Ever since we opened in 2000, we believe in being as transparent as possible, sharing as much information with our customers as is possible. Sometimes said information is too sensitive to share publicly so we have to remain mum and keep in mind the considerations of both our clientele as well as our vendors if we are to remain an effective retailer.
In the case of Forces of Valor, its been a mixed bag of late, as we attempt to figure out why product hasn’t been made available here in North America despite our best prodding and pushing to get accurate information direct from the source. Essentially, when Waltersons acquired Greenlight Collectibles back in May, they realized that Greenlight’s facilities were too small to hold both company’s inventory. So, they went out and found a nearby public warehouse to hold the Forces of Valor inventory, at least until they could sort things out in the new year. Unfortunately, they have run into a litany of problems using a public warehouse, which has prevented them from being able to serve their vendors, and, in turn, their customers.
We’ve been told that sometime in February they plan to move both the Greenlight and Waltersons inventory to a new warehouse, although we have no assurances that this plan isn’t fraught with its own perils and pitfalls. Right now, we are still awaiting news concerning a re-stock shipment that will supposedly hit the road shortly. Communication with Waltersons isn’t exactly their strong suit, so getting up-to-date information has become a hit-or-miss proposition. As for their new product that was supposed to become available in October and then December, we’ve been told that the shipment has arrived at the public warehouse, although nothing further has been discussed. At this point, it is entirely possible that their new product may not ship out until February, once they have consolidated their inventory and addressed any issues that the new warehouse may pose. For now, we are listing them in our January upcoming releases section, although its a fair bet that this could slip by yet another month. Mind you we have no hand in the process and no way of getting moved up to the front of the line to receive product as quick as it comes in.
In summation, please be patient and understand that as it currently stands we are working to get and share news with you as it hits the wire. Remember, patience is a virtue, and right now looking at ways to purchase more patience with an Amazon gift card we received this holiday season. In the mean tine, peace out.
Update: As of January 3rd, here’s where we stand with the Forces of Valor series. Our point of contact has indicated that our re-stock order will ship out to us this week, which means it should arrive sometime during the second week of January. They are also claiming that the new merchandise is in stock and ready to be shipped out, however, we have elected to hold off receiving this merchandise until they can demonstrate that they are capable of shipping out an order on time and correctly. Our last shipment, which arrived way back in October, was totally FUBAR and led to all sorts of issues that took weeks to address to our satisfaction. So, we want to see how the re-stock shipment goes before committing our resources, time and energy towards another potential fiasco. I know this isn’t what a great many of you want to hear but when we face a problem of this magnitude we insist that the supplier go back to the drawing board and get things right. Walk before you learn how to run, so-to-speak.
If the re-stock shipment goes as planned and without any hitches, then we will have Forces of Valor release their new product shipment to us, perhaps as early as the second week of January. This means that the new merchandise should reach us before the close of the month. As always, we ask for your patience in this matter and hope you can understand that we need to ensure that Forces of Valor can ship out product in both an expeditious manner and without any additional problems.