Updated Trader Vic site!

Not sure if anyone saw the new revamped Trader Vic merchandise site but it now includes “oceanic artifacts” harkening back to day of the TV trading posts. Pretty cool!

https://shop.tradervics.com/collections/oceanic-art-tiki-decor

P.S. I know this might be more appropriate for Tiki Marketplace but I thought the re-focus of what they're selling as to be the more interesting aspect here to all members.

Thanks for the post. Some of us aren't subscribed to all the Tiki Central emails, limited time and all...

There is some nice merchandise on their site! I noted, especially, the cool Suffering Bastard mug for $22. Everyone needs one of those for the novelty of the design.

They also have a remake of the very rare Nautilus bowl. Some really nice additions.

-Karl

Karl, you're right, I ordered one for my wahine to carry around at the upcoming Hukilau. I think she's really going to enjoy holding, drinking from, and showing that!

They've also added several very expensive items like their sunglasses and t-shirts. Do people really spend that kind of money on branded items? $58 for a t-shirt seems excessive, and if I'm going to spend $80 on a mostly-canvas tote bag, it better have a better label on it, like Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, or Coach. $125 for a key chain or cocktail shaker ... really.

I'm happy to see a bunch of those mugs are available again, but I think they need a reality check on some of the other items.

I was surprised to see the Nautilus and Suffering Bastard mugs. Also surprised to see no Navy Grog mix, concentrate or otherwise.

And I'm still trying to figure out why a T-shirt should cost $58. WTF? Is it made from threads produced by an endangered silk worm, and sewn by blind monks?

Yeah, I can't believe they priced the shaker at $125. Shaker tins are "consumable" type items at my bar and get tossed around quite casually in the course of a busy evening. Why would they expect the logo to make anyone pay $125 for the tin when you can get really good blank ones for $6 online? (See current $6 shaker ad/photo below.)

Jen, I was also hoping to see the grog mix available again. My guess is that its not popular enough among the general population to offer? Not everyone knows what they should order when they belly up to the bar, so maybe the grog is not popular enough? Just guessing...

I'm guessing they have some concern about lost revenue now that the Portland location has closed. Not that the high prices are connected to that event, but just saying... Improving their business savvy along with taking care of their fans with reasonably priced merchandise would be better approaches for the Trader Vic's brand. They're driving Vic's business into the ground.

Does anyone know who is producing their new mugs? Are they all marked Trader Vic's on the bottom?

Sweet! A nautilus mug! I can't wait to ord... Oh, they don't ship to Canada. Nevermind. -_-

A screen-printed T-shirt is $56?!?!? And $10 more than an embroidered polo shirt?!?!?

Also: pre-site revamp, those cocktail shakers were $85. And IIRC, the bar mat was $20.

Whoever is running this sh*tshow needs a good caning.

After seeing the more recent North American Trader Vic's ventures go out of business in Scottsdale, Dallas, Los Angeles, Destin, Palo Alto, Las Vegas, Portland, etc., maybe they held a strategy meeting at corporate, and decided the problem was... the prices just weren't high enough. They determined not to make that mistake with their online merchandise sales.

On 2016-04-08 13:12, AceExplorer wrote:
Yeah, I can't believe they priced the shaker at $125. Shaker tins are "consumable" type items at my bar and get tossed around quite casually in the course of a busy evening. Why would they expect the logo to make anyone pay $125 for the tin when you can get really good blank ones for $6 online? (See current $6 shaker ad/photo below.)

Jen, I was also hoping to see the grog mix available again. My guess is that its not popular enough among the general population to offer? Not everyone knows what they should order when they belly up to the bar, so maybe the grog is not popular enough? Just guessing...

I'm guessing they have some concern about lost revenue now that the Portland location has closed. Not that the high prices are connected to that event, but just saying... Improving their business savvy along with taking care of their fans with reasonably priced merchandise would be better approaches for the Trader Vic's brand. They're driving Vic's business into the ground.

in their defense, their shakers are custom made to exactly fit their larger sized mai tai glasses. not that they wouldn't work on a normal shaker but they are custom made for TV's.

