A3U Closing?

[FreedomGundam]

This does suck.

I can't say that I've been a frequent customer at A3U (only made 5-6 orders in about 2 1/2 years), but it was great to have another online store to pick from and browse through.

I was among the ones affected by the whole fiasco a couple of months back, but Spencer did come through to me in the end and I happily got everything I ordered.

Sucks to lose one of the Canadian online retailers, though; made it great for not having to worry about customs/duties.

[General Tekno]

You know, this makes me want to pop by the local store near my house and buy something...

(Mind you, I did JUST buy stuff today. But still.)

[pud333]

I am sad to see A3U is going under. It's truly unfortunate, because businesses that deal with the fandom and import toys are few and far between. Spencer provided a great service to us for a long time, and I personally enjoyed going into the Metrotown store on many occasions. I'm pretty busy over the next few weeks, but I'm gonna try to get at least one last visit in before the doors close for good. This just goes to show just how important it is to support local businesses.

I wish Spencer all the best.

[Pascal]

I don't know if the competition is too strong from Ebay and other online stores from around the world. Nowadays, toys with excellent pricing and customer service are just a mouse click away, you almost don't even need a physical store anymore. You can buy toys from USA, Japan or China and oftentimes get them faster and cheaper than from your local store.

[General Tekno]

That may be, but it's still one thing to see pictures online and quite another to see it in front of your two eyes physically before buying.

Take Henkei Prime. I was intrigued by him, but actually seeing him in person sealed the deal.

[onecoin]

Originally Posted by Pascal

I don't know if the competition is too strong from Ebay and other online stores from around the world. Nowadays, toys with excellent pricing and customer service are just a mouse click away, you almost don't even need a physical store anymore. You can buy toys from USA, Japan or China and oftentimes get them faster and cheaper than from your local store.

Without a place to actually go to, 99% of us probably would even have started caring about this. I doubt any of us got our first Transformer from Ebay or an online retailer.

Originally Posted by venksta

However, it was still good to have him running the store around here, as it made the market very competitive. I even noticed how his competitors had a hard time bringing their prices down to meet his, as it was already hard to beat it.

Maybe that was the problem.

[J.Soundwave]

^ Actually i did order my very first TFs off ebay...i'm a fairly new collector though...about 3 years.

[TFtoys]

Originally Posted by pud333

I am sad to see A3U is going under. It's truly unfortunate, because businesses that deal with the fandom and import toys are few and far between. Spencer provided a great service to us for a long time, ... This just goes to show just how important it is to support local businesses.

at A3U's size in Metrotown, it might be at least $10,000 Canadian dollars for a monthly operation and rental fee in Metrotown. Moreover, as it is beside TRU, it makes it even harder to survive. Imaging how many items you have to sell to break even the cost from the importing goods and daily spending at least? It is also important you have a healthy liquidation avaliable while operating a stable business.


I am afraid without A3U, its competitors would have more chances to lift up the price with less "market force", which the local customer do not want to see that, either.


Online buying can save some money sometime, but it just missed too much "blindspots" for me to check the condition of the toys.

[QuadESL63]

Too bad... I wish Spencer all the best...

[venksta]

Originally Posted by TFtoys

I am afraid without A3U, its competitors would have more chances to lift up the price with less "market force", which the local customer do not want to see that, either.
.

A true story. One day, earlier in the year, I went to visit a couple of the hobby shops in Richmond. At one store, I noticed the owner was checking out the A3U website. He noticed that I saw it. So he was straight forward with me, stating that he was checking what A3U was selling henkei figures at, so he could sell them at a $1 or $2 dollars less, just to have a chance to compete.

I think if these other stores are smart, they'll keep their lower prices, since the other alternative is to buy online, like some of you have said.