AaronSch

Yeah, I was at the Fry's Electronics location in Phoenix this evening picking up my copy of "Saturday Night Fever." Evidently they are the only brick and mortar retailer actually carrying this title. What a depressing sight to see the once mighty blu-ray media section reduced to just one aisle with the same sale titles regurgitated repeatedly. Gone are the movies and now cheap colognes line those shelves in what was once a great electronics store. Someone is gonna get smart and realize that there is still a large audience for packaged media that is only being served by online retailers.

jacob_b

I'd say a large audience wanting discounts and deals. I mean, there is FYE, Barnes & Nobles, Best Buy, Target, etc. that will carry packaged media. Some selections are good, some aren't. But it's because they just don't move on the shelves like they used to.

By the way, what IS the promo code?

AaronSch

There were 3 FYE stores in the Phoenix market two years ago and now there is but one small location. Not all Barnes & Noble locations carry packaged media any longer and the other retailers simply do not have the space to devote to a large selection. People have always sought discounts and deals... ALWAYS, that is nothing new. The market determines value and price. Not some moron sitting in his parents basement saying you don't support packaged media because you won't spend $30 on a movie. These people are economic morons. A local retailer that started in 1980, Zia Record Exchange, now boasts 5 Phoenix locations as well as locations in Tucson and Las Vegas. They have figured out how to sell media and attract buyers. Yesterday, the store closest to me was packed...I don't like crowds so I left quickly. What do they sell? Used and brand spankin' new LPs, CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, video games, comics, books, memorabilia, T-Shirts, toys, etc etc... Don't tell me there isn't an audience for these retailers to tap into! They've just done a piss poor job identifying those customers and driving the traffic into their stores. Every time I go into Zia Records and make any purchase I get a 20% discount card on any one item for simply going online and describing my shopping experience in their stores. They offer local as well as up-and-coming music acts the venue to perform. They create buying events where they regularly offer Buy 3 Get 1 Free...etc etc. And if I am seeking a particular title new or used they will either order it for me or put me on a waiting list and call me if it is traded in!







The large national retailers simply resorted to just looking at spread sheets and have forgotten how important it is to know your customer. They are morons in suits who only survived because there was plenty of disposable income and a growing economy. They went off to school to earn a worthless degree or MBA but never really ran so much as a lemonade stand (like a recent feckless chief executive now on the speaking circuit...good riddance!). They would learn far more by simply talking to their sales associates and customers face-to-face. That's why local retailers like Zia Record Exchange and Bull Moose appear to be thriving in a shrinking market..they know their customers. I drove a good 20 miles across town to pick up a copy of "Saturday Night Fever." I spent $14.99 and couldn't find anything else on the shelves I desired. Those shelves were packed with the same damn titles Frys Electronics has been selling at discounted prices for the last few years. They probably could have easily squeezed another $20-$30 bucks out of my wallet. If you don't create an exciting environment, offer a wide selection and have low-cost items that are uniquely suited to your overall product category you won't have traffic. And that lost traffic will never see the newest large screen displays, audio equipment, lap tops, phones etc etc... Consumers may buy new electronic equipment every few years, but small items can drive them into your stores weekly. People still like to shop. These retailers have simply failed to give them a reason to stop in their stores. I strongly believe this economy is finally starting to take on steam and I wonder if the surviving national retail chains have a strategy to exploit that new reality. I doubt it. But that's just as well, because they are creating a huge void that will be filled by new entrepreneurs.

This message is for Fry's Electronics and Best Buy: Why don't you hire someone to monitor these websites and forums to find out what your target customers are saying and determine what they are excited about and learn something more valuable than anything on your spreadsheets? How 'bout talking to Arrow, Twilight Time, Kino Lorber, Olive Films and the major studios to develop a strategy for brick & mortar sales? The customers who still buy movies are more likely to drop the big bucks on your audio and video equipment as well. This is Marketing 101. Put down the spreadsheets and textbooks and get back in the trenches!

