So... for those of you non-GarthNutts here... there was this "Limited Edition" Garth Brooks DVD boxed set released today. A million of them to be exact. Available, according to all press releases, as 12:01am at all 24 hour Walmarts in America.
Being the good GarthNutt that I am, I wandered into the WalMart closest to me at about 10am. Ten hours after it's release. Checked out the check out area first, because when the "Limited edition" boxed set came out last year at Christmas, my store didn't have them in the electronics section, they had them by the checkouts. (A year later, there are a bunch of them still left on the electronics section shelf, so I guess "Limited" is a matter of your perspective.)
Nothing at checkout, including signage, so I went back to Electronics. Meander all through the section, no Garth to be found. No banners, no display, no promotional signage, no DVD's.
So I grab an employee, and in my loudest croak (I'm still sick) ask "Where's Garth?"
The guy looks at me like I have two heads. "Excuse me?"
"I'm looking for Garth. The new DVD set? Garth BROOKS?" As if anyone in Walmart - or the city of Nashville - and certainly not a Walmart IN the city of Nashville - should need an explanation as to who "Garth" is.
"Oh. I think I saw some of those in the back. But they haven't been released yet," says Mr. Helpful Walmart guy.
My croak gets louder. "They were supposed to be released TODAY."
At that time, around the corner comes someone with an Anderson tag (WalMart's merchandiser) and a WM employee with an Assistant Manager tag.
Mr. Anderson Guy has a WM Ad in his hand. "Novemeber 1st. That's today."
I smile at him as he comes up. "You wouldn't think it would be this hard to find Garth in Nashville, would you?"
Mr. Assistant Manager grimaces at me. Mr. Anderson Guy asks "Are you looking for the Garth DVD?"
"Yes. According to every press release Garth's publicist sent me, I was supposed to be able to buy it today. But I can't seem to find it."
Mr. Walmart Guy says "I know where they are in the back. I'll go get you one."
"Three," I say. "I'll take three."
So while I'm standing there patiently waiting, Mr. Anderson Guy and Mr. Assistant Manager are haggling over where to put the DVD's. Mr. Anderson Guy is making firm statements about it being a WalMart exclusive, a limited edition, and Garth being their best selling artist (he apparently gets Nancy's press releases too!) while Mr. Assistant Manager is telling him why he can't have every visible option he asks for.
They finally agree on an endcap display in the very back of the electronics section by the televisions. At least everyone else won't have to spend half their morning waiting on Mr. Walmart Guy to find them in the back. I predict they'll sell better in their 2nd 10 hours of release than they did their first 10 hours.
Eventually, Mr. Walmart Guy comes back with my 3 DVDs and then tells me I have to check out in Electronics. I agree only if he'll ring up my cough syrup too. Which he does.
And so - Garth went home with me today.
BIRTHDAY CORRECTIONS - Ok, I screwed up the birthday thing... spending half my Halloween in a cough syrup fog clouded my brain - Sandi's birthday was actually the 30th - DUH, I not only celebrated it with her I baked her an amazing chocolate lava cake.
However - JoAnn's birthday was yesterday! So a Happy Belated Birthday to the true Halloween Baby!
11 comments:
LOL Thanks!!!
PS I got my DVD's promptly in the mail today. Didn't have time to watch much but I did watch the I Don't Have To Wonder video!!!
Awesome!!!
I went prepared this morning and brought a printed out copy of the press release stating a 12:01am release. I was prepared to tell the store manager how poorly it reflects on his store that I had to do this, based upon past experiences. Luckily they were sitting on the pallet still with some shrink wrap. Other than some songs being cut out, I am very happy with the DVD set.
I did the opposite yesterday morning and first went to the electronic department and the woman directed me to the boxed set and I explained that "No, it's a DVD set" so she headed to the DVD section,(which I had already done) and then got on the phone. Yeah for my Wal-mart...they had them set up right next to the check out and Garth went home with me too!
My trip to Galveston got cancelled, so I took the money I ahd been saving for that, started Christmas shopping and treated my self to GB's DVD set, Craig Morgan's new Cd and Tracy Byrd's new CD.
ooh - how is Tracy's? I haven't gotten it yet, they haven't done ANYTHING to promote it that I've seen. I'm highly disappointed - I love Tracy!
Thanks for going light on the pistachio's. ;-)
Haven't the time to look for the DVD in my Walmarts that really don't care about country music. Been busy going to songrwiter shows here in New England to see the writers who made Garth into who he was/is.
Hello to both my Daves!
I had to go search through my Wal*Mart as well to find out where they decided to put the Garth display. There was a promotional poster at the front of the store, and I checked the checkout area and the front of the store without any luck, and then went back to electronics and still didn't see where they were, so I asked. One of the employees actually knew what I was looking for and brought me to the display, which was near the cosmetics/pharmacy section of the store. Had I headed there first for my Nyquil (my "primary" reason for needing to go to Wal*Mart) instead of taking care of my "secondary" reason for going to Wal*Mart, I would have saved myself some time. The display wasn't very large, and after picking up my 11 copies, there were only about 20 left.
Hope you're feeling better and will be able to enjoy all the partying this weekend.
Happy belated birthday to Sandi and JoAnn!
Paula
wow you have no taste Bomshel rocks striker mich.
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