Hey! Where Did My Bratz Aisle Go?????

Related entries:
Wal-Mart: Different Store, Same Old Story (04.26.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=16

Wal-Mart: "No Comment" About Selling Bratz For Fall 2009 (07.7.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=41

Remember this?:

Sabina And Dresden Found! Guess Where? (04.28.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=17

Or better yet, remember THIS?:

Wal-Mart No Longer Selling Bratz After July 2009 (04.20.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=13

For the past four months, I have been criss-crossing throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, visiting many Wal-Mart stores to purchase Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden. I have traveled far and wide to purchase as many sets of this collection as possible, in an effort to help Bratz fans obtain Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden so they don't have to travel long distances or endure many hardships to find it. Make no mistake about it, these two Bratz dolls are absolutely the most difficult Bratz dolls to find in the eight-year history of the Bratz franchise. What I endured trying to find this collection was the most excruciating and brutal experience of my entire natural born life.

Among the many Wal-Mart stores I visited during my grueling adventure was the Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. This Wal-Mart store is located 32 miles from my home, and when I visited this store toward the end of April. I purchased one of three sets of Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden that were in stock.

Fast forward to today. I went to visit that Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. I knew that Wal-Mart was not ordering Bratz for Fall 2009, but I wanted to see if the store still happened to have Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden in stock, much less a Bratz section. If any select people out there (and you know who you are) thought that I was making up "fairy tales" or saying anything to "draw attention to myself" about Wal-Mart no longer carrying the Bratz License Modular Merchandise after July 2009, this store confirmed that I was correct.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania was resetting its toy modulars for Fall 2009, and I was saddened to discover that the store had removed the Bratz section. I was even more saddened to discover that there were NO Bratz dolls to be found anywhere! Not even in the clearance aisle! All the other dolls for Fall 2009 were in stock — among them, the Moxie Girlz, the brand new fashion doll line by MGA Entertainment that's replacing Bratz; BFC, Ink., the other new fashion doll line by MGA Entertainment that's nowhere near as good as Bratz, let alone Moxie Girlz; Disney Fairies by Playmates Toys; Liv dolls by Spin Master, Ltd.; Hannah Montana by Play Along Toys....and, of course, the most evil fashion doll line ever manufactured in the toy industry (not to mention, the bitch responsible for killing Bratz), Barbie.

At least I saw a sign indicating where the Bratz section used to be. As for the Barbie section, it was moving to another aisle — and with it, a brand new modular shelving unit reserved for all the Barbie product lines released during 2009. One full section devoted to nothing but pink. It's enough to make anyone nauseous.

It broke my heart to see that the retailer where I purchased my first two Bratz dolls five years ago were not selling Bratz anymore. There were no Bratz dolls at this Wal-Mart Supercenter from five years ago or even five days ago. As for Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden? They disappeared much faster than a Criss Angel Mindfreak illusion. The ONLY remnants of Bratz that I saw in stock at this Wal-Mart Supercenter were those awful Kidz Snap-On Funny Faces, which are part of a new "4-Ever" line.

4-Ever? What in the holy frickin' hell is 4-Ever? And, why should I care? Well, Judge Stephen Larson of the United States Ninth Circuit Federal Court in Riverside, California ordered MGA Entertainment to forfeit all Bratz assets to Mattel. This includes every registered copyright, trademark, and patent of the Bratz brand, as well as the Bratz brand name itself. Larson did, however, allow MGA Entertainment to keep the Bratz Kidz and Bratz Lil' Angelz. But because the Bratz Kidz and Bratz Lil' Angelz were no longer to be marketed as a Bratz product, they were respectively renamed to 4-Ever Kidz and 4-Ever Lil' Angelz.

