By Isabel Shrader
Target announced that they will be having three special items drop days for their Pokémon collection. The first occurred on Wednesday, September 16th, with Pokémon packs being restocked in stores all throughout the country. The second drop was on Sunday, September 20th, which involved Target x Pokémon merch instead of cards. The final drop will be Friday, October 2nd, cards packs included.
Susquehanna University student, Gabriela Rodriguez stayed awake all night on September 16th to get first pick of the first drop. Gabriela said that she had arrived at Target at 3:30 a.m. with her two friends, JD Calammari and Sam Walter. She said, “I got there, and I was about 25th in line with JD. Sam left us because he decided he wanted to try his luck at Best Buy instead.”
Gabriela stated that while Target did not open until 7:00 a.m., Best Buy did not open until 10:30 a.m., so Sam had to wait a lot longer than they did. She also added that Target had a limit of two items per person while Best Buy had a limit of one item per person. It seems like going to Target was the best option since she could get more packs than her friend. Gabriela continued by describing the hours before the store opened, saying, “We waited, made some friends, especially with the guy in front of us in line because he had a cute Australian shepherd named Alison and she sat next to me the entire time.”
She spoke of how the worst part was around 5:30am when she could not sleep due to it being so cold. While she was not prepared, Gabriela mentioned how people showed up with chairs that looked like beds, sleeping bags, pillows, blankets and extra hoodies. At 6:45 am, Gabriela said that a worker came outside and explained how the system would work. “They came up with such a great system. I was so grateful,” she exclaimed. Gabriela explained, “They said everyone can come in at 7, but it would be a single file line and 5 people in the Pokémon area at a time. So, it was very organized, and everyone had a chance without people running and being greedy and aggressive with the items.”
Gabriela didn’t have to worry about scalpers due to Target’s organization and preparation. Gabriela stuck to her $300 budget and ended up being able to purchase 38 total Pokémon card packs.