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Target Offers Fit Plus Events; Dabbles In Bulk Sales

Target is setting up Nintendo Wii exercise kiosks outside store entrances and parking lots in nine locations on weekends from Jan. 16 to 31 to drive interest in the newest version of the game, Wii Fit Plus. Elaine Wong reports that Target sees the Fit Plus Experience events as a way to get consumers make a discretionary purchase while meeting their New Year's fitness goals.

Each location has eight kiosks. Nintendo says the goal is to give participants some "feet-on time" equivalent to that of a "yoga studio." Target is giving out $15 gift cards to induce customers to exercise in public. The next events will take place Saturday at Targets in Burbank, Calif., Plano, Texas, and Miami.

Meanwhile, at least one analyst on CNBC finds Target's experiment with in-store bulk sales "incredibly disappointing" and "half-hearted." Patty Edwards, retail analyst with Storehouse Partners, says that the two tests she's observed seemed "more like a Dollar Store than a warehouse club" and suggests that Costco and Sam's Club have some inherent advantages, such as membership fees that subsidize steep discounts.

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