On 2016-04-18 20:50, tiki1963 wrote:
in their defense, their shakers are custom made to exactly fit their larger sized mai tai glasses. not that they wouldn't work on a normal shaker but they are custom made for TV's.

Thanks for the follow-up. Yes, that is true, but sadly it is still way overpriced, especially when I believe you can "job out" small runs of product exactly like that to overseas manufacturers. My opinion is that item at that price is a gouge, and it makes me laugh because I would never personally buy it.

But lets look at it from the standpoint of my bar, where I don't use Boston shakers, but only stainless tins with a pint glass. I have the following observations:

1. My Trader Vic's glasses are "too special" to use for shaking drinks. This is not true at their restaurants where they don't have to worry so much about breakage. I'm sure there is an exception out there, but who would typically use TV's glasses to shake their drinks? (Ok, Bill Gates or Elon Musk could.)
2. I can buy stainless tins in multiple sizes -- up to 30 ounces with varying opening sizes -- for under $10 apiece -- to fit my pint glasses or even to fit stainless shaker cups.
3. I can buy very elaborately screen-printed stainless tins also for under $10, and in various sizes and even with various bases and weights for "flair" bartending.

I think it's unfortunate that they set a $125 price point for something so mundane. That same $125 would buy some much more exciting stuff for any bar. And if I was really into having a logo on my tin, I could pay to have MY design screen printed for relatively little additional cost.

I love Trader Vics and have spent a lot of money on food and drinks in their locations, and have always had a good time and experience. They are losing ground in the North American market, and seem to be doing little to stem those losses. I hope they turn things around sometime soon. Who knows -- reasonably priced shaker tin sales could save the company! :)

Cheers!

Yeah the pricing does seem strange to me as well. Hats are half the price of Tshirts, but cost more to make. The rum label tray I would consider buying if it was $200 cheaper. I think what they are getting at with the sunglasses is that they are made from recycled skateboard wood, which is cool and maybe worth the price.

Hopefully they will adjust these prices when these do not move, although it might be some time. Very cool that these are for sale now and there are certainly some great deals!

I bought one of the suffering bastard mugs to add to one I already have. Gotta have at least one of those in every bar, just for the conversation starter value! Plus a couple of the nautilus shell mugs for the missus -- figure she could break one at the upcoming Hukilau, so bought two just in case...

The $125 TV cocktail shaker and the $275 rum label tray remind me of the old joke...

A man walks over to two little girls, sitting behind a table on their front lawn, with a big sign: "Lemonade"."I'd like a glass of your lemonade. How much is it," he asks, reaching into his pocket.
"Ten thousand dollars," they tell him.
"Ten thousand!" He chuckles, "I'm afraid you're not going to be able to sell very many glasses at that price."
"That's OK. We only need to sell one."

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2016-04-20 13:16 ]

You get both pieces and both have the logo for less than 1/6th of the price. Whoever came up with the pricing on a lot of that TV merchandise should be fired.

https://makersmarkshop.com/barware/accessories/boston-shaker.html

Outside of the overly high prices, I think this needs some more discussion. That's a Suffering Bastard mug after all! Has anyone gotten a look at them or discovered who's making the new mugs? I'm fond of my SB from Tiki Farm from a few years back as I never come across them in the wild, but here they are... at Trader Vic's. Could they be the original molds? And if only they'd put out a new decanter! Also, are the Mai Tai glasses the same ones or just a higher price? (They were 6 bucks no too long ago).

Not sure who is reproducing the Suffering Bastards, but I did see the new ones for sale at Psycho Suzies last summer. I believe that they are just cheapies from China. Great price though!

Made in Thailand, actually.

Look at bottom sticker on Ooga-Mooga here:

http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=8112

On 2016-04-23 22:28, Trader Tom wrote:
Made in Thailand, actually.

Hmmmm, mine didn't have the sticker on the bottom. Either they removed it or it was missed at the factory. Here's a side-by-side photo for comparison:

The glaze on the vintage is matte, and more textured, almost feels like it's powder coated. The finish on the new version is smooth and more satin. The glaze on the TF version is closer to the vintage. Detail-wise, it does not look as crisp as the vintage, compare the eyes in particular.