PhantomStranger

Most retail stores only ever carried media as a loss-leader to drive traffic to their stores. Even in the salad days of DVD sales, the margins at retail were never great.

We are now in a market cycle where the anti-media trend is in a feedback loop that will all but end its retail availability. I just don't think there will be much left at retail by the Christmas of 2018.

CD sales dropped over 20% in a single year due to the format's collapsing presence at larger retail chains. Once a media format has to be purchased through the Internet, almost all impulse purchases disappear, hastening the decline.

I would love to see a healthy physical media market in stores but I am a realist. Millennials are destroying retail with their shopping habits.

E Unit

Jesus, take this "all physical media is doomed" shit to the right thread.

Fry's does this every year leading up to the Memorial Day sale. Then their anniversary sale is after that. Hopefully they'll start adding in some 4K's for really cheap prices then.

jacob_b

Completely agree with this. Especially the millennials part because they would rather stream (legally or illegally) anything they want (especially with the Firestick stuff).

As for me, still waiting on that code for Fry's so I can pick up a few blu rays.

AaronSch

Sorry but you're wrong… Their anniversary sales used to be far more enticing… The items they are offering for their anniversary have been offered all year long for the last few years.…they've become a dumping ground for Universal's dead catalog titles. The point being made here isn't that physical media is dead but that retailers have failed to serve those still interested in buying physical media. Sometimes you have to do more than throwing shit on the wall and hoping it sticks. Fry's Electronics was dead as hell on a Saturday. I remember when you had to wait in a long line just to check out…This has less to do with the death of physical media and and more to do with the inept management of Fry's Electronics. When your audience is shrinking you need to change strategy and that doesn't mean abandoning those that are still buying. You find out what they want not what you can unload.

AaronSch

Here in Phoenix, one local retailer is offering the same stuff Best Buy and Fry's Electronics are abandoning and they are filling their 5 Phoenix stores with customers. I guarantee you many of the buyers are millennials. Retail stores are closing across the country. It's not just media….Many specialty clothiers and the sellers of housewares are shutting their businesses. They simply haven't adapted to compete with online… My mention of Zia Record Exchange was just one example of how a retailer can survive and flourish.

AaronSch

This is exactly what's happening. They are laying the groundwork for their own demise. Again, relying on spreadsheets and not catering and nurturing their consumer base.

Jon2

That's pretty much it. Everything you've posted jibes with my own observations/conclusions. It's sad what's happened.

Been a regular Frys shopper since they opened in Phoenix... or I was. Now I often find better deals at BB. Done very little media shopping at Frys the past year+. They just don't have the deals like they used to. Their movie section has been on the decline ever since they stopped organizing by genre. They also used to have a good selection of books and software. Now it's toys and As-Seen-On-TV stuff. Even their computer dept is a shell of what it used to be. Thinking about it, every dept is like that. I'll be surprised if the Phoenix stores are still open by 2020. Doubt their other locations are any better off. Just got back from San Diego and the two Frys I went to didn't look much better, retail content-wise... although the San Marcos area store is still awesome looking with it's Jules Vernian 20,000 Leagues decor.

I've known of Zia since the 80s, but it's only been the last 2 to 3 years I've been going there on a regular basis. Now I stop in every week or more often. I've been making more and more media buys there so it's my go to place these days. The only place where I might buy more is Amazon or other online retailers when they have a sale. Don't know how it happens, but they will even have previously-viewed deals on stuff that was released that day. It's also fun because I've found many deals simply by looking thru their selection. I'll pull out a previously-viewed, marked-down title only to find out it also has another sticker on it with an even lower price.

