How In-and-Out Burger led to Wii
I landed Friday night hungry from my Palm Springs flight (US Partner Conference), and after checking in, asked the front desk clerk the location of the nearest In-and-Out Burger.
On the way to In-and-Out Burger in the rented Avis Chevy Malibu, passed by Long's Drugs and checked to see availability of Schiff Move Free medicine (always a request from TW relatives when I visit US). Move Free was out, but they were getting stock in the next day, so I returned the next morning and at the complex there was a comics store.
After stocking up on Move Free I entered the comics store and browsed for TMNT comics for G as he recently had seen the TMNT movie.
I had passed a Circuit City and was going to check for Wii availability when the guy in the comic store suggested I check out Best Buy (just up the street).
I figured by now (almost half a year since release) it should be relatively easy to purchase a Wii, but the Best Buy store clerk told me they were sold out. However, they were getting stock the next day and I should arrive a couple hours early if I wanted to get one. He said the store opened at 10:00 AM (found out later it was actually 11:00 am). Since he told me to arrive at 8:00 AM, I was planning on arriving at 7:30 AM just to be safe.
Next morning I woke up at 6:00 AM and was still planning to arrive at 7:30 AM as the hotel starts serving complementary breakfast at 7:00 AM. I went online and started getting nervous reading about other people's Wii purchase experiences, so I left early and arrived there at 6:30 AM with book and iPod in hand. There were 12 people in front of me, the first guy in line got there at 4:00 AM.
Soon after I arrived a line grew after me. Around 9:30 AM an employee came out and said there were 21 units (big sigh of relief), and they would hand out numbers an hour before that would be valid for an hour after the store opened.
11:00 AM the doors opened and we were told to go in single file to collect our units (one/person) and any games, accessories that we wanted. After fending off the aggressive warranty upsell, I bought my Wii, Wii Play (extra controller, plus other games), and a Super Paper Mario game (G's birthday present).
And that is how a trip to In-and-Out Burger led to getting a Wii.
On the way to In-and-Out Burger in the rented Avis Chevy Malibu, passed by Long's Drugs and checked to see availability of Schiff Move Free medicine (always a request from TW relatives when I visit US). Move Free was out, but they were getting stock in the next day, so I returned the next morning and at the complex there was a comics store.
After stocking up on Move Free I entered the comics store and browsed for TMNT comics for G as he recently had seen the TMNT movie.
I had passed a Circuit City and was going to check for Wii availability when the guy in the comic store suggested I check out Best Buy (just up the street).
I figured by now (almost half a year since release) it should be relatively easy to purchase a Wii, but the Best Buy store clerk told me they were sold out. However, they were getting stock the next day and I should arrive a couple hours early if I wanted to get one. He said the store opened at 10:00 AM (found out later it was actually 11:00 am). Since he told me to arrive at 8:00 AM, I was planning on arriving at 7:30 AM just to be safe.
Next morning I woke up at 6:00 AM and was still planning to arrive at 7:30 AM as the hotel starts serving complementary breakfast at 7:00 AM. I went online and started getting nervous reading about other people's Wii purchase experiences, so I left early and arrived there at 6:30 AM with book and iPod in hand. There were 12 people in front of me, the first guy in line got there at 4:00 AM.
Soon after I arrived a line grew after me. Around 9:30 AM an employee came out and said there were 21 units (big sigh of relief), and they would hand out numbers an hour before that would be valid for an hour after the store opened.
11:00 AM the doors opened and we were told to go in single file to collect our units (one/person) and any games, accessories that we wanted. After fending off the aggressive warranty upsell, I bought my Wii, Wii Play (extra controller, plus other games), and a Super Paper Mario game (G's birthday present).
And that is how a trip to In-and-Out Burger led to getting a Wii.
posted by dal g at 8:46 PM
1 Comments:
This is a very common occurrence everywhere. People are looking and scampering to places in order to find their Wii's and most of them left empty-handed because only a few stocks are available. People don't know how long this can go on and right now, there's no definitive answer to this question because even the manufacturers themselves did not dropped a statement regarding this matter.
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