Take this with a grain of salt, but my friend who works at GameStop says they got in loads of Skyrim today, so expect to start seeing people "acquiring" it before the 11th if it's in stores.
I will be getting it at midnight release 11/11, but I imagine if it's in stores somebody is going to buy, steal, put out on display accidentally or whatever and we'll start seeing people with legit copies soon.
Comments
http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/profiles/blogs/very-upset-prepare-for-rant-p
says that someone was trying to sell their significant other a retail version of the game.