Big Dave

On Sunday I had stopped in the one in Mt. Prospect, but did not look too hard and did not buy anything. Today I went back and got (totals include tax):

A Charlie Brown Christmas CD - $4.13
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas - $3.31
Ran - Criterion - $25.81
A Christmas Story 2-Disc Special Edition (someone tried to hide this) - $7.45
U2 - Rattle & Hum - $6.44
Franz Ferdinand - Live - $9.67
Fotballer's Wives - Season 1 - $22.58
Shallow Hal & Me, Myself & Irene 2-Pack - $11.61

The store was somewhat busy, but not overly crowded. These was still a good amount of DVDs left, but the shelves were starting to thin out a little.

Other non-mainstream Criterions I saw were another copy of Ran, Seven Samurai, Samurai 1, Scenes From A Marriage, Slacker, Rashomon, Hoop Dreams, and the Children Are Watching Us.

Once the discount goes to 50% I may give it another go.

Cinemaddiction

Walked out of my Suncoast for the last time this afternoon. Made out fairly decent.

Versus 2 Disc SE - $16.05 (Was $26.99)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man - $14.86 (Was $24.99)
Biozombie - $11.89 (Was $19.99)
Toxic Avenger 2 Disc 21st Ann. Ed. - $14.86 (Was $24.99)

That's including the extra 10% off a purchase of 4 or more. $40 off of a $100 purchase, I'll take it.

kenbenobi

I went to my local Sam Goody for the first time since the clearance sale started. I can't believe I found the Polar Express gift set! It was on its side, down low in the Box Sets section. Not marked at 70% off, of course. Best $13.79 I ever spent! Especially since I used a gift card... AND cuz of the $3 rebate from Cap'n Crunch cereal! Awesome score!

souvenir

This isn't supposed to be out until 3/28. Did they really have it there?

chard31

I have about $100 in credir there so I went to Sam Goody and found:

A Christmas Story for $8

Lawnmower Man $3.50

Doc Hollywood $3.50

Mars Attacks $3.50

I'll go back again when I have more time and see what else they have...

BTW: got the 40% off on the 3 because I bought 4 dvds...

Big Dave

I don't follow Criterions that much so I was tring to look on Amazon to see which covers I saw and I thought that was one of them, but I could have been mistaken. I seem to remember a child (boy) on the cover.

sumdeus

Given the release date of "The Children are Watching Us" and the description you provided could it have been "Hearts and Minds?"

Spiral Staircase

All of the Suncoasts in my area that are closing stopped receiving new shipments in early January. It is unlikely that it was The Children are Watching Us. However, in the past I have found some Criterion titles several weeks early at Suncoasts. Most recently, I found the Rebel Samurai set and Forbidden Games over a month before the release dates last year. The Samurai set was mispriced at $14.99. I also noticed that Shoot the Piano Player was mispriced at $29.99.

Big Dave

Definately not that one, the picture not look like that at all.

thedarktroll

Finally took a trip over to the Sam Goody in Ye Olde Monroe Mall, in said city, NC.

I was surprised at how well organized the store was. Didn't see too many things out of order. Flabbergasted at the sheer volume of those broken-up box set titles...they were everywhere, all at 19.99. They had FISTFUL OF DOLLARS marked at 19.99. A couple of the PUBLIC DOMAIN Brentwood or Madacy or whatever Terence Hill/Bud Spencer films at NINETEEN DOLLARS AND NINETY NINE CENTS. Three or four copies each of the BONUS DISCS from the Raiders...Ark, Star Wars, Thin Man box sets...all at $19.99. Laughable.

Still managed to find a few things as I chortled my way through the racks...

