Ages Three and Up Announcement: New Owner and Relaunch

[Super_Megatron]

It's been a while since Ages Three and Up has made any announcements here. Find out who owns the relaunched store and what they are offering by clicking here.

[Super_Megatron]

Hi There,

It's been a while since Ages Three and Up has made any announcements here in the forums. Sorry we've been absent for so long. But it has been productive...

Since the original reopening of the Ages Three and Up online store in May 2009, I've been busy gathering more feedback for the store, it's new direction and forging new relationships to help bring customers more transformers focused collectibles.

Thanks to all those that supported us and bought our Transformers when we relaunched in May. Your support has helped to keep Ages Three and Up in the community. It's been a bit of an adventure already as a new owner trying to revive a great store that has had so much history with this community, but I am dedicated to keep stocking our store with products that our customers will enjoy for time to come.

Now I know many have had questions about what happened to Ages... does it still exists or not? Will we still be supporting the transformers collectors in our region? Does Spencer still owns the store? And in some cases I've seen questions as to whether or not the new owners are just made up figments in digital space.

To respond... I really do exist and I did acquire AgesThreeAndUp.com (and all it's web properties) from Spencer last December... thanks to my supporters that made that happen. I did not assume ownership of his inventory, nor the retail store which is now owned by another outfit.

However that does not mean we have left the retail scene. In addition to the efforts we have made to improve our online store, we have made Ages Three and Up transformers available to our local customers in Vancouver, Canada through The Urban Samurai Hobbies store located in Lougheed Town Centre (Upper Level across form The Bay). We've rented out half the space to display and stock items so that local customers can have the convenience of just stopping by to purchase their items they want right away.

Spencer does work at the retail location for Urban Samurai Hobbies, but has nothing to do with Ages Three and Up operations in any way nor does he have any ownership of the brand itself. We have a whole new crew that runs the Ages Three and Up section.

I know that in the last closing months of the original Ages Three and Up Store, there was lots of uncertainty and concerns about how some things were being handled. But without passing judgement, I would like to say that as the new owner, I strive to make sure my customers stay happy and find the products they are looking for at reasonable prices.

I know from being a customer of the store in the past and up to the time it ended that I was treated with that ideal and always got the stuff I needed at fair prices and received good customer support. I hope to continue more of that.

It's been slow going up to this point, but I am happy to say that we are back and are already starting to stock the store with new products. We will be rotating our stock often now, so check us out for the latest preorders and specials.

We have now confirmed shipment of products on their way to the store this week and will start shipping out to customers next week:

* MP-01B Convoy
* Ravage USB Stick
* Grimlock Optical Mouse
* Buster Prime
* Alternity Bumblebee and Cliff Jumper
* Restock on ROTF Jetfire
* Restock on e-Hobby Megatron Exclusive
* Restock on e-Hobby Sunstorm Exclusive

There's also tons of already available stock in the store. So check out the new online store @ agesthreeandup.com or for local customers who haven't already, drop by the Urban Samurai store @ Lougheed Town Centre.

Thanks,

Boris Chow

[Cliffjumper69]

Hmmmmm.... Still kinda Iffy about this whole thing. Ill shop at Automation.


CJ

[Doctor Kibble]

Yeah, I don't buy it. This stinks.

[FreedomGundam]

I don't want to doubt any sincere actions from the new owners, but my question is: if the new owners were already concerned about the image that A3U had with its customers in the closing months of its business under Spencer, why does the new management open up the store under the same name? Why not have it a fresh start entirely under a different name, different banner? As it stands, A3U had left a bitter taste in many fans' mouths, and keeping the new business with the same old name is not really helping anything...

(On a side note, though, I must point out that, other that just having a very delayed order last year near the closing months (ordered in Feb/Mar, got my order in October), I didn't end up losing anything due to the delays nor did I receive bad service... in fact, Spencer was extremely helpful when my delayed package was missing one item from my order)

[agesthreeandup]

Originally Posted by Cliffjumper69

Hmmmmm.... Still kinda Iffy about this whole thing. Ill shop at Automation.


CJ

Understandable, I don't expect things to change overnight for Ages Three and Up. And I've myself heard great things about Atomation (is it automation or automaton?) Directed some friends to buy from them... who also bought from me (thanks guys).

Like I said in the announcement though, hard to pass judgment, cause at the time Spencer stopped his operations, I was still a customer of the retail store, so more on the side that you guys were on looking in.

Hard to discredit or credit anybody's word. But instead of spending my efforts looking back, I just decided to find funding... also put in my own money so that I could still bring in products for the people on the west coast here that need their Transformers

It's been slow going, cause I wanna make sure that we had the funds and staff to support this and make it better again.

