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Lee shoppers have a Wii bit of a problem finding this gift
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One gift. Three days. Shannon Peckham is on a mission and she’s not backing down.
Peckham said she hasn’t found it yet, but the much-sought-after Nintendo Wii video game system will be hers -- and her two boys’.
As she packed a load of electronics into the back of her sport utility vehicle Saturday outside the Best Buy store at Coconut Point Mall in Estero, Peckham said she has hunted for the year’s hottest gift at a half-dozen Southwest Florida retailers.
Nonetheless, she remains optimistic as the days before Christmas have nearly dwindled away.
“I should have started sooner, but it’s fine,” Peckham said.
She reported little problem buying her other gifts, and credited a lack of headaches from hunting for parking spaces or waiting in lines at the checkout to the myriad of retail options she has in the area.
“It’s been good,” she said. “Many choices.”
Several area shoppers shared positive experiences in and out of stores.
During a break from operating a cash register, one of a half-dozen open Saturday afternoon, Niki Tonnessen, manager of the Bonita Springs Target on U.S. 41, said she was well-prepared for the onslaught of holiday shoppers. There were no lines.
When asked if the influx was too much to handle, Tonnesen said, “not for us. You know, we beef up our staff for season, but business has definitely been there. Right now it’s busy as can be.”
Unfortunately, no Wii’s could be found at the store.
“The Wii has been hard to come by,” Tonnessen said. “When we do get it in, it sells out in anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.”
The Wii, which first hit store shelves late last year, has many bells and whistles and a remote control that allows users to interact in three-dimensions with video games. In a bowling game, for instance, users swing their remote control as they would a bowling ball.
After shopping at Target, Alyson Brown, 35, and her two boys, Max, 5, and Campbell, almost 8, reported little trouble this season.
“We live in Michigan, so we do a lot online and then we give Santa our list very early,” Brown said. “He gets on that very early.”
Max had a toy snowboard on his list, he said.
Campbell said he’s hoping for the older, Nintendo Game Cube video game system.
Brown’s birthday is on New Year’s Eve, she said, and Campbell turns 8 a week later. However, the gift-buying has gone well for all involved, she said. The family plans on going to Disney World for the birthdays.
Few people should have problems in stores, Brown said, “unless you are looking for the Wii, I think you’re good.”
Before 40-year-old mother of two Bridget Engdahl could list the gifts her daughters are looking for this Christmas, 9-year-old Sierra exclaimed, “an iPod!”
Sierra and her sister Karina, 6, also are hoping for the gift they said all their girlfriends long for: A lot of Webkinz stuffed animals. Released by the Ganz Co. in mid-2005, the toys come with one year of access to a virtual online world where owners can adopt their pets, raise them and decorate a house.
Engdahl, an Estero resident, said she likes the toys.
“It’s a neat concept,” she said, “because it gets them interacting.”
Shopping this year is “going great,” Engdahl said before she and her daughters went into Target.
It’s not too hectic, she said, but there are “plenty of people to keep the excitement in the air.”
Meanwhile, Naples resident Bob Arakel, 67, was relaxing.
After arriving at Coconut Point with his wife and daughter, he found a table and chair in the shade near Tommy Bahamas and sat down with a copy of the Daily News.
“It’s going well, because I have a nice place to sit down while I am waiting,” Arakel said.
“Everything’s going to get knocked out today,” he said. “My wife is a Class-A shopper, and I think they have everything under control.”
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Just the way Nintendo planned it. Nintendo was an expert of driving demand, and limiting supply to keep prices up.
#1 Posted by volochine on December 23, 2007 at 12:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The Wii has been in short supply all year, and she thinks she's going to get one 3 days before Christmas? Those kids are going to be disappointed.
#2 Posted by liquidsnake on December 23, 2007 at 2:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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