Guest guest Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 We had a Garden Ridge open here a few days ago (October 6th or 7th).For those in the Orlando area and don't know about the store or where the store is, it is located on East Colonial Drive(don't know the actual physical address), they bought out and took over the old Amazon Mall or whatever they called it. There is a Krystal restaurant in the NW corner and is at the intersection of Rouse Road and Highway 50 (E. Colonial Drive). If heading East on 50 towards Bithlo, it's on the right hand side of S.R. 50.I had actually checked them out on-line and was ecstatic when one opened less than 10 miles from me! But was soon disappointed when they didn't have any Halloween items for sale. More on that in a moment.Fantastic Christmas selection, but they figured it was pointless to bring in Halloween stock because it wouldn't sell! When I asked them where there Halloween stuff was, stock clerk said: "not this year since we just opened in October." They just didn't want to have a lot of "clearance Halloween stock" which is what they figured would happen and that no one would be buying that much Halloween decor in October!Say what?:shock:I told the guy stocking, they made a BIG mistake there, as a lot of folks would be looking and BUYING a lot of stuff over the next few weeks in preparation of Halloween.And that I'll bet more folks are going to be asking where the Halloween decor is located, while chatting with him about my display and what we do while he continued to stock the Christmas display aisle he was working in, in less than 15 minutes time, at least 20+ people interupted us asking, "Where's the Halloween stuff?"I just said, see, I told you they made a HUGE mistake in NOT bringing in the Halloween decor, look how many folks have asked you in less than 15 minutes wanting to look and possibly buy Halloween items! Now this is the first Garden Ridge in the Orlando, Florida area too, I was very impressed with all the Christmas Blowmolds and other Christmas decor that they have in there! I also saw a nice 6' pre decorated tree that is set up just like a mega tree, except it's all one set of lights and that I could re-do and turn into a nice small LOR Mega Tree too. Think they were charging around $19.99-$29.99 for this item(don't recall the exact price), but the frame to make a smaller 6' sized mega tree to me, would definitely be worth buying it just for the frame and toss the incandescent lights and re-string with LED strings.Just know browsing their MASSIVE Christmas goodies gave me some new and fresh ideas for my display for this year in 2011.There Christmas department put Hobby Lobby that opened here a while back to shame! And even Hobby Lobby did not have much in the way of Halloween decor this year, at least not in the Orlando store. Wal-Mart seemed to have the largest Halloween department, alongside the specialty Halloween stores that opened here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Here, the Walmart stores have had more Halloween props for sale than the last two years combined, so at least that is a good trend. But I am always surprised how much lead in season some of these stores have.. I think the Garden Ridge here was pretty much sold out of Halloween stuff by around Oct 15 last year, And, the last two years, they have only been a hollow reminder of what the store used to be. I need to go back and see if they have started improving back to what they used to be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 -klb- wrote: Here, the Walmart stores have had more Halloween props for sale than the last two years combined, so at least that is a good trend. But I am always surprised how much lead in season some of these stores have.. I think the Garden Ridge here was pretty much sold out of Halloween stuff by around Oct 15 last year, And, the last two years, they have only been a hollow reminder of what the store used to be. I need to go back and see if they have started improving back to what they used to be...Last year Wal-Mart was THE LAST STORE to put out anything for Halloween and it was sparse at best. This year I was so happy to see they ramped it back up to what it used to be and how I remember it. And glad to see they got with the program this year and got their Halloween stuff out starting in late August instead of waiting 'til almost the last minute like they did in 2010!I was really hoping to see what kind of Halloween decor, especially "blowmolds" that Garden Ridge would have had, was I royally disappointed when I found out they weren't even going to bother bringing in any Halloween decor at all. I was told they would have a very large selection next year at G.R., so I will wait and see if they are still around by next year. Seems a lot of places open and don't last long with the current economy! So I hope they'll still be here in October 2012! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I would expect so. I think the last time they closed a store was during their trip through chapter 11 in 2004-2005. The things I have not liked about the store here for the last two years have been the way they have adapted to the struggling economy, and I think they have been rather on target, and successfull at it, just not for me, out side of their seasonal stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I was in Lowes tonight to buy some cases of lights (THEY HAD GREEN MINIS!!) and noticed Lowes is getting close to looking like the Spirit Stores.. a lot of tall, animated props.. butler, frankenstein, witches.. tho pricey, least expensive was the witch at $178.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 duped Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 So I went to that Garden Ridge store tonight, wow, $5.99 for a 100 count mini light set? Are they nuts? They had a big selection, but IMO their prices are too high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Menards has minis on sale for $2.74 plus a .75 cent rebate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 bisquit476 wrote: So I went to that Garden Ridge store tonight, wow, $5.99 for a 100 count mini light set? Are they nuts? They had a big selection, but IMO their prices are too high.I had planned on making a trip there over the weekend, but from where I am, its a bit of a hike...it needs to be worth it...So the high prices are everywhere, or are lights just a bit pricey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 DonFL wrote: bisquit476 wrote: So I went to that Garden Ridge store tonight, wow, $5.99 for a 100 count mini light set? Are they nuts? They had a big selection, but IMO their prices are too high.I had planned on making a trip there over the weekend, but from where I am, its a bit of a hike...it needs to be worth it...So the high prices are everywhere, or are lights just a bit pricey?Their lights are high priced...I went over on Saturday in a torrential downpour, drove 45 miles, only to be dissappointed by that. They have lots of inflatables, blowmolds, etc...which seemed to be reasonable. They do have lots of other stuff, nice indoor decorations, and some odds and ends, that are nicely priced, but alas...I walked out of the store with nothing...and drove back another 45 miles in rain squalls...and I was angry for the rest of the afternoon that I wasted valuable sequencing time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Mair Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Orville wrote:I was really hoping to see what kind of Halloween decor, especially "blowmolds" that Garden Ridge would have had, was I royally disappointed when I found out they weren't even going to bother bringing in any Halloween decor at all. I was told they would have a very large selection next year at G.R., so I will wait and see if they are still around by next year. Seems a lot of places open and don't last long with the current economy! So I hope they'll still be here in October 2012!Orville what blowmolds are you looking for, a store up by Great Adventure had a boat load of them. I plan or making another trip up there either the Friday befor or the day after halloween to catch some sales. I can pick up what you need/want and ship it to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Mair Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 hmmmI guess i wont try to edit quotes anymore:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Maybe it's just me, but both me and my wife thought that most of their prices were high (for what you got). They had furniture pretty cheap, but the quality looked cheap IMO. We also walked out without buying anything (like thevikester), but there were lots of folks pushing buggies full of stuff out the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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