Coronavirus has Americans panic buying the Nintendo Switch like it’s toilet paper

From coast-to-coast, panic buying has set in, but not just for household items. Americans are also scouring retailers, second-hand stores and the internet for products to fill the gaps in home entertainment during the coronavirus pandemic. One handheld gaming console, the Nintendo Switch, has become especially popular.

“The day the CDC recommended no gatherings of 10 or more people, I was like, ‘Oh, no. There’s not gonna be sports for at least eight weeks. What am I going to do?’ ” Bryan Mapes, 35, said.

Mapes, who lives near Seattle, said he and his girlfriend immediately set out to purchase a Switch, as well as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, to play with friends.

“There were only two available in the entire 50-mile radius at Target,” Mapes said. “So we had to go to one Target, buy the Switch, then buy Mario Kart at a different Target.”

That was nearly three weeks ago. Since then, the wildly popular game Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released for the Switch, further increasing its demand, which Nintendo has so far been unable to meet. That’s partially because Switch units are manufactured in Foxconn factories in China, which were shut down due to coronavirus. Although factories have reopened, the strain on Nintendo’s supply chain remains, as will a global Switch shortage, according to industry experts.

With online retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and GameStop consistently selling out of Switches, customers have resorted to purchasing from third-party sellers on eBay, Facebook and Craigslist, but they are often forced to buy the new devices at a much higher price point. The MSRP for a Switch is $299 ($199 for the Switch Lite, which is smaller and can’t connect to the TV), but consoles are going for up to twice that much on eBay.

“I found someone selling a Switch with a roll of toilet paper and a mini bottle of hand sanitizer for like 720 dollars,” Jennifer Baik, 24, said. “I was like what’s more valuable here, the Switch or the toilet paper?”

Baik said her hunt for the device began last week.

“Like everybody else, I wanted to play Animal Crossing,” Baik said. “I’d been thinking about getting a Switch for a while and my coworker ended up snatching one from Costco, so I didn’t realize they would be sold out.”

Baik said she turned to the Internet one night, but discovered there were none available at retailers such as Target and Best Buy, so unlike a friend who paid more than 400 dollars on a buy-sell app, she settled for playing Sims 4 on her computer. But that was only after a frantic night of Googling.

“I definitely had the 3 a.m. crazies thinking about it,” Baik said. “I was getting so worked up over Animal Crossing and then I was like, you know what? People are actually dying from coronavirus. It’s not worth it for me to go outside to try to buy a Switch to play Animal Crossing when I could do the same thing in five months.”

In a January financial report, Nintendo reported total Switch sales of more than 50 million since the console launched in March 2017.

Baik lives in Washington D.C., but the Charlotte area is experiencing similar Switch shortages. For the last three weeks, area Targets have sold out of the regular-sized consoles the same day they receive new shipments, according to one store employee.

The Uptown target typically gets a shipment of 12 Switch units once or twice a week. Target also sells the Switch Lite, which is slightly less popular than the regular-sized version. That costs 200 dollars.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, there are no Nintendo Switch or Switch Lite consoles listed as “in-stock” at any Target and Best Buy within 35 miles of Charlotte. According to store employees, however, inventory is not always immediately updated online. For customers interested in purchasing a Switch, their best bet is to continue calling their local stores.

Other area retailers, such as Video Game World in Huntersville, have also been unable to keep Switch products in stock. The handful of devices that were available at the used games store before the pandemic “very quickly” sold out, Video Game World assistant manager Stephen Cobb said.

“We still get easily three or four phone calls a day for Switches alone,” Cobb said.

Cobb said he doesn’t think the store will have any more brought in during the next few weeks, but he added that business has been healthy since customers just want something to play. The store is continuing to fill orders online for curbside pickup at its Huntersville and Concord locations.

“With the outbreak and everybody being quarantined, I’d say Switches, PS4s, Xbox Ones are all really popular right now,” Cobb said. “It’s tax season, so everybody’s got money and now they’ve got time because they’re forced to stay at home.”

The early panic shoppers, like Mapes, have won out when it comes to the Switch. Others, such as Baik, will have to see the bigger picture and settle for alternative forms of entertainment for now.

“I know it’s not as dire as I originally thought it was,” Baik said.

“But we are inside all the time and I’m like, I could be playing Animal Crossing, digging holes and colonizing islands for fruit and stuff.”