tl;dr, see spoiler.
As some of you may know, the Golden Mario Amiibo figurine (Walmart exclusive) came out today at midnight. Myself, in fervid anticipation, called every Walmart within a 50 mile radius. Each of them either said "We're not sure/We only have a few and there's a huge line/we're not selling them till late tomorrow"..
I found one Walmart that said they had 12 (!) and there was on one there, I asked if there was a limit to how many a person could buy, "Not that I know of!", she even informed me "Last time we had a release like this, a store employee bought all 20 of them"... I quickly threw crackers, water, and a couple books into a backpack, took a folding chair and drove 45 minutes to the location.
Thankfully no one had showed up in the meantime. I talked to the guy in electronics and asked him where I needed to wait. I set up camp directly in front of the electronics register. They had 3 people change shift during my 2.5 hour wait, I made sure to inform each of the new employees of my plan and of what the previous store rep told me, so they wouldn't try to sell me only 1, buy them themselves, etc.
I made friends with the many employees who were walking back and forth, cleaning/moving boxes around. I read books, just waiting. I asked the last lady on shift if I could buy them at 11pm like the first rep told me, she said "No".
10 minutes till, a guy comes up (not an employee), asking me what I'm up to, I tell him I'm waiting for a midnight release, he says "The Mario Amiibo", "Yes! But I'm buying all they have", he then proceeds to tell me the Walmart he was waiting at claimed their stock "Disappeared" (an employee probably made off with them), and practically begged me to let him buy one for his 12 year old son.
I said no problem, told him to tell his son "You've got an awesome dad". We chatted until midnight rang, they wheeled out several boxes on a dolly and the long wait finally paid off!
As some of you may know, the Golden Mario Amiibo figurine (Walmart exclusive) came out today at midnight. Myself, in fervid anticipation, called every Walmart within a 50 mile radius. Each of them either said "We're not sure/We only have a few and there's a huge line/we're not selling them till late tomorrow"..
I found one Walmart that said they had 12 (!) and there was on one there, I asked if there was a limit to how many a person could buy, "Not that I know of!", she even informed me "Last time we had a release like this, a store employee bought all 20 of them"... I quickly threw crackers, water, and a couple books into a backpack, took a folding chair and drove 45 minutes to the location.
Thankfully no one had showed up in the meantime. I talked to the guy in electronics and asked him where I needed to wait. I set up camp directly in front of the electronics register. They had 3 people change shift during my 2.5 hour wait, I made sure to inform each of the new employees of my plan and of what the previous store rep told me, so they wouldn't try to sell me only 1, buy them themselves, etc.
I made friends with the many employees who were walking back and forth, cleaning/moving boxes around. I read books, just waiting. I asked the last lady on shift if I could buy them at 11pm like the first rep told me, she said "No".
10 minutes till, a guy comes up (not an employee), asking me what I'm up to, I tell him I'm waiting for a midnight release, he says "The Mario Amiibo", "Yes! But I'm buying all they have", he then proceeds to tell me the Walmart he was waiting at claimed their stock "Disappeared" (an employee probably made off with them), and practically begged me to let him buy one for his 12 year old son.
I said no problem, told him to tell his son "You've got an awesome dad". We chatted until midnight rang, they wheeled out several boxes on a dolly and the long wait finally paid off!
