So I'm in Walmart here in San Jose a few weeks ago. I wander over to the grill department to see what's going on. I'm not expecting much...I've seen the Walmart grill department a million times, I think I've seen it all.
I see a row of white Weber grill boxes high up on a shelf, neatly lined up, with black and red logos and product photos pointing out towards customers. What is that grill...I can't quite make it out.
It's the 14.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.
If you had asked me 10 years ago, "Do you think the WSM will ever be sold off-the-shelf at Walmart?", I would have said no, you're crazy, that will never happen. But it has happened. I now see WSMs at Walmart and The Home Depot and Lowe's and Orchard Supply Hardware, places you would never find them in the past. They're not always properly assembled or displayed, and sometimes they're just in a box high up on a shelf. But they are there, ready for purchase.
Now turn the clock back to 1998. I started The Virtual Weber Bullet website that year, and at that time you could only find the WSM at specialty barbecue stores like Barbeques Galore and maybe local hardware stores like Ace. You could order it online from Value America, one of the pioneers of online retailing. And no, Amazon did not carry Weber grills back in 1998.
Look how far we've come since 1998. We've helped make the WSM so popular that it's now available at Walmart. Whodathunk?
I see a row of white Weber grill boxes high up on a shelf, neatly lined up, with black and red logos and product photos pointing out towards customers. What is that grill...I can't quite make it out.
It's the 14.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.
If you had asked me 10 years ago, "Do you think the WSM will ever be sold off-the-shelf at Walmart?", I would have said no, you're crazy, that will never happen. But it has happened. I now see WSMs at Walmart and The Home Depot and Lowe's and Orchard Supply Hardware, places you would never find them in the past. They're not always properly assembled or displayed, and sometimes they're just in a box high up on a shelf. But they are there, ready for purchase.
Now turn the clock back to 1998. I started The Virtual Weber Bullet website that year, and at that time you could only find the WSM at specialty barbecue stores like Barbeques Galore and maybe local hardware stores like Ace. You could order it online from Value America, one of the pioneers of online retailing. And no, Amazon did not carry Weber grills back in 1998.
Look how far we've come since 1998. We've helped make the WSM so popular that it's now available at Walmart. Whodathunk?