It is no surprise to anyone whose shop is within 30 miles of a Target store (which is practically everyone in the lower 48) that Target repeatedly breaks release date on Magic and other card product. My staff and I frequently hear reports from customers that the Target here in Davis, California has shelved and sold Magic the day before release. There is no reason to listen to claims of "isolated incidents" when we all know these are bull. Once we dispense with Target's proxies' cover story the fact that Target sells card product as soon as it has it on hand is acknowledged and the question becomes what can be done.
Whatever Wizards of the Coast says they are doing to look into or examine the problem, that also is bluster as Wizards has absolutely no power over Target. If any small retailer is caught breaking release Wizards restricts their access to product; this consequence is ludicrous with respect to Target as there is no way Wizards is ever going to pull product from Target or restrict their access. So we have a street date and penalties for breaking it that only apply to small shops. This even further unbalances the competition between core hobby retailers and huge mass market corporations. And this is the only thing that can change as it is a policy of Wizards of the Coast.
We are not going to change Target; Wizards is not going to change Target. We all must accept the fact that Target breaks release and will continue to do so. What has to change is Wizards' policy of forcing us to adhere to a release date that only applies to us and not the mass market. Wizards has to be made to admit that their release date means nothing to Target and that small retailers should be allowed to sell their product a day early as well. This is far from unheard of--Konami now allows Thursday sales of Friday release Yu-Gi-Oh! product to official tournament stores. While Konami never said so outright, this was an intelligent response to this same situation: mass market early release which could not be stopped and could only be mitigated. So every retailer with an interest in this should contact Wizards and not let up until they:
(A) Admit that Target breaks release.
(B) Stop pretending they have authority over Target.
(C) See that one sided release dates are unfair to the hobby market.
(D) Change the only thing they can--allow Thursday release for everyone or at least every DCI store.
Actually, we can only expect them to do (D) with a tacit admission of (A) and (B) just as Konami did, but they won't do anything without us telling them the extent of the problem--and by that I mean not just just more evidence of Target's malfeasance but also of our outrage over it and the unfairness of WIzards' release day policies.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