And they also carry used books. Mostly used, but a few new. And comics. And memorabilia.

laidbacklarkin

Each of the Universal Monster Legacy sets will be $19.99 after promo code 5/14 thru 5/19

http://frys.com/search?search_type=r...6premail051517

Ad:
http://images.frys.com/art/email/051...p/mon_web.html

rbrown498

Also in the ad, the following Blu-rays are $7.99 each:

10 Cloverfield Lane
Everest
Bad Moms
Kubo & the Two Strings
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Lucy
Top Gun 30th Anniversary Steelbook
Transformers: Age of Extinction
American Pie 4-Movie Collection
Saturday Night Fever (Director's Cut)
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Jurassic World
World War Z (Unrated)
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Anniversary Edition)
Schindler's List (20th Anniversary LE)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 / Kill Bill Vol. 2 Double Feature
The Big Lebowski
Titanic
Saving Private Ryan
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

AaronSch

Now you're talkin! I'm picking up the Mummy and Dracula sets today.

AaronSch

I have no doubt we've bumped into each other...I will sometimes spend a whole Saturday driving from one Zia Record Exchange to another and emptying my wallet in the process. I've rebuilt my collection in the last 3 years by shopping at these stores regularly.

DVD Polizei

Saturday Night Fever Director's Cut? Hell yeah, baby!

E Unit

I found the Frankenstein and Wolfman sets sitting on the shelves. I ordered them from Amazon for $26.99 each. So Amazon is getting theirs back.

What's funny is that I didn't see the Dracula and Mummy sets on the shelves, so I bought them on my phone for store pickup. I never got the confirmation that they were ready, so I left. Of course as soon as I get home, I get the confirmation email that they're ready for pickup. Then I get a call from their customer service. They're voicemail said for "legal" reasons, the sets could not be purchased until tomorrow. Of course nothing in the system preventing them from selling these sets to me today.

MooMooMooMoo

Re: the Universal Monsters set: I have 12/12 firmware that for various reasons is not upgradeable. Until last month, I never ran into a disc that wouldn't play (I have 102 blu-rays that will play; including UK discs). In the last month I had unsolvable issues with Midnight In Paris & Frida.

Is anyone familiar with the copyguards on these? Will my older firmware likely be able to play them? (I may be asking this a lot from now on).

I'd appreciate it if answers could be limited to whether they'll play on my Oppo-95, rather than opinions on my choices.

laidbacklarkin

'Quantum Leap' and 'Knight Rider' each $39.99 after promo code - valid 5/31 and 6/1

http://www.frys.com/search?search_ty...0premail053117

laidbacklarkin

The Three Stooges - Vol1 and Vol2, each $2.99 with Promo code for the week 6/25 - 7/1

http://frys.com/search?search_type=r...4premail062517

laidbacklarkin

All four Universal Monster Legacy sets at $18.99 each after promo code - valid only today 7/3

http://frys.com/search?search_type=r...141788+9158798

laidbacklarkin

$4.99 each on the weekly sale ending Saturday 8/19. Notable addition is the new 'King Kong - Ultimate Edition' from Universal. Other titles have been offered at this price before

http://www.frys.com/search?query_str...4premail081317

All four Universal Monster Legacy sets are $19.99 each until 8/19

http://www.frys.com/search?query_str...4premail081317

MooMooMooMoo

Wish Fry's was closer to me. The tax + shipping makes the boxes too pricey, & it's too long of a drive for the $5.00 titles.

laidbacklarkin

5 4K titles (+ Digital HD) at $10 each if you purchase in sets of 3 as Frys has a B2G1 on all 4K titles this week (it says with Promocode but you don't seem to need one as sale prices and offer apply without one)

The Snitch - $14.99
3: to Yuma - $14.99
Ex Machina - $14.99
Dredd - $14.99
John Wick - $14.99

http://www.frys.com/search?query_str...4premail082017

I was at the Fountain Valley, SoCal store last evening and it appears like Frys has vastly increased shelf space for Arrow titles - saw a number of them. They're also running an Arrow sale this week

http://www.frys.com/search?query_str...=&from=0&to=19

laidbacklarkin

Bunch of fairly recent releases at $10 each (many are also available at Target this week for the same price - Amazon's PMing some)

https://www.frys.com/search?query_st...nlanding012118

laidbacklarkin

'Hell Or High Water' and 'Deepwater Horizon' - $4.99 each on today's sale

https://www.frys.com/search?query_st...ilanding020218