Interesting to me is the size, without pulling out a caliper, they seem identical. So it does not appear that that made a mold of the original mug for reproduction, which usually results the a smaller mug version.

The quality is pretty nice.

Keep in mind that every Trader Vic's, other than Emeryville (the only family/company owned location), is a franchise. It wouldn't surprise me if they charge all the franchises an arm and a leg for items like the custom shaker - that they are probably required to have and use. So they can't sell such an item to the public for less than they are forcing the restaurants to pay. I can appreciate that they don't want to associate their name with cheaply merchandise, but $125 cocktail shakers... please. Affordable merchandise can be a valuable marketing tool, too bad this is lost on them.

At one time the merchandise sales were all being handled by one of Vic's grandsons. Pretty sure it was Peter Seely. Now he's the CEO. In my opinion, they've really mishandled the opportunities to regrow the brand despite the renewed interest in Tiki over the past couple of decades.

We're just two Trader Vic's away from there being no Trader Vic's in the US. I never thought I'd see the day.

[ Edited by: Dr. Coruba 2016-04-25 05:57 ]

People sure seem to just find the one negative aspect (shaker price) and bitch away. Personally I think there are a lot of cool ceramics and items available at a very nice price. And I think it's pretty nice that TV makes them available to the public. Given the more than reasonable pricing on many items, I can only imagine the pricier items are because of it being custom made. If someone wants to make TV cocktails using TV glasses they can find the appropriate shaker made for those glasses. Seems alright to me. They don't have to do this and no one is forcing you to buy them either.

And sometimes you just have to pay for something you want. It's okay to show your support for a company you love by maybe paying a bit more than you want.

On 2016-04-25 12:00, Tattoo wrote:
People sure seem to just find the one negative aspect (shaker price) and bitch away. Personally I think there are a lot of cool ceramics and items available at a very nice price. And I think it's pretty nice that TV makes them available to the public. Given the more than reasonable pricing on many items, I can only imagine the pricier items are because of it being custom made. If someone wants to make TV cocktails using TV glasses they can find the appropriate shaker made for those glasses. Seems alright to me. They don't have to do this and no one is forcing you to buy them either.

And sometimes you just have to pay for something you want. It's okay to show your support for a company you love by maybe paying a bit more than you want.

hear! hear!

the only price issue i have is the men's t-shirts. a bunch of people walking around advertising TV's doesn't hurt them at all. especially when they are very cool looking. at almost $60 a shirt, i don't think that's gonna happen.

Thank you, Tattoo!! My thoughts exactly.

Why focus on so much bitching & moaning? Those of you who lament the few location left in the U.S......you're not helping by complaining about Trader Vic's online for others to find. Constructive criticism is fine, but so much negativity is FAR from constructive.

& No ONE has mentioned some of the Very Cool new items that are, indeed, well-priced. Did you miss those pages of the Trading Post?
How about the AWESOME newly designed canoe bowl?
How about them re-making the Menehune S&P shaker set, which looks are awesome as the originals?
Yes, the suffering bastard is quite nicely done & feels great in your hand.
How about the new, well-defined molds on the existing S&P shakers?
Or the fact that the Scorpion bowl hasn't looked that good in 20++ years because of the tired old mold that was being used?
Or the Seahorse mug being reproduced from the old Hawaii location???
etc., etc....

SO MUCH great stuff - and the mugs are REALLY reasonably priced. And, yet, 98% of this thread is spent bitching & moaning.

A little balance, maybe??

On 2016-04-26 15:55, croe67 wrote:
SO MUCH great stuff - and the mugs are REALLY reasonably priced. And, yet, 98% of this thread is spent bitching & moaning.

A little balance, maybe??

Righty-o on the mugs and stuff, but the shakers are still ridiculously overpriced.

who needs to pay that much for a freakin' logo and/or just to be able to shake with TV's glassware? REALLY? And is their American stainless really that much better than overseas stainless? You're swallowing a pretty thin storyline.

Sometimes criticism is justified, Why do you make such a weird argument to defend a company that is running itself into the ground in the US? Just because they updated some of their mugs and stuff? Makes NO sense to me.

& it makes no sense to me why you are harping on an item you feel is over priced.
If you think it's over priced, then don't buy it.

