How long will it take for stores inventory to recover?

[amood06]

It seems to be very unfortunate for my niece that her birthday falls on December 30th because all of the toys that she wants are gone. I can't even give her a gift card (online or in-store) because all of the inventory seems to be wiped out. How long does it take for retailers to bounce back? I'm not even talking about the hot items, they seemed to be wiped out of everything. I know the stores get trucks in weekly, although not necessarily toys. But how does that work with online items?

[ajdana726]

I just asked yesterday at the TRU the sale girl told me it could take 6 wks to completely restock the store

[First Lady]

My sons is tomorrow and every year I try to get all his presents before christmas and hope he doesn't add anything new after he sees everyone elses presents.

[Rockfordmom]

Why can't you give her a gift card? TRU was out of a toy we were looking for yesterday and it's out of stock online so I couldn't order it and they couldn't tell me when it will come back in. I don't get that this day and age stores like TRU and Target can't order items they are out of or tell you if something is on the next truck coming in or when it will be coming in!?

[Rose0426]

I think most stores won't restock anything major until they get back all the returns, so 6 weeks sounds about right.

I don't get that this day and age stores like TRU and Target can't order items they are out of or tell you if something is on the next truck coming in or when it will be coming in!?

If something is out of stock in the store and online, where are they supposed to get it from? I'm sure they order in bulk for the season and once something is out, they would have to reorder from the manufacturer, and if the manufacturer is out, there is nothing anyone can do but wait until more are made. As far as letting you know when something is coming in, I used to work at TRU and until we got the manifest of what was on the truck, we had no idea what was coming in, and you would only get that a few days before the truck arrived. Now that Christmas is over, their trucks are coming in maybe once a week, where they were once a day before Christmas.

My son's and grandsons birthdays are Dec 30 & 31. I have always just bought extra toys/gifts for them and put them away for their birthday. If I waited till after Christmas, there would be nothing in the stores to get them.

[Rockfordmom]

I'm talking about when it is in stock online but not in the store, they don't order it for you, and they can't check if they are getting it on the next truck or when or if they are getting it. They tell you that you can call them after their next truck comes and they can check if it came in, seems like they should be able to tell you if something is on it's way to their store and when and order items that are out of stock for you, but they don't.

[Rose0426]

TRU online is run by Amazon I think, not TRU. Thats why the prices are different than in the store sometimes, and online has more items than the stores do. And no, they don't know what they are getting until they get the manifest of what is on the truck, usually a day or two in advance of it, and now they are getting trucks probably only once a week.

[Rockfordmom]

Just seems like in this day and age that stores should be able to scan a barcode and order an item for you or tell you when they are getting it in. I can look up an item online at my house and see if it's in stock at a store before I leave my house, the store can tell me if it's in stock at another store, just seems like some stores are lacking when it comes to ordering items for you.

And more stores should offer free shipping to store, not enough stores have that option!

[angleyez423]

TRU online is run by Amazon I think, not TRU. Thats why the prices are different than in the store sometimes, and online has more items than the stores do. And no, they don't know what they are getting until they get the manifest of what is on the truck, usually a day or two in advance of it, and now they are getting trucks probably only once a week.

Our TRU is able to see future shipments. I've had to have them so it for me. Maybe not all items will show up. Does Amazon still run it? I know in the past when you went to amazons toys it even showed it was tru. But that was years ago. I can't keep track. Amazon did target too and no longer does.

[fluffkin79]

Around this time last year a TRU employee told me they don't restock to keep invenentory low for tax season. I have no idea if that's the real reason for not restocking, but I do recall TRU shelves being very empty.

[Sandi852]

I work for a large retailer and our distribution center is closed for inventory the first two weeks of January so we don't start shipping again to stores until mid-january.