Neil Young RUST NEVER SLEEPS 13.99 NO! 8.32
George Romero's BRUISER 14.99 NO! 8.91
Goodman and Dante MATINEE 9.99 NO! 5.94 (and it's OOP--a nice find)
2-pak JEREMIAH JOHNSON / HOW THE WEST WAS WON 18.99 NO! 13.29
AUSTIN POWERS (the first one) 9.99 NO! 5.94
CANNONBALL RUN 5.99 NO! 3.56

The sales clerk told me he couldn't give me more than 30% off on the 2-pak...said the discount of 40% or more only applied to single discs. I didn't bother to argue, but it really made no sense at all. Also said he didn't know how much longer they'd be open, or when/if the discount would deepen any further---he was too busy watching a couple of people he deemed to be suspicious.

slowcloud

Man, darktroll, too bad on that desperate last-ditch scamming by your Sam Goody. My local Sam Goody treated me good, though. They had tons of box sets-- all still whole, they were also well organized and had friendly staff, plus I made some great finds, including:

Matinee for $5.94
Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park for $8.91, which was recalled a few months ago!
Blondie on Musikladen, Christmas Story and something else I cannot recall! Anyway, I also used $30 in gift certificates, so the purchase had only a few bucks of damage to the budget. I’ll probably go back in a few weeks.

kenbenobi

Why was this recalled?

slowcloud

Believe it or not, Kiss is embarrassed about the movie. Also, the company is shady and did not have the rights to release it in the first place.

CTH

You mean a group that sells KISS condoms, coffins, underwear, bowling balls, etc. is embarrassed by something?

Cinemaddiction

Phantom of the Park, you mean?

I got my copy as well, granted not as cheap. Someone paid $125 for it just the other day in a heated bidding war.

slowcloud

Yes, I know, exactly what I thought when I heard about this!

Thanks for the poke! It's like when I kept calling the Aristocrats, The Aristocats (funny that Drew Carey did the same in the movie, so my airheadedness is in good company!)

Oh, yes, I saw that. The only difference was the seller threw in a cheesy Kiss Meets the Dodgers mouse pad. Otherwise, I'd say they now average $35. Wonder if it will go up in value?

Cameron

just a not on the Kiss Dvd. Kiss has claimed on several accounts they wanted it out in the public marketplace. However it was a made for TV movie, and the owner of the rights has never seen fit to officially release it. Chezzyflicks (who has great distribution, but is greay market) put it out and was/is being pursued legally by Kiss. The reason is Kiss would not be seeing money for this. Just remember if there is money to be made, Kiss is for it. They are no more emberassed by this than any of the big haired, spandex wearing, no makeup albums they put out in the 80's.

Cheezy flicks also put out Convoy and day of the triffids last year. All have been recalled, but you may still find them on shelf at these going out of business stores.

joliom

If the Convoy DVD is any indication of their quality, I say exercise some serious Caveat Emptor. Of course if people are buying it on eBay for $125, then by all means grab as many as you can...

slowcloud

As always, very insightful info, Cameron! For those who want to look out for this title: I found it in the Action section at Sam Goody, by the way.

HTN

Just an FYI for those in the NYC area, the Suncoast in the basement of the Manhattan Mall still has (4) The Polar Express Gift Set left as of 02/28/06.

Cinemaddiction

Well, the production value of the KISS DVD is horrid. It's more or less a BETA copy of the tv broadcast thrown on a DVD-R. Good for sentimentalist like myself, but otherwise..ya know..it's crap.

Manzana

I haven't been to my 2 Sam Goody or Suncoast stores since these discounts started because my 2 stores are not closing (at least not this time). From what I remember reading in this thread, these Christmas specials and 40% off deals people are talking about are only at stores that are closing, correct?

CTH

I stopped by the Sam Goody in the Garden State Plaza yesterday. DVDs and CDs are still 30% off (40% if you buy four or more). It is getting pretty picked over but I did see two CDs I was interested in. Unfortunately with a $17.99 sticker price they arent much of a bargain at 30% off. I am hoping they drop down to 50% off before they close up for good.

Cusm

So at 30% off they are at Best Buy pricing and they are getting picked apart. Maybe that was one of their problems - one that EVERYONE commented about.

leeta

My Suncoast only has items marked at 20% off.