I had a very good morning today. First, I caught up on the basic figures by finding Bly, Gree, Passel and Cat Miin at the local Wal-Mart. Then, a trip to Target with Jeff's DCPI numbers that have saved me repeatedly these last few months, resulted in my very own Clone Attack on Coruscant Battle Pack and Plo Koon's Jedi Starfighter.
I think the trick is to find someone who doesn't look like they know the first thing about toys, much less Star Wars in particular, with a scanner gun, and ask if they could check stock status for you. Thankfully, Target has no shortage of attractive young females, and they're usually more than happy to check the numbers for you. Or, as someone else suggested here, you can always call them on the phone, try to sound all official and say, "I need a stock status check on an item in the toy department, DCPI is 888-88-8888" and see if they will hold it at the Customer Service desk.