How Many, How Often?
 

I'm getting obsessive about how many stores I check and how often, and starting to find that I'm almost checking the same store twice a day even though they only restock at night.

So how do you experienced hunters game-plan? How many stores do you check, and how often do you check them?

The greater Albuquerque area has around 10 Walmarts and 5 Targets, which are the only stores who routinely restock MU.

Don't think this belongs in Marvel section. Check the stores on my way to work and back home once a week or so and the occasional TRU around the corner from my house also maybe once a week. Try not to go out of my way after finding nothing many many more times than finding anything.

This prolly why people think I am lucky. I just call it persistence. I can check the same store some times three times a day. I go in the morning and find some of the wave. Check back during lunch and still nothing. Go back by the end of the night and find a new batch. Doesn't always work But doing this pays off sometimes.

Moved to Action Figure General Discussion since it's not really about Marvel toys. Or at least, not just Marvel toys.

Thanks for the clarification. I never know if my topics are more broad than I'm thinking or not, so sorry about that.

After two weeks of checking the same two Walmarts every night when they put out the boxes of restock, I'm starting to question my habits.

I limit TRU's to Wednesday morning openings, since they have their new shipment put out by then, but Target is the real question.

I've typically seen new figures on the floor at Targets on Fridays, but they get new stock every day, much like Walmart, so I don't know if that's coincidence or not. I've been checking three of the 5 here in town every day during the $6.99 sale, but between the bare Walmarts and the stagnant Targets, it's getting old quick.

Oh and Do Boy, thanks for the CVS tip! Out of around 10 CVS' in Albuquerque, only one had figures, but they were all ones I'd never seen before. I'll try to post pictures later. :)

I check out stores maybe once a week on my day off.

In my hayday, I had a massive run. From my location, I could leave work, and make a massive circle through 6 different towns, and end up home again.
In my range is 8 Walmarts, one target (Was two back then, but the second *never* had anything, period. And it's since closed), and one Toys R us. I could hit them all within two hours.
I had quite a range, and a habit of using this as a method for unwinding after a stressful day at work. I made a minor round once a week, usually hitting two or three Walmarts, and the target and TRU, and a major circle, once a week on top of that.

Now, I tend to get the really rare and hard to find stuff from BBTS, and seldom really go on hunts anymore. Just can't afford the fuel.

As many as it takes, on my list of stores, to find what I'm looking for. I usually call around to anywhere to far out of the way, gas is way to expensive to be taking those crazy all day trips, just to come up empty handed.

twice a week when I am getting groceries or other supplies. I cant stand making special trips to toysRus. If it werent for walmart and target, I would have to buy most toys online.

I dont really go hunting anymore :/ far easier just to go to my LCS and get what I want. If they dont have it then I order it :/ only time I really go hunting anymore is the very rare occasion when I have everything I need from a wave and am waiting for the next.

I only start checking once something I want has hit the sightings. Then I start the hunt and quit once I find it.

During that hunting time, I try to time my visits to shipment mornings, or every 2 days sometimes if I'm just feeling impatient. Usually try to get it out of the way in the morning though so I can use the rest of my day for work or 'social affairs' or personal projects, or just whatever. I have certain stores I focus on first for awhile, but after a recent trip to a store I've been skipping and seeing the drastic renovations I may add it back into the roster of stores to check. TRU has pretty much fallen out of my stores to check list except for on day and date items like TF movie toys, Marvel movie-lines, and similiar. Sometimes I'll peruse them if I'm looking for something older too, though I may have to start adding some other 'clearance' stores to that to find a MKII Ironman 4 inch fig.

I hit up stores once a week. Usually on my day off. I try to rotate my route too. One week I'll hit certain stores and the next week others.

I'll occasionally check stores that are on the way to work as well. Far out places are once every few months.

I have 6 Wal Marts, 2 Targets, 2 Kmarts and 2 TRUwithin an hour dirve most within 30 min. I tend to hit the 2 wal mart and 1 target and 1 tru reg with outlying areas when the mood hits.

It depends on what's out, what I'm after, and how bad I need to have it. I haven't made a stop (just for toys) all week because I'm only after Magneto and Iceman, which will eventually be easy to get for all of us (insert "not us Canadians!" line here), so I'm in no hurry.

About a month into the Dr. Strange wave hitting my area and me still not seeing him, I stepped up my game and stopped at Target and TRU every day until i found one. If I didn't drive right past these stores I'd resort to getting them online to save gas, but that's not an issue for me.

at least once a day.

I buy most of my toys online.