Best Buy holding units for Sunday [update 1]

by Jason Wishnov { Jan 17th 2007 at 7:00PM }

[Update 1: According to our mother-site Joystiq, Circuit City will also be hoarding Wii supplies for the 21st. Target will also have Wiimotes and nunchuks ... and heck, probably more Wii units as well. Good luck!]

According to some highly overpaid analysts, the Wii is still very, very hard to find. See? You could be an analyst, too! Through rain and mud and Mordor, many of our readers have trekked away their nights and days looking for that elusive white box. We would send you ours, but Nintendo has keyed our Wii's to our genetic signatures, and will detonate upon transfer.

Still, we feel as though we owe you guys a bit of assistance. And here it is: apparently, a (reputable) tipster has given word that Best Buy is stockpiling units for a January 21st (Sunday) release. Each store should have at least twenty units, and possibly around forty, but Best Buy will be announcing this lovely treasure trove in a weekly store ad quite soon. A word to the wise: the Wii is still hotter than Alpha Centauri, so don't think you won't need to work for it. Wake up early. You won't regret it.

Tags: 21st, Best Buy, BestBuy, Hold, January, Release, Stockpile, Sunday

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Savage @ Jan 17th 2007 7:53PM

I hope this is true. I have half a dozen friends who have been looking for a Wii since day one and they haven't had any luck. I always try to look out for these sort of tips for them.

Guess they were wrong when they told me that I didn't need to preorder.

Jonathan @ Jan 17th 2007 7:56PM

I heard from many of my friends , some working in these departments stores that in Canada they are having a shipment on the 20th.. so i would better get yourself to wake up early , thats what i did on launch day and i got one..

Grog @ Jan 17th 2007 8:28PM

Hey, keep these tips coming. Here is (south) Dayton, Oh I haven't even seen a Wii in a store (they've even stopped putting up the display boxes because people get irritated when they find out it's not the real deal). I've been visiting local Best Buys and a Circuit City every couple of days for weeks without any luck.

I don't know if I'll be able to grab one this Sunday, but I'll certainly try!

Dave @ Jan 17th 2007 8:30PM

I've been actively looking for a Wii as well. Best Buys (at least around me) WILL have some on Sunday. Target should be the same. I'm sure people will be camping...and I probably still won't have one because I don't want to camp lol.

Best of luck to all, and leave one for me :)

Pat @ Jan 17th 2007 8:44PM

I was at Circuit City yesterday and found a few wiimotes and a nunchuk on the shelf. I went to pay for them and the computer would not allow them to be sold until Sunday, and that someone made a mistake by putting them on teh shelf. I asked why and was told they were in the upcoming ad with a guaranteed minimum number per store. I would imagine they are doing the same thing with the consoles as well.

Red @ Jan 17th 2007 10:10PM

Can anyone confirm the date for Canada? I live far from anywhere in the area, and i definitley loathe waking up early twice in a row.

I will do my part and see if i can track down whats going on.

-Red

James Thompson @ Jan 17th 2007 11:39PM

Damn i think that's my old best buy on Independance Blvd!! Damn Wiifanboy!! You and Joystiq post up pictures of places i know too much

Paul Mitchell @ Jan 18th 2007 12:59AM

A hot Target employer told me that if the Wii is on the sunday ad, then it means that all target will have it on sunday.

It is perfect timing this sunday because WarioWare will be on the ad on sunday. Wii + WarioWare = $$$

Jim @ Jan 18th 2007 2:38AM

I've been looking for along time too... each day I look I make my round through many stores;

2 ebgames
1 walmart
1 costco
1 toys r us
1 zellers
1 best buy
1 hmv

I've made the trip many many times, sometimes missing out by a few days, others just missing by a few mere hours... :(

I am hoping to get one some time before sunday...

Mark @ Jan 18th 2007 4:55AM

I'm not going to play this stupid game anymore. I have been burned enough times. I have a feeling that the lines will be even longer this Sunday than they were on release day. I have spent enough in gas trying to get a Wii that I would have been better off just buying one from one of the greedmasters on Ebay. If Nintendo can't supply enough stock for us to just walk into a store and get one, I will not play their game. They are just perpetuating the rash of "buy to sell on Ebay" that we have seen. I will wait until they are out in great enough numbers. Some people seem to think March will be when that happens. I don't think it will be much before the summer, or perhaps early fall.

Metal_Link @ Jan 18th 2007 7:51AM

My dad recently went into Target to check on Wii's, he was told to come in on Sunday when they would have some. How many is something that wasn't answered, but this stiil might mean that Target is doing the same.

Nick @ Jan 18th 2007 9:20AM

My wife and mother-in-law made fun of me before I left the house to camp out for launch. They came past in the early AM with some breakfast for me, and changed their tune upon seeing the line that had developed over night. Here we are two months later, and both of them has conceded that I was smart to have camped and gotten one early!

DJ @ Jan 18th 2007 9:37AM

I already have the console, two controllers but only one nunchuck. I hope they get 3 or 4 times the number of those as they do the consoles. Those have been the hardest to find!

Mom @ Jan 18th 2007 10:31AM

Figures. It's supposed to sleet all night on Saturday. Don't relish spending the night in that.

Patrick @ Jan 18th 2007 12:08PM

Reagrding availability, I have still never actually seen a Wii for sale anywhere. Just those damned empty display boxes with "sold out" signs on them.

Jenny @ Jan 18th 2007 12:33PM

I was visiting my father this weekend, and after we had lunch we wandered into Toys R Us. "Nunchucks or component cables?", I asked, with little hope they had either; this particular store is pretty terrible. "No," said the guy behind the counter, "but um ... well the consoles just came in 5 minutes ago."

Sure enough, they had six consoles sitting in shiny glory in the locked case. I've never actually seen one on a SHELF before. I wanted to call everyone I knew, but everyone I knew had managed to score one after much line-camping at this point.

01 @ Jan 18th 2007 6:43PM

I've got to say, Wal-MArt does do a pretty bang-up job if you're waiting in front of their store at 4 AM.... I was # 21 in line when I wnet on Dec 6th, hearing that there would be 25 Wiis available. 15 min after I got there, 2 more guys got there, and about 15 min after that the store manager came out to tell everyone there would be a hard count of the wiis available a tickets would be handed out at 6 (an hour before the store opened) When he came out 30 min later to tell us there were only 23 consoles (SCORE!!!!!!!!!! I get one!!!!!!!) there were probably 10 more people in line. Confusingly enough, more and more people kept coming and staying in line, even as we told then where the last person was. Good luck to everyone in getting one, I had taken the day off work, so I went home at 10 AM and started playing... Now if wii play will just come out so I have another controller....

... @ Jan 20th 2007 2:54PM

I've never seen one for sale either. And I don't have one. Dang it, I'm bad at this finding Wii consoles thing.

Don @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:29AM

I got one about 2 weeks ago luckily. I called up a EB games near a ghetto neighborhood in Cleveland and they had just 1, needless to say the guy working held it for me long enough for me to get off of work. I'm gonna be waking up early Sunday just for a wiimote and nunchuck and if they are handing out vouchers for consoles I'll just give mine up to someone that doesn't have a Wii yet,making sure they aren't some greedy ebay seller...