. This Walmart maybe had 4 total boxes of LEGO the morning of the 26th in the entire store, and last week about 2!