I does seem odd that they are stock balancing such a small quantity. It seems more likely that it is a Target thing. They seem to have a pretty small inventory/warehouse system for the size of their stores. Also, they manage inventory extremely tight. They will stack the toilet paper and Paper Towels to the ceiling, because they are everyday consumables. But high dollar items not so much. Target used to have really full shelves just a few years back, but not so much anymore. I hate to say it, but I shop at target 3-5 times a week. So I get a pretty good customer perspective of what they have instock for my families needs. I also managed Best Buy stores for over 8 yrs. I get retail and Target seems to have a good handle on how they manage most of their inventory. But it is very clear that they are not an electronics/gaming store. Customers know this for the most part. As a comparison, Walmart is the USA's # one seller of video games, tv's, music, movies. The odd part is how poorly the presentation is at Walmart and the staff in their electronics area. But, they stock and price high ticket items to sell.

you were 100% correct? i would like links

i'm also in chicago (downtown not burbs) but i'm seeing the same thing.  the stores by me have months of stock showing.   i wonder if the jan-march xbone shippment numbers could be quite small even if xbone sells okay.   i haven't seen this much stuffing since thanksgiving.

I know this is just a few stores out of thousands that sell X1's, but there are far too many incidents about X1's being piled high just about everywhere to be a coincidence.

This is yet another reason why I think the X1 is going to crash really hard starting with the coming weeks numbers. I expect sub 100k by the the end of January/beginning of February and sub 80k by March.

It amazes me how quickly demand for the One died down and how long initial demand for the PS4 is continuing to last. The Xbox One is easy to find just a little over a month from launch. The PS4, on the other hand, is not. Though, to be fair, I think with the One it's more a case that they are having average/decent initial demand for their console, but just shipping more than other launches before it.

For the PS4, I checked zoolert earlier this morning and they said Amazon had new consoles in stock for about 5 mins. I went there and they only had 1 left. Refreshed the page, gone. Then, I went back to zoolert a little while later. They said Amazon had more and they had been in stock for 1 min. I went there and it turned out they were selling a shipment they get on the 22nd. Again, I refreshed the page, gone. What makes this more impressive is that Sony has shipped WAY more consoles than any other console launch, but the sellouts are the same as if they shipped only half of what they did.

Here in Aus xbox is sold out. Waiting for next shipment in Feb 2014. Maybe their sending the excess stock here lol.

really?

Damn, this doesn't look good for the X1. Sure, Titanfall, Quantum Break, and Halo 5 will move a lot of X1's when they launch, but it looks like the console will really stagnate in between the games' launches. I think a price cut or a Kinectless SKU is going to come up pretty soon.

Nonsense! The Xbox One is starting to take the US already!

Yes, really. Problem?

And you should really read the last sentence  of that paragraph.