Where are the cars?

No Matchbox on the shelves

Not sure how well stocked shops are where you live but here in the UK purchasing new Matchbox is harder than it should be.  Its been months since the only store that is allowed to stock them has seen a restock and the shelves across the UK are bare. In the UK only Tesco supermarkets are authorised stockists of the Matchbox brand, Mattel for whatever reason only allow the one company to sell the Matchbox brand and they in turn choose to stock a limited range at the best of times.

Distribution of Matchbox products has been an absolute disgrace for a long time for the majority of the world and has long been the subject of discussion among collectors but lately things seems to be getting worse.

How are the shelves where you are?  Do you think its getting worse and why do you think that is?

I wonder with all that is going on in the world, is this a side effect of all of that which is causing the situation to get worse? In my daily job I notice a lot of shortages of some very random products and manufacturers seem to place the blame squarely on worldwide distribution issues which leads me to think that Mattel is facing the same challenges as other manufacturers.

Whatever the reason its been months since new stock was on the shelves and with Christmas fast approaching it doesnt look like the situation is about to change any time soon.

Let me know in the comments what you are seeing, is it just as bad in your country?  What do you think is the problem?