You (nor I) know the inner workings of what has gone down, so throwing stones when you also don't know the facts is also pointless. Lots of assumption making & you know what they say about assumptions....

More Drinking, less Bitching!
It's TIKI - it really is supposed to be FUN!!

On 2016-04-26 20:12, croe67 wrote:
& it makes no sense to me why you are harping on an item you feel is over priced.
If you think it's over priced, then don't buy it.

we all want Vics to survive and come back stronger than ever. So ya, I'm one of at least a handful who puke when vics makes mistakes. You're right, they have a lot of good new stuff on their site, but I can't ignore the 1 or 2 BS items which leaves many of us wondering what they are thinking.

I'm not buying it, like you suggested. I think they only have 13 or 14 available anyway, so just the tippy top fans are being tested to see if they will pay that price, they're not targeting everyday people like me. Why sell a hundred for 8 bux when you can sell 10 for 100 bux?

Yer right, drink & have fun.

"I think they only have 13 or 14 available anyway"

Does it say that on the site?
Maybe these are more of a hey these are rare and may not be available again thing.

I see that Trader Vic’s has a promotion kinda like the Where’s Mr. tiki here on TC.
They call it…

Where’s Sam?

“HOWDY Y'ALL! Menehune Sam brought the spirit of Aloha to the Lone Star State and “kept it weird” during his visit to Austin, TX.”

Wonder if they got that “where’s Sam?” Idea from TC?
That would be cool.

Creo67 has worked for/ with Trader Vic’s in the past I think, maybe she can get the inside scoop on why these Shakers cost so much.
Trader Vic’s is also the first sponsor listed on The Fraternal Order of Moai sponsors page so Vic’s supports tiki too.

The posts On TC to me don’t look as bitching & moaning, more like we like Trader Vic’s, want to support trader vic’s, but they seem to be driving Trader Vic’s into the ground.
So TC really supports Trader Vic’s as well.

The new mugs are cool, and a great price too.
In light of the Portland TVs going out of biz and the stories of that may be part of what you call bitching & moaning and may have leaked over to this post as well.
Frustration and disappointment may be better words for how people feel about Trader Vic’s.

Trader Vic’s Chicago and Atlanta were / are awesome!
Plus the first Huliklau I went to was the one at Trader Vic’s Atlanta.
It was great!

On 2016-04-23 22:28, Trader Tom wrote:
Made in Thailand, actually.

Look at bottom sticker on Ooga-Mooga here:

http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=8112

Funny story, back in January I was in Trader Vic's Bangkok, having a few cocktails and on the way to the toilet I spot these new mugs in a display cabinet.

And I think nice new mugs and I have good stare at them trying to work out where they have come from and I spot in the suffering bastard and the nautilus mug that they each have paper labels inside.

They appeared to be quality control final proof checklists from the manufacturer. I took a note of the name and a quick search at home and I'm 90% sure it's a company called Chengteh Chinaware (Thailand) Co.Ltd.

Unfortunately although the new mugs are being made in Thailand you can't buy them at the Trader Vic's in Bangkok.

But that's not to say you can't buy them elsewhere in Bangkok, if you know where to look.

New style scorpion bowl anyone?

Thanks for that post Tony. My wife bought me a few things from the Vic store for my birthday which I got to open last night. The Bastard has that same 2015 stamp which had me puzzled since no one seemed to have known of the existence of these "new" products which are already a year old.

I've been slammed, am trying to find time to take pics of what I got and post more info. There is quite a bit of mug manufacturing going on in Mexico too, I have seen that some Tiki Farm mugs are being made there. More coming soon...

Thought I'd mention that the cocktail shaker has been discounted a full $100:

https://shop.tradervics.com/collections/bartending-glassware/products/trader-vics-cocktail-shaker

Now THAT'S more like it!!!

On 2016-12-28 11:03, HopeChest wrote:
Thought I'd mention that the cocktail shaker has been discounted a full $100:

https://shop.tradervics.com/collections/bartending-glassware/products/trader-vics-cocktail-shaker

Now THAT'S more like it!!!

Thanks for the heads up. Now I really want one!