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My Wii Shopping Experience

Those of you who bought a Nintendo Wii recently and those still waiting to buy one, can all relate to what I went through to become a proud owner of a Nintendo Wii.

It all started when I went to a friends house for a party one evening, and he was showing off his new prized possession – a brand new Wii. He went on to share his experience of standing in a line outside a Walmart store at 4.30am on a Sunday, just because he had received an insider tip. The very fact that he was #8 in line at that time of the day, validated that they had some in stock that day, or so he felt. At 7.45am, the store handed out coupons for the first 30 customers in line, and he got his when the store opened at 8am. He shared his excitement and said that he had a sense of accomplishment when he walked out that store with a Wii in his hand.

I kept thinking to myself that he was totally insane to stand in line at 4.30am on a Sunday morning. Little did I know at that time that there are a lot of people around the country doing just that almost every single day. Soon after I heard his buying experience, it was time for me to try it out. I have an older xbox at home, but I never had this kind of excitement build up before I bought it. A few minutes of playing some of the Wii Sports games, I knew I wanted one. A few more hours of playing Wii that night got me hooked. When I walked out that night, I was a prospective Wii buyer. That was just the start of my Wii shopping experience.

Day 1 – Happened to be a Sunday. Per the advice of my friend I decided to step out early as in 4.30am. Did not wake up till 6.30am, rushed to Walmart, but did not find a single soul waiting outside. I thought to myself that it was my lucky day. Waited there till store opened, but no luck. Wii was sold out. Checked a nearby Target an hour later and got the same response. The whole day I was on a store hopping spree going from Target to Circuit City to Toys R Us to Best Buy. No luck on day 1.

Day 2 – Monday – Started out by checking the nearby Walmart and Target stores. One of the sales guys at Target gave me some promising news and asked me to check back between 10am-12pm as they receive shipments during that time. Checked back at noon and still no Wii. Left disappointed. By this time I decided to call and check back.

Day 3 – 9.00am Called Target, Walmart. No Wii.

10.30am – Call Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Toys R Us. No Wii

1.00pm - ……. Still No Wii

6.00 pm - ……. Still No Wii

One thing I learned that was common to all stores by this time was no one in the store knew when they would have them in stock. Some sales guys sounded like they knew by saying we usually get them on the weekends. Another thing I learned to ask was when was the last time that store had them in stock. Surprisingly I got conflicting replies from the same store at different times.

Day 4 – Went through the same routine as day 3.

Later in the evening I stopped by another Target store on the way back home. The guy there told me that the last one was sold an hour ago. I was like “WHAT! You actually had them in store today?” and he says yes we had a few in stock. I quickly called the Target store closer to my home and got the same response that they sold the last one a couple of hrs ago. One thing I learned from all this is – All the target stores in the area got their shipment that day, and they all disappeared off the shelf in a few minutes. Another thing I learned by this time is that calling to check on the stock (as I did earlier) is not the best way to get a favorable response. Being in the right place at the right time is what matters.

Day 5 – Did the usual routine calling and still no luck. Happened to stop by Best Buy, check the stock and still no Wii. Asked the sales guy to check if any other Best Buy store in the area had them in stock (there are about 6 stores within 25 miles). To my surprise, another store about 20 miles away had 6 of them in stock. Quickly got the number, called that store and they confirmed that they still had two left. Asked them to put it on hold, and they said they can’t, but they did say it was unlikely they would sell out in the next half an hour if I could make it to the store. So I rushed to the store only to be told that the last one was sold ten minutes ago. Arrrrgh!!! I just felt like kicking someone. This was getting too much. It was then that I decided to try alternate means.

Looked up eBay and Craigslist and found a few on sale. eBay was way too expensive for me. So pursued a few ad’s on Craigslist. Finally made an offer ($25 over the store price) and picked one up on Day 5. To my surprise I found that the guy who sold it to me also gave me a Target gift receipt dated two days prior (which was when they had in stock). I thought it was worth paying that extra $25 than to run around and waste more time and gas.

When I went home with a Wii in my hand, it was truly worth the wait and I had this sense of accomplishment that cannot be expressed in words. My ten year old son gave me a tight hug and looked at me and his eyes said everything “Dad you are my hero!”