I'm looking to buy in the San Framcisco Bay Area a pop up sun/beach
cabana I saw in Sky Mall magazine. This is the link to the exact model
I'm looking for:
http://www.skymall.com/webapp/skystore?process=prodDisplay&action=&pid=79419794

I've found it several places online, but I'm hoping to find a store
locally that I can just pick it up and have it for this coming
weekend. Ideally the price will be less than $110.00. Any store in the
Bay Area is fine. Thank you!

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Request for Question Clarification by journalist-ga on 10 Apr 2003 07:57 PDT

Just checking to see if you've had any luck with the leads I provided.
 Hope your weekend is a fun one.  :)

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Clarification of Question by bluesky-ga on 10 Apr 2003 18:25 PDT

Well, on one hand, no, none of the leads you provided panned out, but
on the other hand they did help eliminate some of the possibilities.
It doesn't look like I'll find it for this weekend. As a fellow
researcher, I understand what effort you put into this. Pease post it
as an answer so you can get credit, you did quite a bit of work.
Thanks!!

Thanks, Bluesky, for the opportunity to answer the question - you are
quite generous to offer me the question fee.  I did do quite a bit of
research but didn't post it as an answer because I couldn't find a
salesperson in a San Francisco store to say "Yup, we have just what
you want in stock!"

I do favor the look of the one at the Sky Mall but I also think the
PlayHut blue screen room is a good buy and it came in at about half
what you specified in price.

I did locate the "Sky Mall" Excalibur cabana you liked for $89.95 at
http://www.shoppingspreez.com/Gifts-and-Specialty/Executive-Gifts/s_111575.html
and they have a slightly different model at
http://www.shoppingspreez.com/Gifts-and-Specialty/Executive-Gifts/s_111576.html
for $69.95 (there's one similar to the latter at
http://www.planetbig.com/go/catalog/pages/screenroom.htm for $79.95).

Greetings Bluesky:

I first phoned the Sharper Image in Union Square and they didn't have
the item and suggested I try Eddie Bauer.  I phoned the Eddie Bauer
store and they said that most of their low-end camping equipment and
tents are handled by Target.  The gentleman at EB suggested I phone
the Daly City Target store.

I phoned that store and a lady named Ruena (sp?) said they did have a
self-opening tent for children (which is referenced in the link you
provided "Great for young campers, too") and she took my phone number
and said she would check the dimensions of their self-opening tent. 
She phoned back to say that they didn't have a self-opening tent, just
unassembled canopies and regular you-assemble-it tents.

I then called SportMart in Daly City as suggested by Ruena - they have
a child's pop-up tent but the guy who helped me said that, from the
picture on the box, it appeared a child could not stand up in it.

I then searched the general ["san francisco" pop-up tent] and found a
site called California Fun Toys in a paid link.  Located at
http://cftoys.com/popuptents.html are numerous pop-up shelters and
tents.  I phoned their number and left a message with them to see if a
pick-up is possible at their warehouse in Santa Ana (which appears to
be about 379 miles from you according to
http://www.symsys.com/cgi-bin/citydist?block1=Santa+Ana%2C+CA&block2=San+Francisco%2C+CA)
or if they know of a dealer near you.  If they phone back with
anything positive, I'll post it here for you.

I would liked to have located the cabana for you and I wanted to let
you (and other Researchers) know my Search strategy by posting it here
in the Comments.  You may want to go ahead (since it's Wednesday) and
see if there's next-day air from SkyMall on the pop-up cabana.

SEARCH STRATEGY:

"san francisco" pop-up cabana
"san francisco" portable cabana
"san francisco" "eddie bauer"
"san francisco" "sharper image"
Target Daly City California
"san francisco" self-opening tent
Sportmart California
self-opening tent San Francisco
"san francisco" pop-up tent

PS  Tinker Tots in Anaheim shows the blue pop-up screen room in stock.
 See http://www.tinkertots.com/outsceenroom.html - they are about the
same distance as Santa Ana but it's another possibility.

Also, the contact numbers for California Fun Toys are 714-557-2553 or
800-223-8697 and please check the "Where to buy" list from Playhut at
http://www.playhut.com/where_to_buy.php to see if you recognize any
names of stores located in or near San Francisco.