Wal-Mart Secures “Tens of Thousands” of Wiis

Ask any parent what the big “must get” item is for this holiday season, and most will have Nintendo’s Wii console somewhere on that list. Of course, since the Wii is the “It” item of the year, it’s getting so that finding one is about as rare as spotting Bigfoot in the wild. That is, unless you decide to hit up Wal-Mart for your holiday shopping.

According to Reuters, Wal-Mart has secured a supply of “tens of thousands” of the Wii game consoles, and will begin offering them for sale on the Wal-Mart website starting today. Walmart.com said it will offer the Nintendo Wii console by itself for $249.24, as well as bundle deals ranging in price from $329 to $458 which include the console and other items like an extra set of controllers, extra games, or even the also elusive Wii Fit, while supplies last.

On Black Friday, the Wii was the most searched for item on the Yahoo Shopping site, and was the most popular item on eBay, with more than 3,000 of the consoles selling for an average price of about $350 each.

Wal-Mart spokesman Ravi Jariwala said the online retailer has worked with Nintendo closely throughout the year and seen strong sales of Wii products on its website, helping to secure the latest supply of the popular console. While many other retailers have been sold out of Wiis on a regular basis, it also looks like Nintendo has been shipping more of the console across the board, with retailers like GameStop receiving regular weekly shipments of the console.