Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Hunt for Wii Fit

John requested a Wii Fit from the boys and me for a combined birthday/Father's Day present this year. Anyone that has tried to find a Wii Fit knows that they are nearly impossible to get. I gladly accepted the challenge.

Has anyone searched for a Wii Fit? Do you know that if you are not standing right next to the shelf when they are placed on it at the store, your chances of getting one are about the same as your chances of winning the lottery while pooping diamonds out of your butt?

John came home one day to tell me that he was just at a nearby Wal-Mart, and they had 6 Wii Fits on their shelf. Since I did not have the powers to immediately orb myself to the store, I was not able to obtain one of these six. But I was not deterred. I started a calling and online search campaign to try to track which stores had online or in-store Wii Fit inventory.

So one day, I got lucky. Two Wal-Mart stores listed on their websites in-store availability. I jumped in my car and hauled it to the closest store. Did they have one? No. Sold out over the weekend. Then why did the computer say they still had some? Always call first I was told. They called the other store for me, which was also sold out. I wasn't ready to give up. I was right by a Circuit City so I checked there. No luck. Best Buy down the street? No luck.

John called and asked if I was heading home soon and was I stopping for lunch. There was a Steak -N-Shake up the street so I headed that way. Nearby was a GameStop. No luck. Ultimate Electronics - nope.

My last hope was Target. I saw a little crowd by the Wii aisle. Could it be? Yes! There were 5 Wii Fits on the shelf, and four people in line. The person waiting on us said they had just put them on the shelf. They sold out in less than 4 minutes, if you count checking out - 30 seconds if you count shelf to hands.

So, had Wal-Mart updated their computer inventory, I never would have driven to that store. Had I called first to check the inventory, I never would have left my desk. Had I gone to Target in any other order in my adventure, I would have missed the Wii Fits - I only had a 30 second window. Had John not called for a cheeseburger, I wouldn't have gone to Target at all.

And you might find this the most boring and mundane post in the world, but I am just amazed at how the timing worked to put me in that Target in that 30 second window so I could get John the one thing he asked for on his 37th birthday.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's just as difficult to get Wii Fit here in the UK. We have a chain of stores called Argos that lets you check stock online and then reserve a product for collection with a reservation code. The only problem is that people are going online, reserving multiple copies of Wii Fit and then selling the reservation codes on eBay.

Robin said...

I did think it was a boring post, it just made me jealous. You see I was promised a Wii Fit for my birthday (in May) and with my husband's shopping skills, I may never see it.

(Yes I will eventually give up the wait and get it myself. Aren't the men supposed to be the hunters? ;) )

Anonymous said...

Congrats! I preordered mine from Amazon months ago and it arrived shortly after the release date. I love it but haven't had time to play it lately - just getting on to weigh myself daily until things get less hectic. I was up until Midnight the night I got it playing it and giggling.

I've been busy and haven't posted much on my blog lately, but I actually took time to reviewed it on my new review blog.

If your family is at all into skiing, get the We Ski game - the only game I know of that's usable with the balance board. It's a lot of fun.

I love my Wii Fit and find that it's more like a game than exercise. I just wish it had better/quicker ability to change between people.

OhCaptain said...

Count me in the group that didn't find it boring but now hates you (not really) for getting Wii Fit. I guess hate is a strong word, why don't we try extreme jealousy. I'm beginning to think they just vaporize on entry into the country.

Anonymous said...

I want one too.. I've never seen it in stock anywhere..eventually though they will be all over, I'll patiently wait.

Bri said...

Yay for you! That's better than ebay, you really did shop to win!

Jody Feldman said...

Congrats on that ...
and congrats on winning my contest (see the post at jodyfeldman.livejournal.com)!

So where do I send the book and t-shirt? You can email me at jody(at)jodyfeldman(dot)com.

Yay!

Unknown said...

I love my Wii Fit! Your hubby will like it too. Isn't it funnyhow things work out sometimes! Good thing he wanted that cheesburger -- and now he has the Wii Fit to work off the cheeseburger :)

Angie @ KEEP BELIEVING said...

I would need to have a Wii before I could have the Wii fit to find this post boring. I remember reading some posts just before Christmas on how hard it was to find a Wii.

KEEP BELIEVING

Anonymous said...

I want a Wii fit...but first need a Wii. I will start searching out a Wii soon, for the boys' Christmas gift. And a Wii fit as well, for me. ;) Oh, and the Indiana Jones Wii game for Tom. Then we're all happy. LOL!

Damama T said...

I truly believe that there are NO coincidences. I think that every now and then (like this time) God just likes to see the shock on our faces when something so cool happens! Congrats on it being your turn in the Godlight. ;o)

OH! And Happy belated birthday to John!

Damama T said...

I forgot to mention that I love the Charmed reference. I'm in the process of watching the whole series since I really never had time to when it was on. It's kind of cool and has a lot of good moral messages hidden in the stories. Plus, it's just plain fun to see three little girls kick some serious evil butt! LOL! xoxoxo