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Still Can’t Find an iPad 2? Try Best Buy and Target’s Online Inventory Systems

By | March 22, 2011 | 12 comments
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If you’re in the market for an iPad 2, you must have noticed that the device is extremely difficult to find. Between an overwhelming demand, gray market channels, and a higher than expected return rate, finding a store that actually has the device in stock is a real challenge.

But there’s some hope: until Apple manages to build enough iPad 2s to meet the current demand, savvy buyers have been using alternate retailers to get their device, such as Target and Best Buy. Buying an iPad from these stores may not be as glamorous as buying it from an Apple Store, but unlike Apple, these two retailers offer online inventory systems.

To check the availability of the iPad 2 at your local stores, simply click on the links below, and enter your location when prompted (links courtesy of Obama Pacman).

Best Buy

Black

White

Target

Black

White model

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  • James Goddard

    Target’s online system is always wrong. And even when it is right, Target employees often hold back hot items for their friends even thought that is clearly against their policies.

    • Misterbee

      Yeah James. It’s so wrong that when I got off work a couple of days ago, the Target tracker showed only one store in my area as having stock. It happened to be the store that is two miles from my office. I zoomed over there and got my ipad!

      So no, maybe “always wrong” is just a wee bit wrong.

  • jim

    I’ve been using that inventory checker for couple of days. Got that same inventory checker from obamapacman.com. From my experience, the bestbuy is worse. Helped me score 2 ipads via target 3 days ago. Checked at noon and when I picked it up, the sales guy said they just stocked it 30 mins prior. You might have better chance with target than bestbuy.

  • emaven

    I used the links, went to my local BestBuy, and got the iPad.
    No lines, no waiting.

    Thanks!

  • Gary

    Best Buy is not accurate – if it shows availability, it is likely what they get for their pre-orders…not for a walk-in…useless.

  • lloyd

    Maybe other Best Buys work differently, but in the Portland, OR area, they let people buy a reservation by buying a $100 gift card. So even though last night the Best Buy link said available, when I got there first this morning I was told, basically, that ‘available’ means ‘reserved.’

    Yes, their internal system also said 2 of the model I wanted were available, but they were actually reserved. When I asked if they could check other nearby stores for me, the manager told me, “I can tell you that as a store, as a company, we do not have any. We’re trying to get the web system fixed.”

  • Jay

    I love all these people saying how useless this is! LOL
    I just wanted to comment and say thanks to you guys at padgadget. My local Best Buy told me it’d be MONTHS until they got a non-reserved iPad that I could have. I used the links above and saw that a store 25 minutes away from me had exactly the model I wanted, a 32GB black Verizon 3G version. I called them to make sure it was correct, took a quick ride, and VIOLA!- got my iPad! They had several different versions available where I went! (Staten Island, NY, BTW) I guess the manager mentioned in the comment above doesn’t really know what he’s talking about, or maybe he’s just sick of people asking him about iPads!
    Thanks again!

  • http://www.iPhone5Rumours.com Ahmad Rashad

    I tried both futureshop and bestbuy, but still no luck

  • ipadless

    Find it at a Target Store

    San Jose West
    3.48 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose Oakridge
    4.45 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose Westgate
    6.26 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose Central
    7.02 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose College Park
    8.66 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose East
    9.02 miles
    Out Of Stock

    Cupertino
    9.57 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose Story Road
    9.89 miles
    Out Of Stock

    San Jose Capitol
    11.86 miles
    Out Of Stock

    Sunnyvale
    12.36 miles
    Out Of Stock

  • mimipatk

    Thanks so much for this post!

    We decided quite recently that we wanted the 64Go AT&T 3G version…
    So we heard all the stories about people who spent nights in front of the shops… And all the backordered stories too… We were almost convinced that we would not get it before months :(

    We tried the links, and in 2 days we were able to find a Best Buy displaying the one we wanted available! We called, they blocked it for 1 hour. And we got it :p

    Thank you so much!!!

    PS: not all Best Buy follow the same rules… So I would advise you to call a few… For is it was the 3rd one :)

    PS2: ipad 2 rocks :p

  • minimini

    Found two bestbuy’s in my area that claimed in store availability on bestbuy’s site and when I showed up there were none to be found (despite availability still showing on the tracker).

    Either it’s referring to pre-order pickup availability, which is counter intuitive to tracker software, or it’s flat out wrong. Which I don’t know.

    Haven’t tried Target yet, but I’d take it all with a grain of salt for now.

  • Anonymous

    You can also try Walmart. More and more iPad 2s are slowly turning up.