The holiday season is shaping up to be another battle royale in the toy and games category, with mass chains racking up huge numbers of exclusives, and one chain that used to be a huge toy retailer hitting problems from which it will be difficult to recover.
Target may be the most aggressive chain at accumulating exclusives. Earlier this fall it announced that it would field 50 exclusive games in a special program (see "Target Announces 50 Exclusive Games"), and then this week it announced that it will have a total of 1800 new and exclusive toys this holiday season, according to The Street.
Also this week, Walmart announced that it will have 400 new and exclusive toys for the season, a massive number unless compared with Target’s hoard. The 400 exclusives is about the same as last year for the nation’s largest retailer.
Meanwhile, a chain that at one time was counted as one of the largest toy retailers in the country is now on hold to at least one toy company. Jakks Pacific said last week that it had stopped shipping a major customer, which the Wall Street Journal reported was Kmart. Kmart is owned by the troubled Sears group, which is burning through a spectacular $1.6-$1.8 billion in cash this year, according to the report from The Street, and may not have enough money to bail out the subsidiary.

As One Chain Goes on Hold
Posted by Milton Griepp on October 28, 2016 @ 3:15 am CT

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