I forgot to give Target credit for how well they handled the launch of the Nintendo Wii. I had heard online that our local Target would be getting 51 units and would open at 8am that Sunday. I also knew that Wal-Mart would be opening at Midnight, but the rumor was that they wouldn’t have as many units – maybe 30 or so.
I weighed my options and decided to go with Target. I called to see what the plan was, and was given pretty exact instructions – a line could form overnight, vouchers would be passed out around 7:00, doors would open at 8.
I figured with 51 units, my odds were pretty good. I had planned on getting there around 6:45 or so, but the night before I got nervous about that and decided to get there just before 6. Smart move. I got there at about 5:55 and was 43rd in line. They had a nice big sign out from that said something like “The Wii line starts here” – very slick. By a couple minutes after 6, the 51st person was there. A Target employee came outside shortly after to confirm that they had 51 units in the store, which was a nice touch.
After that, we got our vouchers at 7 and got in at 8. It was a bit slow, since they only took 10 people at a time (their electronics department would get overwhelmed by everyone at once), but overall they did a very nice job.
This reminds me of my visit to EB on black Friday this year, but with the opposite experience. Myself and a few people lined up early at the Target in Albany, GA to try to score a PS3. (my sister-in-law got one, but I came up empty). After that, we noticed that the line at the EB next door was pretty short (maybe 10-15 people) so we figured we’d try to get a Wii when they opened up an hour later.
The EB employee showed up for work about 30 minutes early and went inside without saying a word. Then they opened on time and let everyone in the store. Once everyone was inside, they made the announcement that they had exactly two Wiis. What? I don’t mind that they only had two units – I’m sure they did their best to get as many as they could. The problem was that:
- He didn’t tell any of us on his way inside.
- They didn’t post that on the window.
- They didn’t tell us as we were coming in.
It was quite obvious that they wanted to get everyone inside first so they could try to rope us into buying something else. It was chaos in there and people were mad. It’s far sad how far EB has fallen…
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