Walmart: Zhu Zhu Pets™ In-Store Dec. 21, 22, and 23!

Hey Zhu Zhu Fans!

If you are still hunting for the last hamster on your list, Walmart may be where you need to run first thing this morning, or tomorrow or Wednesday mornings. I saw this posted on Walmart.com late last week, and I found a toy associate to ask about it. She said our specific store would have 66 hamsters each day, with a line forming at the "Site to Store" area of the store. She did NOT know if the new colors would be available or not.

I went back into Walmart Sunday evening, and in the area the ZZP used to be (before they filled the empty shelves with dress-up clothing), there was a flier announcing the details of the 66-hamster-a-day blitz. I will not be going since my daughter is now home on Christmas vacation, but I may end up stopping by around 8 a.m. to see what they have left and if there were any newbies. I hope any of you that take a chance will find a bit of luck!

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Two places have been super-hot in new hamster/accessories available in the last few days. First, ToysRUs.com had the 4-pack of new hamsters in stock around the middle of the week. I just couldn't personally justify spending $50 + shipping on them, especially when I already have a Jilly in waiting. However, the single new hamsters did become available on Sunday morning for 9.99, as well as the boat/dock set for 17.99. (I did cave and order the remaining 3 hamsters and the boat while the family waited in the car for me to go to church!).

The new hamsters were in stock several times on Sunday, and the odd thing is now there is a limit of TEN of each, instead of three. Apparently, TRU.com must have got a massive shipment of the new items. Additionally, TRU stores debuted the new hamsters this weekend (4-packs and singles).

Another HOT HOT HOT place to check is definitely CVS pharmacy!!! I cannot stress this enough! Items that were not slated to be released until Spring 2010 have shown up at CVS within the last 2 days, including the red sports car, woody wagon, stroller, and BABY HAMSTERS! I will have a bit more info to share with you later on in the day about these new items...but for now it is after 2:30 a.m. so I must wish you a good-night!

Misc. Zhu Zhu Pets™ Musings

Good afternoon, hamster homies!

This week I am elbow-deep in pie crust and turkey brine, so you may notice I am {being forced to} taking a slight bit of a break from the blog. However, that doesn't mean I won't be around if something exciting takes place!

First of all, a HUGE congratulations goes out to Cepia LLC and CEO Russell Hornsby for winning the "Toy Inventor of the Year" award for the Zhu Zhu Pets™! What a great accomplishment, and I am just so proud for them. It is so exciting to see a small company succeed in such a big way. This is a holiday season I am sure they will never forget on so many levels!

It has come to my attention today that CVS pharmacies are getting in a special shipment of Zhu Zhu Pets™ and accessories! There are a lot of reports of people finding them for $10 each on shelves. Other stores have confirmed they are expected in during this next week. I have been told that this is a one-time shipment, just for the holidays. If anyone gets lucky at CVS, please post about it!

As far as Black Friday goes, the only place I have heard that is definitely supposed to have Zhu Zhu Pets™ is ToysRUs. The latest I heard is 100 pets/store, with half being released at midnight and the other half being released at 6 a.m. Your best bet is to contact your local store and ask what their plans are.

As for other stores having ZZP on Black Friday? I haven't heard a thing! They are not mentioned in any of the ads I have seen. I suppose it is possible that Walmart and other stores may have been hoarding stock (like they did for 11/8)... the shelves and the online retail stores have been empty for quite awhile! And as the weekend and Cyber Monday roll around, will ZZP merchandise start showing up online?? Keep your Zoolert open and find out!

(If anyone has plans to stand in line at TRU for Zhu Zhu Pets™ on Black Friday and can snap some photos of the line, display, etc., I would be happy to post them here on the blog!)

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If I don't "see" you again before, I hope you all have a very happy, family+friend-filled Thanksgiving! Oh, and a safe and Zhu Zhu-filled Black Friday!

TRU holding stock for Black Friday?

(Empty hamster-shelves at TRU (photo property of @alotofnothing (Twitter))

I hope everyone is enjoying their "Zhu-nday" evening!

I hate to admit, when it comes to Toys R Us, I just feel out of the loop. Unfortunately, I do not even have a TRU within 100 miles of my home! Boo. Though the prices are slightly higher than Walmart/Target, it seems like they are more coordinated when they do get stock in. Since last Sunday, people just aren't reporting finding hamsters there at ALL. This has been a tough hunting week for brick-and-mortar stores!

Dionne just posted a helpful tidbit on my Facebook page, and I will repost the info here for all:

"TRU is going to release the hamsters only on Black Friday. They open at 12 midnight. I spoke to two different managers from different stores and I also saw for myself this morning that they have them in the Managers office. The managers told me they are not allowed to sell the hamsters until Black Friday ...or they get in trouble from corporate. They can only put out the accessories."

Very interesting! If they were opening at the average 5-6 a.m. mark, I think many people would be very torn: stand in line at TRU (possibly missing out on other store's Black Friday sales) or forget it. But the midnight thing makes it a whole other story!

My younger cousin is scheduled to work Black Friday at her TRU in Nebraska. I hope to get a full report of the chaos from her!!

TRU Presale on Giant Hamster City Playset

**Yawn**

A headache has contributed to a bit of insomnia tonight. It was just brought to my attention on my Facebook page that TRU.com has their exclusive "Giant Hamster City Playset" available for PRESALE right now for 99.99 at this link . Estimated ship date is 11/23. Limit 3.

Several weeks ago, TRU.com had this posted, but not in stock yet. At that time, the retail price was listed at 84.99. Wonder what could have spurred at $15 price increase? Low-retail for the individuals pieces of the set (which DOES include Patches) would be about $86 + tax. So it might be worth it to you to nab the majority of the accessory pieces and two hamsters and save on gas!

UPDATE: As of this morning, this set/presale has vanished from TRU.com. Hopefully some of you who were interested were able to get in on it before it was gone!

Something Fishy at eToys?

Happy Hump Day!

Talk on the boards seems to have shifted to eToys.com. As a supposed "retail store", they do currently have Zhu Zhu Pets™ in stock....at more than twice the retail price! Interestingly enough, the accessories are all priced at average retail, while the hamsters are $19.99 each. What gives?!

According to this link , eToys is owned by Toys R Us. Individuals state that packing slips from eToys orders (as recently as yesterday), have the Toys R Us/Babies R Us logo on them. So, it becomes apparent that they share the same warehouse.

What's the big deal? According to Zoolert.com, Toysrus.com has not had any hamsters in stock since 10-9, nearly 2 weeks ago. (Incidentally, at that time they were selling the hamster 3-packs for 34.99... $5 over their own seperate hamsters retail of $9.99). Now Toysrus.com is bone dry, yet eToys has had ample stock for days.

It is appearing to many of us that Toys R Us.com must be rerouting their inventory to eToys and charging double-retail by doing so. Makes sense because it would be very contradictory if they charged twice as much online at Toysrus.com as they do in their brick-and-mortar stores. At $19.99, I dare say they wouldn't have anyone waiting in line at the store.

It's a free country, and Toys R Us has the right to do whatever it feels, right? True. But it certainly puts a bad taste in many people's mouths regarding the company in general. On one hand, in stores they are limiting to 1 hamster/person/day (or sometimes 1 per household, as I mentioned in an earlier post)...in an effort to spread the wealth and discourage 3rd-party hoarders. But on the other hand, if they are using their alias store, eToys, as a tool to cash in on the craze and charge more than twice the retail... not cool. Not at all. Especially since the average completed price on eBay today is $20/hamster, they are no better than the hoarders they are supposedly trying to discourage.