With the clock striking midnight on the east coast, it is now December 1 when The Hobbit merch is now available from most if not all major retailers.
LEGO Shop@Home is now (or should be at least) selling The Hobbit sets. Amazon has had pre-orders available for a few days now, and Walmart has listed all of the sets as well (you’ll have to search on their site for them as browsing through the categories will yield no results since they’ve been miscategorized under Models & Figures). There are also reports of the sets being available at Toys’R’Us stores. If you haven’t bought any of the sets yet, Shop@Home offers free shipping once your order total reaches over $75 and, of course, VIP points. If you’re getting all four sets, you’ll be set for free shipping.