Buster Special 2009

[tony ingram]

I know! A knitting magazine was in front of all the Beanos in WHSmith today! Ridiculous! Especially since it was in one of those special display boxes DCT will have paid extra for.

We had this happen with Crikey! #11. The distributors refunded about £1500 because we'd paid for the mag to go on display in the boxes and not one store complied. The staff simply don't care about positioning and, worse, neither do the managers. I've seen Classics From the Comics racked on the top shelf in some shops, while the lads' mags are near the bottom, one or two rows above the nursery comics. There's no thought there.

[Peter Gray]

Dorking has come up trumps!! quite a few issues there...bottom shelf in the children's section..

like reading Pete's pocket army 3 examples..
Teddy Scare was funny...like the Monster characters inside..
very good..
wished it was fortnightly...it sure makes you want more..

[Lew Stringer]

I'm pleased to say WH Smith in Coventry city centre had 8 copies today. Perhaps that's where they've all been sent to.

Had a quick check and the pagination was in the right order in all of them.

Unfortunately they'd been racked behind Simpsons comics and were completely hidden until I chanced upon them. (What IS it about Smiths putting Simpsons on top of other titles? They did it with the Beano last week. No wonder Simpsons is their best selling comic!) I moved the Simpsons comics out of the way. Literally a few seconds later a 30 something chap eagerly grabbed a copy of Buster. Presumably he'd been looking for it. So that's one sale they gained today anyway.

Lew

[STARBOY]

Yep they were in then Glasgow Argyle Street store on Saturday 2 January (around a dozen stacked near the Beano and Classics, so that makes sense) but still no sign (that I could see) in the main BR station stores in Glasgow Central or Queen Street stations, and they weren't in Hamilton or East Kilbride stores (that I could see, was in a rush) earlier in the day (and those are pretty large stores). Pretty nice book was kinda worth the wait liked the Baxendale selection although to nit pick, a few more Reid and Parlett would have been nice. As previosuly noted lots of DCT (Marvel, Ben 10 etc) annuals in Poundland incase anyone looking for anything I got Winter Games and Oor Wullie/Broons Glory Years (sold out locally but in the local Poundland??) fantastic

[Peter Gray]

Funny a 30 something grabbed a copy after what you did Lew...lets hope its a big hit..

[Black Max]

Front row in Ashford Kent - alongside the Marvel and DC reprints

[intune]

I moved the Simpsons comics out of the way. Literally a few seconds later a 30 something chap eagerly grabbed a copy of Buster. Presumably he'd been looking for it. So that's one sale they gained today anyway.

It was the same in Preston, they had a massive 2 copies hidden away.
Moved them both to the front!

[Niblet]

They had 4 copies in the Bexleyheath WHS today, in the comic section, not in the front but visible. I didn't buy one as I have a run of mid-70's Busters so probably already have a fair number of the pages.

[Lew Stringer]

They had 4 copies in the Bexleyheath WHS today, in the comic section, not in the front but visible. I didn't buy one as I have a run of mid-70's Busters so probably already have a fair number of the pages.

My local branch had two new copies in today (the previous two had sold before Christmas). Once again they were at the back, in the dark on the bottom shelf, shoved behind other titles, impossible to find unless one was looking for them. My local Smiths has now decided to put all "junior" titles (Dandy, BeanoMax, Toxic, Marvel Heroes etc) at the back and have nursery titles and puzzle mags at the front. For some reason it's always comics that they keep moving around the store and hiding like this. All other magazines are quite clear to see and in the same positions they've been in for a couple of years.

Beano was in its own display box, - next to the computer mags.

Lew

[steelclaw]

I've still never seen it in any of the 4 WH Smiths where I got and seen the other ones.I'm still looking for a correct copy.

[philcom55]

Some areas definitely seem to have waited until after Christmas to stock it. The Newcastle-under-Lyme branch displayed their first copy last week which sold within 24 hours, following which they restocked with nine more this week (all prominently displayed).

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

I've still never seen it in any of the 4 WH Smiths where I got and seen the other ones.I'm still looking for a correct copy.

If you like, steelclaw, you can have the one I bought in Truro, guaranteed perfect by Lew, for the £3.99 I paid for it plus the p&p to get it safely to you.

[steelclaw]

I've still never seen it in any of the 4 WH Smiths where I got and seen the other ones.I'm still looking for a correct copy.

If you like, steelclaw, you can have the one I bought in Truro, guaranteed perfect by Lew, for the £3.99 I paid for it plus the p&p to get it safely to you.

Thanks Phoenix I'm going to have another look next week, I will aslo go back to Waterloo Station where I got my first one to see if the correct one is there, if not I will certainly take you up on you kind offer.

[Lew Stringer]

Latest Smithwatch news: my local branch have decided to rack a pile of pregnancy magazines in the exclusive Beano box, completely hiding the comic. Why do publishers bother paying these retailers extra to do anything?

Lew

[LauraH]

My local tiny branch of Smiths had none, but the Birmingham City Centre branch had a whopping 18 copies racked at the front of the comics display (17, now I have mine!) Very enjoyable, makes me wish I'd got hold of the Misty one when it was out, as it's a title I've never read and always wanted to.

No such joy on the annuals/Poundland front though, every branch I've been in only has TV tie-ins like Lazy Town and Go Diego Go.

(BTW Lew, they seem to do a bit better for the Beano in Brum, as I've yet to see anything else in the special Beano box - the issues often have the "flopped over" problem, however.)