A Good Deal of ‘Madness’ for a Good Deal
Tami Vincent of Lancaster planned to spend Wednesday soaking up some sun at the beach, but the lure of nabbing a brand-spanking new computer for only $98 was just too great.
So instead, Vincent spent all of Wednesday--24 hours--waiting on the concrete sidewalk outside CompUSA for the store’s “98 Minutes of Madness” sale, the midnight promotion that marked the official release of Microsoft’s Windows98 software. The store offered 266-Mhz CompUSA computers to the first 10 people in line for $98, and a color monitor and printer for another $98, and offered other early birds cut-rate deals on computer products.
“Sure I’d rather be at the beach, but we’ll be saving $1,000 or so, so it’s worth it,” said Vincent, who was first in line and came to buy the computer for her husband’s law practice.
About 20 others had lined up behind Vincent by Wednesday afternoon, most spending the time fielding questions from gawkers on their way into the Warner Center computer store. Those outside CompUSA milled around most of the day without incident, although one latecomer offered $300 to anyone at the front of the line. He found no takers.
