2011 Shopping Update

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day!
 
I dug my digicam out from my unpacking project over the holidays and have been waiting patiently for store shelves to reset.  Most notable news is that Wal-mart seems to be back in the Jakks Pokemon merch game.  Plan-o-grams were taped to pegs the first week of January showing a 1/10/2011 date for the reset.  Labelled pegs include spots for large talking plush, mini-plush, foam Poke balls, basic figures (3-packs), Pop and Battle balls and Throw balls including, currently, Piplup, Shaymin Sky Form and... PICHU!  So far merchandise has been fairly barren at Wal-mart with the pegs also waiting patiently; I have seen, however, some current wave (Jirachi, Celebi, etc.) mini-plush, foam Poke balls, 3-figure packs, and Throw balls spottily at several Wal-marts.  Every time I got to the store, I missed the Pichu, though.  I ended up finding the ball at TRU, but for a dollar more, $10.99.  It's pretty cute, no?
 
TRU has gotten in the new Throw Poke balls and finally, in my area, the current wave of mini-plush.
 
Target has maintained shelf space for Jakks Pokemon, but I have seen no new merchandise beyond what they were stocking at Christmas.
 
Meijer in my area has not stocked Jakks Pokemon for around the last year; however, I usually check there weekly to see if they have TCG cards on sale, as they seem to do that more often than any other store I shop.
 
The new issue of Nintendo Power features two Pokemon covers for Black and White--and while you're looking for that, don't forget to hit Gamestop this week for another legendary download for your DS.
 
February 3 marks an important holiday-!  The Chinese Year of the Rabbit begins!  All you Buneary, Azumarrill, Lopunny and other big-eared Pokemon fans rejoice!  Pojo sponsor Toywiz.com noted some upcoming Jakks Buneary toys so I'm hoping to see maybe some slight redesign if I'm lucky; I love the many poses/moods of our beloved Pokemon (speaking of which, check the back of the Pichu throw ball package for a great battle pose of the tuff li'l guy!).
 
Happy Shopping!
 
Loretta

Addendum 1: LOL, ESP, Meijer has trading cards 20% off this week!

Addendum 2: Stop the presses! Not only does Meijer have 20% off trading cards this week but a box of current wave mini-plush has mysteriously appeared at one of my local Meijers, along with about 3 shelf tags holding space for Pokemon merch. I guess the upcoming B&W game releases have set off a merchandising frenzy--which is good for me, as with high gas prices, this saves me driving all over town to the few stores that carried Jakks this past year. Yay!