Two new Toymate stores before Christmas

[griffin]

Great news for those in Melbourne and Brisbane, as the next two Toymate stores to open will be in those cities (http://www.toyhobbyretailer.com.au/news/toymate-to-break-into-victorian-market).

In October, the first Toymate for Victoria will open up at the old site of ToysRUs at the Fountain Gate Westfield... which is in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
(they even noted in the article that they are hiring 20 ex ToysRUs employees, which is really good of them to do that, but it was probably more to do with utilising their experience with toys for the benefit of the business)

And then in November, the second Toymate for Queensland will be opening up at the Logan Hyperdome... which is southside (just south of the Brisbane border, but right on the South East Freeway, which makes it only about 20 minutes from the CBD if no traffic).
PLUS, the Hyperdome store is being noted as their "flagship" store, so should be huge. (the Robina store is pretty big, so if it is bigger than that, we should see a decent range on hand at all times, that price matches)
I'm guessing that it will located where Myer used to be... probably not both floors though.

[Zommael]

I wish they would move into the old TRU store at Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore. Although, if they did decide a Sunshine Coast presence was desirable they might prefer somewhere in the new centre given the old TRU is located at the back of the now expanded plaza.

[Krayt]

Great news for those in Melbourne .....

Um.... no it isn’t! Fountain Gate shouldn’t even be called part of Melbourne!

Don’t get me wrong.... I got Roughstuff from there back in 89-90... but even growing up in the east and driving past on the way to Melbourne we only stopped maybe twice

Now days it’s a 60-90 min drive

[Paulbot]

Depends where you are ;). It’s a half hour drive from my place, and i worked there each weekend for four years. It’s closer for me than Highpoint or Northland

I visited a Toymate when I was in Sydney earlier this year and was impressed with the stock levels (better than I’d seen in any store for ages)

[Ultra Mackness]

We were there only a couple of days ago and were wondering what was going in that space as there were no external signs (that we could see) of anyone using it.

This is great news! Can't wait to see how it unfolds!

[Dan]

I live in Oakleigh and consider Fountain Gate part of suburban Melbourne because I can get there on metropolitan public transport, if I'm patient. :)

[SMHFConvoy]

I wish they would move into the old TRU store at Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore. Although, if they did decide a Sunshine Coast presence was desirable they might prefer somewhere in the new centre given the old TRU is located at the back of the now expanded plaza.

They did that in the Bankstown TRU in NSW but it shared the space with Baby Bunting.

[M-bot]

Um.... no it isn’t! Fountain Gate shouldn’t even be called part of Melbourne!

Don’t get me wrong.... I got Roughstuff from there back in 89-90... but even growing up in the east and driving past on the way to Melbourne we only stopped maybe twice

Now days it’s a 60-90 min drive

Ermmm... it’s not much more than 45 minutes from the city unless you’re driving in peak hour. I know this because I live 10 minutes away from Fountain Gate (as in further away from the city). I can get to Werribee (where my brother lives, waaaay on the other side of the city) in 60 minutes.

“Shouldn’t even be called part of Melbourne”? Really?

[Paulbot]

Fountain Gate store opens this Saturday

https://toymate.com.au/melbourne/fountain-gate

[Krayt]

Ermmm... it’s not much more than 45 minutes from the city unless you’re driving in peak hour. I know this because I live 10 minutes away from Fountain Gate (as in further away from the city). I can get to Werribee (where my brother lives, waaaay on the other side of the city) in 60 minutes.

“Shouldn’t even be called part of Melbourne”? Really?

And there is a lovely freeway from the east to the west to help facilitate your travel...

But seriously, FG is covered by the CFA not the MFB. I may be old school, but that's a pretty clear way to define the edge verses the ever expanding monster that is Melbourne. Hell wait long enough and my childhood home 250KM away will be part of Melbourne one day!!

But talking to someone at the Lego Store opening this morning from there, it took them 90 mins to Doncaster this morning.... And I'm another 30 mins from Doncaster away from FG.... 2 hours for an overpriced SS Bumblebee with Charlie i don't think so.

[M-bot]

CFA/MFB boundaries are a farce. A pretty poor way of “defining” the edges of the city. No doubt it’s sprawling, but yeah, still Melbourne.

There generally tends to be roads and freeways between places, and their goal is usually to assist people getting from place to place. So you’re certainly correct about that.

[Ultra Mackness]

So did anyone get to go to the grand opening today?

I was intending to go but life with kids got in the way!

[M-bot]

I was at work, and again today. I saw on Facebook they have a huge number of $40 leader Skyshadows (that were in Toy Kingdom Fountain Gate a year or so back). I will probably pop in on Tuesday this week.

[CaminusPrime]

Theres also a new NSW store at Erina fair & ACT store for Canberra on the way. Both are in the Toys R us locations. Erina Fair opens this saturday

[ampoldj]

Theres also a new NSW store at Erina fair & ACT store for Canberra on the way. Both are in the Toys R us locations. Erina Fair opens this saturday

Well I thought the thread already included the new one in Canberra. It's been in the facebook for months already but just saw the signs last weekend for opening last week of November. It's taking the TRU spot as well in Majura. Looks like they are taking some strategic locations of TRU.

