Diary of a Wedding Guest: Part 11 - The Weekend's Best Buy

We awoke Saturday morning with a few a few things to do before Ashley's wedding. The wedding was at 1:00 PM and it was about fifteen mintues from the hotel. Lori had volunteered to video the wedding for Ashley so she wanted to arrive early to get a good spot to set up. We figured we would need to leave the hotel by 12:15 PM.

Lori suggested that we swing by Best Buy to look for the GPS accessory that we had missed the day before. There happened to be a Best Buy about five minutes from the hotel (the same one we passed the previous night because we would have gotten there after they closed - according to the GPS). Lori had also wanted to stop by Target or Wal-Mart to pick up some gifts for some friends that we were meeting for breakfast on Sunday morning. Additionally, we still needed to do some Father's Day shopping, which was also the very next day.

We quickly got ready and arrived at the Best Buy around 9:30 AM. They did not open for another half hour. Instead of waiting, we decided to knock out the other tasks we still needed to complete. We had passed a Meijer store (like a Super Wal-Mart for those that are not familar with them) and went there to do some shopping. We found some great toys for our friends' little boys and bought some Father's Day cards. By the time we returned to Best Buy, it was almost 10:30 AM.

Lori looked around for a gift for her father while I ran back to grab the GPS dash mount. SOLD OUT! This being the second Best Buy Store we had checked (one before we even left town for the wedding) and both being sold out of the item, I inquired about a raincheck. Best Buy's raincheck are good only at the issuing store, not every store within the company. Since I would not be returning to the Detroit area for a while, the raincheck would do me no good. The sale on the item was ending that day. The manager said I could get a raincheck and try to use it at another store, but the other store would not be obligated to honor the raincheck. He offered to check the stock of the surrounding stores. If any had a large amount of stock on hand, he would send me there, but if they only had one or two, he said it probably wouldn't be worth my time. With only one or two in stock, they would either sell out before I got there or their inventory count could be off and they could already be sold out. He found a store about 10 miles away that had nine. And gave me directions to the store. He said it would be near the Meijer Store on Newburgh and Warren Roads. (Meijer by the way is the dominate player in the discount retail business. We only saw 1 Wal-Mart in our entire time in the Detroit area!)

I found Lori, we paid for her Father's Day gift (a CD of Italian music) and set out to find the other Best Buy. I followed the manager's directions to a T, or so I thought. I passed the Meijer at Newburgh and Warren Roads, but I found no other shopping areas. I continued driving until I reached the Ford Plant in Dearborn where Newburgh Road ends. At this point, I turned around and headed back to towards the hotel. We would be lucky to get back there in time to iron clothes, get dressed and get to the church in time for Lori to set up for the video.

Here's the kicker to this whole getting lost on the way to find a Best Buy to purchase and accessory for the GPS - I DID NOT HAVE THE GPS WITH US AND THEREFORE COULD NOT HAVE USED IT! We had taken the GPS into the hotel the night before so that it wouldn't get stolen from the car. Had we had the GPS with us, we could have plugged in the Best Buy and probably found it right away. WHY IS IT THAT THE DAMN THING DOESN'T WORK WHEN YOU WANT IT TO AND IT DOES WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE IT WITH YOU?

We did eventually get to the Best Buy in between the wedding and the reception. Apparently, I was suppose to turn on Warren Road at the Meijer on Newburgh and Warren Roads and it would have been just a few blocks away. We we finally arrived at the Best Buy around 3:00 PM, they only had three left on the shelf. I snatched one up and got the Best Buy of the weekend -- if you don't factor in the time and gas it cost to get the item. With that I probably lost out on the deal. ;-)