I can’t believe we are in August (or about month 10 in a Matchbox model year) and I am only working my way through batch 6 of the year. It seems that both the UK and the USA got a little stuck with batches for a while. At least the USA is finally moving forward again. Here in the UK, I think we may be looking at Christmas? I’m an optimist! Ha ha! Thankfully, Wheel Collectors are busy helping me out with new stuff. So, this batch will appear on their website in my usual blog section. If you click here, it takes you to my blog section. Of course, the F batch is not all I showcase here. That’s a Target Red model. Or is it? This one is fun. Or is it? You have to read to find out more. I hope you enjoy my latest ramblings.
Nice ! Really nice … The only problem is that stores are empty… Matchbox is unavailable most of the time. If Mattel don’t care about Matchbox, then they should sell to someone who will… At this point this is getting ridiculous.
I agree with Arekadius. Only two shops in the UK sell Matchbox and old stock at that, batches being missed and having to buy on eBay or Wheelcollectors at inflated prices. I’ve been a collector for over 50 years and it’s never been this bad.
In all fairness here in the UK there’s several outlets stocking Matchbox. Tesco, The Entertainer, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, B&M Bargains, Poundland, One Below plus the smaller toy chains such as Toytown and Toymaster plus several independents who source theirs from the importers and distributors plus of course the likes of Poundstretcher who get their stock from unofficial sources. Incidentally Poundstretcher are now selling their Matchbox for just 99p!
However I will obviously concede that something has gone very very wrong with sourcing 2024 batches of basic mainlines like this. In the article David mentions the UK got as far as Case E but I’m sure it was only C and that was just in a handful of The Entertainer.
It’s not as though the pegs are particularly empty, it’s just the same early to mid 2023 cases being restocked over and over again and so can only conclude too many were ordered at the same time, they haven’t sold as well as expected and no more have been ordered from Mattel until everything in the system has been cleared.