Opening Hours at Target

Shortly before a doctor's appointment this morning I stopped by Target to get a welcome-back-home-from-a-boring-business-trip gift for my wife. To my surprise, I arrived before the store opened at 8am and ended up waiting in the car for a few minutes.

I wasn't the only one there early, though. Standing at the doors of the store, waiting patiently but clearly eagerly, were three late middle-aged men. They stood there, talking in a friendly manner. I didn't think much of it until the door opened and I saw all three walking quickly into the store. I was about fifty feet behind them and could see through the glass doors that they were all walking together apparently headed to the same location. My curiousity was piqued and stepped up my pace so as not to lose them.

It wasn't until they turned into the toy section that a light went off in my head: these are collectors. I had a good friend in Boise who was a Star Wars toy collector and he also happened to work at Target. He educated me in the ways of the toy collecting culture and one of the prime strategies these guys (and they are mostly men) use in furthering their hobby is early-hours toy-aisle scouring. My friend Jason, having insider knowledge concerning delivery dates and times, was quite adept at picking up the hard-to-find items and had literally a room full of Star Wars toys.

I followed the men into the toy section and my suspicions proved correct: all three were crowding around the Matchbox Cars, rifling through the cardboard and plastic containers hanging from the display pegs looking for any vehicle they didn't have. A Target clerk was there with them, seeming to enjoy helping in the hunt as well. One of the customers seemed to have found a vehicle to add to his collection.

My only thought as I passed them was how disputes over "rare" cars were settled. They didn't seem to be in competition with each other but surely if they were fanatical enough to get up early to beat all the non-collecting customers, they took this hobby somewhat seriously. Maybe that large male clerk was there for other reasons as well; I'm betting this isn't the first time these men have speed-walked over to the toy section when the store opened.

Today, though, everything appeared peaceful and as far as hobbies go, you could do worse than Matchbox Cars.