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New York -- Retailers were as frustrated as their customers over Sony's slim allocations of PlayStation 3 consoles and variously responded last week with resignation, launch promotions, or disregard.
The latter tack was taken by Abt Electronics, which chose to ignore the launch rather than disappoint customers. "We looked into buying truckloads through a distributor," said president Mike
Abt, who ultimately decided to pre-sell his limited allotment in July and pull any mention of PlayStation from ads. "We're very disappointed in the allocations," he said last week. "We're not taking orders and we're not talking about it"- an ironic twist, given that Sony's largest-ever in-store shop opened within Abt's showroom on the day of PS3's debut.
By contrast, Circuit City, which received about 5 percent of Sony's initial shipment, or roughly 20,000 consoles, according to Lehman Brothers analyst Alan Rifkin, made the best of a tight situation. The chain held midnight launch events at six stores in...