Well, I know I got the Cowboy Bebop Movie about two weeks before its street date at a Fred Meyer department/grocery store in Springfield, Oregon. I don't know if my local Suncoast (in Torrance, CA -- the Del Amo Mall) had it that early, but he told me they'd never release it before the street date, for fear of the studio embargoing future releases.
I don't know, maybe movies and CDs do get shipped early. But believe me on this one, a videogame can get canned the day before the street date, and we'd never see it in the store.
I remember a bunch of stores were selling Mortal Kombat early.