I know it won't win you back by words alone, so I'm just gonna focus on moving forward and making sure that I get my products to my customers and treat them right.

It's all I can really do. Sorry that Ages has sucked for you in the past. Hope that if you are in a bind and need something you can't find you think of us as you would any new vendor. Cause essentially we are, just kept the name cause a lot of people already associate it with transformers collectibles in Vancouver.

Thanks for the feedback either way.

[agesthreeandup]

Originally Posted by Doctor Kibble

Yeah, I don't buy it. This stinks.

Noticed you are from BC. If you are in the Vancouver area, stop by the store. You'll see that it's all true what I said.

And to be clear, Spencer does work for Urban Samurai. However, our only connection to Urban Samurai is we rent shelves and space from the owners and stock our items for local customers. The toy industry in Vancouver isn't that huge, so it's no surprise to see Spencer workin for them. Small world indeed.

Would love to open our own store when we have this running smooth again, but one step at a time. Just focused more on spending our time right now on product. I literally started with zero stock. Didn't want to buy up all of Spencers old stuff.

[agesthreeandup]

Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

I don't want to doubt any sincere actions from the new owners, but my question is: if the new owners were already concerned about the image that A3U had with its customers in the closing months of its business under Spencer, why does the new management open up the store under the same name? Why not have it a fresh start entirely under a different name, different banner? As it stands, A3U had left a bitter taste in many fans' mouths, and keeping the new business with the same old name is not really helping anything...

(On a side note, though, I must point out that, other that just having a very delayed order last year near the closing months (ordered in Feb/Mar, got my order in October), I didn't end up losing anything due to the delays nor did I receive bad service... in fact, Spencer was extremely helpful when my delayed package was missing one item from my order)

Thanks for the input on the name stuff. This was one of the hardest parts moving forward to decide on.

See the problem was 2 fold. Whereas Ages when ran by Spencer really upset the customers on closing, at the time of purchase, everyone that I had spoken to in Vancouver had good things to say about the retail store and wished it was still around. I read about the online stuff too and did see a mixed feeling about how he handled things. It was a lot to digest for me.

But the fact remained. I had 2 choices... start a name of my own in an industry where I've been more of a collector and have no real branding or use a brand that people here locally already associate with transformers. I based most of the decision on what kind of products the name was related to more than some of the bad press that it received.

Both would have been a tough challenge. Gaining confidence as a new guy on the block especially doing the retail stuff or trying to salvage a tainted one. It was tough. But after a lot of feedback, it really seemed a lot of people were still more fans of Ages then the bad press had ruined.

And that's the problem, reading through everything a lot of bad press really just came from a handful of people in comparison to all who have shopped there over the years (Ages has been around for around 5 years... I'm starting to get some customers that haven't even shopped with them during all of this and have rediscovered us). I guess because Spencer had already let go of his interest in the business, he just never bothered to correct some of those complaints properly at closing.

Sucks too, cause I know myself when I read any bad press, it goes a long way no matter how little of an indication it is. And after a year hiatus, it's been left to evolve into things that aren't even true.

Up until this post, I was said to not have been a real person by people that have never even met me, my crew or tried to substantiate any of the claims. Everything was speculative at first and then all of a sudden, I was not even a real human being, just a figment of Spencers imagination... lol

It's definitely been some interesting choices. But in May 2009 when I did restock the online store... we sold quite a few items and were able to get some good feedback on our service. It's just been harder for me from a perspective of how do I turn a store that sold everything to just carrying transformers products and also finding the latest stuff at good prices so that I could pass on the good pricing to customers was a challenge.

The retail store is doing well now too with good rotation, so I think people realize that I'm just here to move forward and get things in good shape and most importantly keep those shelves stocked with good product. Leave the past behind kinda thing.

But like I said I pass no judgement on the people that are saying bad things, cause maybe that was their experience... can't take that away from them. Nor can I pass judgement on Spencer, cause when speaking to him, he was very candid about what he did and didn't do for his customers.

[Icetron]

All I can say is that I went to Urban Samurai a couple times already, and was greeted by friendly people. (I make this point because at other stores I'm either not greeted at all or I just don't feel like I'm being greeted, more like I am being watched so I don't steal stuff?) The prices seem fair since most of the TFs are Takara (Japanese) versions, although I'm not interested in buying stuff like the Japanese ROTF toys. I never ordered or preordered anything from the old A3U so I have nothing really bad to say about the past, however I'm looking forward to seeing how the new store works out in case I ever need to buy anything.

[bvia]

Are your in-store prices the same as the online prices or are they slightly higher like when Spencer operated to cover the store expenses?