A chaotic scene at an Ontario Costco this week looked less like a regular weekday morning and more like a scene straight out of the early years of Black Friday sales.
Before the store at 5900 Rodeo Dr. in Mississauga even opened, what looked like hundreds of shoppers were already lined up outside, hoping to get their hands on something you might not expect. And no, it wasn’t Kirkland Signature artisan rolls, toilet paper or the ever-popular $5 rotisserie chicken.
People were lining up for Pokémon cards.
Judging by a viral video on TikTok, fans were ready to go to just about any lengths to get inside and, well, catch ’em all.
@thgnthn scenes at Costco Mississauga earlier this morning crazy 😳😱 #costco #pokemon #mississauga #pokemoncards #pokemoncostco ♬ original sound – thgnthn
The video quickly filled with amused and slightly bewildered comments.
One person joked, “I’d fart in that crowd so hard everyone would disperse.”
Others were in disbelief that such chaos could erupt at a Costco. “This can’t be true 😮,” one commenter wrote.
“This is why I have groceries delivered smh can’t take this mess,” another said.
Some even questioned the crowd’s dedication. “Is no one working these days?” one user asked, while another chimed in to write, “I’m too employed for this 😂.”
Some Pokémon fans admitted the lineup might have been a bit too much.
“I like Pokémon too… I’d never do this for some cards tho 👀😅,” one comment read.
It seems not much has changed since the height of “Pokémania” in the late ’90s and early aughts. The media franchise — spanning films, TV series, video games and trading cards — is experiencing another surge in popularity after celebrating its 30th anniversary last month.
For elder millennials like me watching the scene unfold, it may have sparked memories of the Beanie Babies hysteria of the late 1990s. Proof that if there’s one thing society loves, it’s lining up for tiny collectibles, dropping a ton of dough and convincing ourselves it’ll make us rich one day.