[griffin]

The Brisbane/Logan store apparently opened today according to the Toymate website, and next weekend they have the Canberra store opening (at Majura Park shopping centre, next to the airport).

That's now 22 stores in five states/territories (https://toymate.com.au/stores/). ToysRUs had about 35-40 stores at their peak, in six states/territories (they had stores in South Australia, which Toymate doesn't yet have).

[griffin]

Today at the new Logan Hyperdome Toymate store, which they boast as being the largest toystore in Australia.... which could be true, if it is the largest Toymate store and they know the floor space of the other remaining dedicated toystores in Australia (Toyworld, Mr Toys, Pete's toys and second-hand stores like Lobos in Melbourne).

It is located where Myer used to be, which is near the mid-way point, next to a new TKMaxx (which can sometimes have clearanced Transformers toys, but this store didn't have any). Myer was a 2-storey store, so I don't know if there is anything upstairs, as both of these new stores are only on the ground floor.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm37.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm38.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm39.jpg

Some photos of the overall store, showing how big it is, and how open and colourful it is. The black ceiling is a bit strange though, as I thought that it should be something more colourful or white... but looking back at my photos of the Robina store, they had the exact same type of ceiling. The size and maze type layout reminded me of the big ToysRUs store at Hong Kong's Ocean Terminal... it was quite exciting to visit. I will look forward to visiting this store often, provided they restock often.
The surprise was finding a huge kids play area at the back of the store, with a mini-theatre, and frozen yoghurt counter with different flavours to buy. It will probably only be used during the christmas season, for the parents to drop off their kids while buying up their presents. (I didn't take any photos of that area, because I didn't want to get into any trouble looking like I am just taking photos of other people's kids.)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm40.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm41.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm42.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm43.jpg

The Transformers section, mostly in one section, with the BotBots and Rescue Bots at the front of the store near the registers.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm44.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm45.jpg

And actual Transformers toys, focussing on the more recently released items.
HEAPS of Siege Thundercracker and Megatron.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm46.jpg

Wave 3 Siege Micromasters Blackjack & Hyperdrive - their master cartons must have come with wave 1's Autobot Race Car patrol and Battle Patrol, which we missed in Australia. (it still means we didn't get the Decepticon Airstrike Patrol here from the first wave)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm47.jpg

HEAPS of Siege Deluxe Reflector wave.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm48.jpg

Bumblebee Movie exclusive Soundwave from Titans Return for just $45 (a Leader toy for half price, in fancy packaging)... and Studio Series Voyagers Rampage and the Optimus Prime from the Bumblebee Movie.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm49.jpg

Various recent Cyberverse Warriors and Spark Armour (they had wave 1 Battle Class and wave 2 Elite Class).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm50.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm51.jpg

Botbots series 3 5-packs, Arcade packs, series 2 single packs, series 2 8-packs, and Rescue Bots Whirl (race car) with a re-release Brushgard behind it.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm52.jpg

Credit to the new store for having heaps of staff on hand, but I think it was because they expected a huge turn out for the opening weekend... but this was something that showed how inexperienced the new staff were when it came to problem solving. I pointed out to a staff member that they had a heap of their Siege Voyagers labelled up as Deluxe (which could have some customers thinking they were $35 instead of $50, and get into a dispute with a cashier when trying to pay for one). I had to explain it to her three times, pointing to the applicable toys on a shelf above that were labelled correctly, showing her the different terms on the price labels and the different sized toy boxes. She started removing the labels as I walked off, but when I came back from walking around other parts of the store, the wrong labels were put back, as she just gave up as a problem that was too hard for her to work out or didn't have the confidence to move stock or remove wrong shelf tags.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm53.jpg

Near the main Transformers section, there was a TV screen showing three toy commercials on repeat - one was for Siege, the other two were for Botbots.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm54.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm5.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm56.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm57.jpg

There were a lot of different toys to see, and surprises when walking around the aisles. A little something that I saw that caught my eye were these Loyal Subjects MOTU figurines...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2019tm58.jpg

Next weekend it's Canberra's turn, with Majura Park opening. Check it out if you are in the ACT, as it should be similarly huge if they filled the old ToysRUs store.

[Paulbot]

That's an impressive amount of TFs on the shelves

[Convoid]

More photos of the Transformers section at Hyperdome Toymate store last Sunday:

https://imgur.com/EYin0TC.jpg

https://imgur.com/CRGCjyK.jpg

https://imgur.com/cdBAqyk.jpg

https://imgur.com/YC2uGTR.jpg

https://imgur.com/KEYjW6K.jpg

https://imgur.com/ZxZMnNN.jpg

https://imgur.com/3hGcfrV.jpg

https://imgur.com/UGSzdMB.jpg

[griffin]

You must have been there after I was there, as I had moved some things around to tidy up the shelves and make some items more visible, which I could still see in your photos.
(I was there from 11.40 to 12.20)

[Convoid]

You must have been there after I was there, as I had moved some things around to tidy up the shelves and make some items more visible, which I could still see in your photos.
(I was there from 11.40 to 12.20)

Yeah, I was there at around 12:40pm.