Blast of the Past Memories - Blowmolds. Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
bdeditch wrote: What I don't understand is why someone hasn't started producing blowmolds again.
Take a look at the Blast from the past threads on the SIZE of the plants & warehouses needed when blow molds were in their heyday
Mfgs say that there isn't enough demand for blow molds
The people that bought the Union molds do not have a large warehouse - acoording to sales Rep. They make smaller blow molds only
Take a look around at Christmas
How many houses decorate?
No / Low demand, no low supply
bdeditch wrote: What I don't understand is why someone hasn't started producing blowmolds again.
Because the stores don't buy them. That is why Grand Venture, Santa's Best and Union Products all quit making the blow molds. They all had a large back inventory that the stores just did not buy. In Sept. 2006 we purchased about 40 different Union blow molds that came from their warehouse and some of them have bar code stickers from as far back as 1996. A very large portion of them were from 2001 & 2002. Only three of them were from 2005, all of the others were from previous years. Most all of the new Union blow molds that you see on eBay came from their warehouse after they closed their doors in 2006. Last Friday I was told that there is still some of the Union blow mold inventory sitting in a warehouse in MA that haven't sold yet. I have not tried to confirm that though.
David Balch wrote: Take a look at the Blast from the past threads on the SIZE of the plants & warehouses needed when blow molds were in their heyday
Mfgs say that there isn't enough demand for blow molds
The people that bought the Union molds do not have a large warehouse - acoording to sales Rep. They make smaller blow molds only
We have to remember that when those pictures were taken, Empire also produced the "Big Wheel" and a large line of other types of plastic toys (not blow molds). Those buildings were not all used for the production of our holiday blow molds.
bdeditch wrote: What I don't understand is why someone hasn't started producing blowmolds again.
A good example is General Foam. You don't see store's today have a wide selections of GF molds. No companys are going to keep producing something thats not selling.
____________________ Christmas Delight
Blow Molds, Blow Molds, Lov'em Lov'em Can't get enough of 'em!
Keep in mind that plastics are a petroleum product. As the costs for oil have risen, raw production costs rise..and the higher costs are placed on consumers, not only by way of production, but transportation costs as well, blow molds..as we all know, are bulky and take up a lot of trailer space..Producing blow molds, when you factor in production and transportation, become expensive to produce, but must be sold at an affordable price, they become e a loss leader for most retailers and many of them do not wish to carry them.
Last edited on Tuesday March 4th, 2008 03:09 am by Carrie Sansing
David Balch wrote: True, many stores sell these at cost
The Walmart Nativities were selling for less then my cost
WalMart didn't pay anywhere near your cost though. They buy in such large quantities that they can wheel and deal for costs that we could never hope to get when only buying a single trailer load. Our 10 to 20 thousand dollar purchases from them are pocket change compared to what WalMart and a few other stores buy. I remember that after we made our $15,000 purchase from TPI in 2003, WalMart sold some of those same blow molds in 2004 for less then what we paid for them and they made a profit on them.
Christmas Delight wrote: bdeditch wrote: What I don't understand is why someone hasn't started producing blowmolds again.
A good example is General Foam. You don't see store's today have a wide selections of GF molds. No companys are going to keep producing something thats not selling.
A good friend of mine, who sells GenFoam blow molds and picks them up from the factory, told me last year, that the GenFoam sales rep told them that they try to get the stores like WalMart, K-Mart, Lowes, etc to buy a larger selection of blow molds instead of the same ones every year, but they still only buy the same old thing.
i remember when i used to go to stores during christmas they had TPI about 10 to choose from, then santas best quite a few to choose from,and about 10 different union items
now walmart you can buy a 3 piece nativity the wisemen the same old santa 3 choices thats it ACE up here has the best selection of...............7
____________________ merry christmas from Michigan,
When I was a kid (hmm.. probably 12 or so years ago was when I last went), there was a store nearby called Arcadia Gardens (which has since closed, I believe). Around Christmas time my mom would take me in to feed the llamas and goats they had, and then we'd go inside to look at the decorations. My, God. It was like Christmas Blowmold Wonderland. Soooooooo many. I may be exaggerating slightly, because I WAS a kid, but I KNOW there was lot. So many different kinds, They were EVERYWHERE. I really miss that place. It was so cool just to go in and see everything. I remember the rows and rows of soldier molds, Santas, bears, everything. I wish I could go back in time, even just to walk in and see that again. Haha. I'm gonna go cry a lil now..