It's hard to say if this rumor is true, but it's not behavior that Best Buy has avoided in the past. In fact, we vividly remember this
exact same scenario happening in late 2006 -- the
difference? That was the Wii's
launch year. This is two years later.
Two. Years. Later. Oh, and it's totally a futile effort, considering that Wally World sold through "
tens of thousands" in about four milliseconds. Seriously people, there's a
new Elmo to wage holiday war on, you have no business scrapping for a Wii 25 months after it hit US shores.*
[Via
NintendoWiiFanboy]
*
Image above is assumed to be Photoshopped, as we cannot find a single human to confirm ever seeing that many Wii consoles for sale in one location.
posted December 10th 2008 5:16PM
My friend an I were doing our Christmas shopping, when we stumbled on some "un-sold-out" Wii's at Toys'R'Us in Syracuse, NY.. when we went up to the customer service desk with the card, we were (pretty bluntly) told that: "We're not supposed to have the Wii's." After some hesitation, the employee finally rung it up for us, but called someone over the walkie-talkie to get all of the cards out of the Wii display. Weird? We thought so.
I bought a Wii the day it came out. I was over it by last christmas... waiting to get a second generation PS3 now.
Well if they could hoard Wii Fits for the holidays they'd make a bundle, but I still regularly see Wiis all over the place.
I worked at best buy last christmas and we would stock them up until certain "sunday rush" events. It wouldn't surprise me if they had sunday rushes again this year. Basically you entice people to buy a Wii by staying in line all night and by the time they get in, they may or may not get a wii. However, tickets were handed out to people in the morning (about an hour or two before store opened) and that would usually throw some people out, but many would stay only to buy other possible gifts.
What is worse is that the store would keep a few Wii's for staff (management) and raffled a few of them. Those were the boring days of working at best buy... ahhh the memories how i wish i'd forgotten :)
i work at best buy in knoxville and we are hoarding Wiis at this very moment until the sunday ad comes out and we'll probly do it again throughout the holidays
Another Best Buy worker here, we're holding around 90 here in Utah for sale this Sunday. Sixty-something Wii Fits, too. Probably will only last two days, tops, and it's in the ad for next week so we have to hold them to make sure we have some available so I don't get mugged by upset soccer moms.
I would also like to second / third / five-hundredth the comments stating that I have "seen the light" or in this case, the hoarding of Wiis at a Best Buy location near me.
A Best Buy @ Waterford Lakes in Orlando, FL has a ton of these the last time I was there. Then again, that was about a few weeks ago, but the pile looked exactly alike, maybe even taller!
About photoshopped wii pile comment.
In Europe or at least in Italy this is common "real" view these days in supermarkets and consumer electronic shops.
The Best Buy here in Seattle and Federal Way WA had a mini mountain of Wii's when I was there a few days ago.
Gainesville, FL looked like this one week before Thanksgiving. Part of me is shocked at times when I hear of Wii's still being a hot item. Of course, I've seen some extremely casualgamer's dropping $500 for two at Wal-Mart on several ocassions.
image photoshopped asterisk
--- blog greatness ---
So what are these new devices/technology for this holiday that is deemed the new Elmo?
I don't understand this wii phenomenon. I just sold my 2006 launch Wii with one game and an extra controller set for $330. I grew tired of it, but people are making it fly off of the shelf.
Who cares if Best Buy is hoarding them? Not sure why they would....don't the sell all of them whether they sell them now or wait a week. Its not like they are selling them above retail.
No this is definitely a real picture! I've been to two different local Best Buys(I'll even go as far as telling the stores Deptford, NJ and Cherry Hill, NJ). They've been that way since about the weekend AFTER Black Friday weekend. I have two friends that work at the Deptford store and they said they came all at once. This is not photoshopped!
I've never seen a single Wii for sale at retail. Ever. Two of my friends have bought Wiis in the last 12 months- one bought his off Craigslist, the other off eBay.
Haha... Summer 2007 I saw a stack bigger than this at a Media Markt in Germany...
And I bought a US Wii Fit about 5 months ago in the UAE at one of the Souqs... Brand new and legit... no clue where they got it from (probly 'fell' off the back of a truck wherever they're made :P )
The Future Shop (subsidiary of Best Buy Canada) that I work at in Calgary, Alberta has about that many Wii's right now, and we have even more Wii Fits. We sat on a shipment of about 20 Wii's/20 Wii Fits for a week to "hoard" them until today (Friday December 12), we're only hoarding them due to the whole "It's in our flyer that week so we need them" deal though... Usually we put em on the floor immediately!
Pics from our "back room" before I put them out last night:
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8973/1211082129kk1.jpg
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7347/1211082128beh1.jpg
http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/8226/1211082128pv1.jpg
and:
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7884/1211082128aec6.jpg
Best Buy stores reportedly ordered more Wiis than any other company this year, including Wall-Mart (in the US and Canada). They did this becsue Best Buy always has an agreement with these game hardware companies. Most times, when a new system comes out Best Buy will spend millions of $$ holding compititions, parties, event and advertising to get the word out and then they usualy will end up getting a higher stock of the items. This has happened for the PS1, PS2, PS3, XBOX, X360 and Wii.
SO let them..its business
I am totaly agree based the following review http://thelaptopadvice.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&Itemid=2 this coulbe better