I spoke with an associate in the toy department and asked him what happened to all the Bratz dolls the Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania used to have in stock. Even though I had already known what happened, I wanted to hear it straight from the associate himself. And based on his response, he seemed to be aware of the situation with Bratz, the litigation between MGA Entertainment and Mattel over the rights and ownership of the Bratz franchise, and Wal-Mart's announcement earlier this year that the retailer was no longer carrying the Bratz License Modular Merchandise after July 2009.

"We no longer sell Bratz anymore," the associate informed me. "Any Bratz items we used to have were all sent back to our warehouse."

"Did Wal-Mart inform you why it was no longer selling Bratz?" I asked. "I mean, it's one thing for Wal-Mart to not order Bratz for the fall campaign, but at least it could have continued selling Bratz at their stores for the next few months until it was all gone."

"Well, Wal-Mart is selling Bratz online, if you're still looking for them," the associate replied. "But if you're looking for Bratz at the stores, I think some stores may still be selling them, but the majority of them aren't. Bratz wasn't meeting sales quotas, and that's usually the reason why Wal-Mart removes any product line from its store. Then there was also the issue with the maker of the Bratz dolls getting sued, and Wal-Mart decided it was not in the company's interest to continue selling the line, so....that's it."

That's it all right. In summary, Wal-Mart has no plans to order Bratz for the remainder of 2009 and is either exhausting any Bratz merchandise the stores have available or sending it back to their distribution centers (and once that merchandise is sent back to Wal-Mart's distribution centers, there is no possible way for the stores to ever retrieve it again). However, it is up to each Wal-Mart store to decide what it wants to do with whatever remaining Bratz merchandise it has available — a change from what was posted back in April, when Wal-Mart was planning to remove ALL Bratz branded merchandise from all its stores.

Also, if I have not mentioned this already, I should point out that the Wal-Mart stores in the United States are the ones affected. For the Wal-Mart stores in Canada and elsewhere, they can continue to order and sell Bratz through December 31, 2009 (at least, to the best of my knowledge they can, even though the Bratz sections at those stores are not exactly overflowing with Bratz merchandise). Eventually, Wal-Mart and all other major retailers everywhere will have to remove any unsold Bratz merchandise on the Bratz' final date of availability on January 21, 2010. After that, they must return that unsold Bratz merchandise to MGA Entertainment, which must then turn it over to Mattel.

That Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania was a great store to visit. It always had an outstanding and diverse selection of Bratz dolls to choose from. It also had those certain Bratz dolls which were considered rare and hard to find (such as Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden). Now, Bratz is gone from that store, never to be seen again — unless you consider those "4-Ever" products Bratz merchandise. I sure as hell don't.

Robert Eckert (Chairman & CEO, Mattel, Inc.): You are nothing but scum. And for all the damage you and your company did to the Bratz dolls, there WILL be hell for you to pay.

NOTE: I will admit that the following Bratz products and collections deserve to be turned over to Mattel, since they were manufactured by former Mattel employees MGA Entertainment mistakenly recruited in February 2006:

• All Bratz Kidz Snap-On Products (including those new 4-Ever Kidz products)
• All Bratz Lil' Angelz (including those new 4-Ever Lil' Angelz products)
• Walking Bratz
• Bratz Neon Pop Divaz
• Bratz Star Singerz
• Bratz Sun-Kissed (not to be confused with the much better Bratz Sun-Kissed Summer collection from Fall 2004)
• Bratz Spring Time (a.k.a., Bratz Bunny, which was not released in the United States due to bad quality; reportedly, Jasmin Larian, the daughter of MGA Entertainment President and CEO Isaac Larian, hated this collection)
• Bratz Fashion Show (Swimwear Edition, Sleepwear Edition, Evening Wear Edition)
• Bratz Fashion Designerz
• Bratz Magic Fashion Nails (and any other "Magic" gimmick, e.g., Magic Make Up, Magic Hair Color, and Magic Toe Clippings....sorry, that's not a real Bratz line, but it does sound like something Mattel would manufacture and release for its imposter "Bratz" line in Spring 2010)