Reprots from Bloomington, IL
Best Regards,
Mad2
Copyright 1999 The Pantagraph
THE PANTAGRAPH (Bloomington, IL.)
September 10, 1999, Friday
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1
LENGTH: 528 words
HEADLINE: Sega sales sizzle
BYLINE: KELLY LANTAU
BODY:
At K-B Toys in College Hills Mall, assistant manager Chad Elkin answers the phone, "K-B Toys, we have the Sega Dreamcast system."
It's a statement many Twin Cities residents have been waiting months to hear.
The Dreamcast video game system offers a number of innovative features. Darrell Cope Jr., manager at Eastland Mall's Electronic Boutique, said for $199 a customer gets a modem for Internet and e-mail access, a CD player and a state-of-the-art game system.
The varied features and improved game graphics have built the anticipation among U.S. consumers for months. To deal with the inevitable rush, many local stores held special hours and presold the product to interested buyers.
Elkin said K-B opened early - at 8 a.m. - and had sold their first Dreamcast system by 9. Of course, this doesn't take into consideration the 16 systems the store had presold.
Elkin said he expected the store to stay busy as the Sega games seems to be popular. K-B has been advertising the system for about three months, and Elkin said there has been strong interest.
At Electronic Boutique, business was also hectic. Cope said his store opened three hours early at 7 a.m. and had around 30 people waiting at their door. By a little past 9 a.m., Cope said, the store was already poised to break records for the biggest sales day in its history.
Electronic Boutique also presold orders, which totaled about 170. This, added to Thursday's on-the-spot purchases, means one thing - Cope expects the item to sell out by today.
Wal-Mart Supercenter, 300 Greenbriar Drive in Normal, which has the advantage of being open 24 hours, was ready to sell the system when if officially went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
According to store manager Russ Johnson, "We had a line at midnight waiting for them to be bought. I think we had 16 people here, and it's been a steady flow of people through the day."
Best Buy, 2103 N. Veterans Parkway, did not open early but did presell about 20 Sega systems, according to Ray Wade, department senior in music and entertainment software.
When the store opened at 10 a.m. Thursday, Wade said there was definitely heavy interest in the Dreamcast.
Doug Stoppe, supervisor at Toys R Us, 1703 E. Empire Street, Bloomington, said the store also did not hold special hours but presold 28 and had doing steady business throughout the day Thursday.
"It's been going over pretty well," he said. "This morning we probably had 20 to 30 cars waiting outside - the excitement is building."
Most local businesses expected the rush on the system, and Cope said part of the popularity is due to the Sega name, which has been around for a long time.
Also, he explained, the game allows for interaction between a widespread group of people. "The unique thing is it's the first console that has a modem you can get online with," Cope said. "You can play your games with a friend across the country."
Furthermore, Johnson expects the upcoming holiday season to fuel sales even further - Wal-Mart expects the item to be its biggest-selling game system for Christmas - "If they can keep the supply up with the demand."
GRAPHIC: Best Buy media supervisor Marc Damotte, left, demonstrated the Sega Dreamcast for Shane Aldrich of Bloomington.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: September 10, 1999
|
