At WalMart, their DVD sales may have indeed become stagnant, but I blame that on the fact that they cling to their prices for WAY too long. They'll have a DVD for $19.99 for 8 or 9 months, often longer. $13 DVDs are $13 seemingly forever. $9 DVDs become $10 (fer cryin' out loud). $7.50 DVDs disappear. And the $5 DVDs remain the ones nobody wanted anyway. They cling to their prices so badly that it sours any sales they might have wanted to make to me. Knowing I can get them cheaper online doesn't help either, but WalMart should know that. That they don't is a travesty for them, and consequently their DVD sales have dropped. If they would have exciting sales on DVDs like most others, it would attract the people (like me) who have long since grown tired of seeing the same old shit at the same old prices, thus solving their lagging DVD sales. But not WalMart. They'll cling to their prices for 8, 9 months, sometimes longer, and their DVD sales are guaranteed to lag. It's like the brainless people in marketing can't figure that out. Aren't they supposed to be college educated? Aren't they supposed to be smarter than everyone else? Why should someone with only a high school diploma know how to solve their lagging DVD sales?


And yes, I agree that we need a Bargains thread for WalMart, but I just wish they'd get on board with the bargains... -kd5-

I saw this LionsGate 4 pack for $5 : Horror 4 Film Pack (Drive Thru / Creep / Boy Eats Girl / Tamara)



The problem is that they already had Boy Eats Girl in another previous $5 4 pack:

Saw a bunch of $6 blu-rays yesterday. Only picked up WAY OF THE GUN (2000) since I already had the other titles on DVD and don't feel the need to upgrade them.

Also, finally found the 4-film collection of the LEPRECHAUN (parts 1-4) movies.

It would have made more sense to keep Boy Eats Girls in the first one and put Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave with the other two RotLD movies.

I do not believe for one minute the world's biggest retailer is naive when it comes to DVD sales. What I do believe (and not KNOW) is that we are probably not the target consumers Wal-Mart is after. From my understanding WM does not have "sales" like other retailers. They might mark things down (which I guess is a "sale"), but they do not offer weekly sales in their circulars.

I usually swing past the DVD section when I'm in there, but mostly to see if there are any TV 2packs (which my WM has removed!) or Ringu sitting on top of the $5 bin. I'll glance over their selection -- but as most have pointed out, it is the same old stuff at the same old prices.


Contrast that with Target, where I saw a bunch of Touchstone-released-under-Millcreek titles for $2 (Gross Anatomy, Straight Talk, Another Stakeout, Alice in Wonderland Double Feature,etc. The BR's were $5). Plus they have the 2-packs of movies

Walmart's policy is to pricematch any competitor's advertised prices, so in theory their price is equal to the lowest advertised price in your area. It's the catalog titles where Walmart's selection, even more than their pricing, is problematic for me. I don't expect them to stock art house films or foreign releases, but even their relatively recent mainstream selection can be sketchy.

Around Black Friday, they put a boatload of old titles on sale for $5 (online) and I bought 25 of them. Had to sneak them into the house to avoid catching holy Hell from my wife. The titles were all of the Errol Flynn / Bette Davis / Jimmy Cagney variety (ie. not public domain, crap titles)

I check their website about once a week, looking for the same sale. No luck so far.

We don't have Big Lots in Hawaii, unfortunately. Sad as that may be, I'm not planning a move back to the Mainland just so I can take advantage of all the shopping opportunities I'm missing by living here. It's a huge sacrifice but one I'm willing to make.

Because I honestly believe that WalMart's target consumers is ALL OF US, I have to disagree that their marketing department is not somehow missing the mark. I'm not saying they're naive, I'm saying they're stupid for not moving product in the most advantageous methods available. WalMart is in business to move product and make money (and not necessarily in that order). If they want to move more product (and make more money), they'll price DVDs to sell sell sell. But they aren't doing that, they're sitting on their inventory (pricing stagnant), selling tens of thousands when it could be hundreds of thousands of DVDs, moving product, making room for new product, getting with the program. But no, it's WalMart. -kd5-

I know what you mean about that sale. I didn't jump on it because I thought, for some reason, those were permanent price reductions and regret that now.

I also know what you mean about sneaking titles into the house

My local WM just restocked/redesigned their movie section as well, a few innteresting new titles scattered about - picked up The maltese Falcon (with the "Warner night at the movies" extras) for $5

Or bump that god awful Dead And Gone for ROTLD: RFTG.

For the most part, I don't think very many retailers take into account the bargain hunter when pricing their items (Except maybe on BF). The only thing they may do is try to prevent us from getting the uber-deals which someone on SD or DVDTalk will figure out given the opportunity. It's hard to argue without really looking at their sales figures and understanding their strategies. The uninformed blue-collar worker who rents moves at Blockbuster for 4.99 a night will probably think they are getting a deal in picking up "13 going on 30" in the $5 bin. $9 for a movie they really want to see may not seem that bad. Unless you spend time in these forums, $5 for any movie seems to be an OK deal for most people. It's hard to know exactly, but I doubt they would continue to make the same mistakes if they weren't making money.

I found "The Jewel of The Nile" 1980's Michael Douglas flick in the bargain bin for $5. I don't mind paying $5 if there is a classic film that Walmart has in stock that I want to add to my collection. It's hard to beat $5 especially if you order online and figure in the shipping costs.

I do agree that Walmart sets on their prices far too long when they could mark the items down after a while and draw more customers into their store looking for bargains. It's cheaper to buy a tv series off ebay and pay shipping than to buy at Walmart most of the time.

I would venture to say that 95% of the people shopping in Walmart do so out of necessity not bargain hunting.

The only good thing I have seen about Walmart's selection of dvds lately is the addition of classic films for $5, sadly I already own most of the ones showing up though.

I think generally speaking that Walmart targets the casual dvd shopper. A lot of the shelving has no rhyme or reason for the organization. If they organized better, I would be more apt to stop there on a regular basis. If I happen to go to Walmart to pick something up, I'll breeze through the section and generally look at the end caps and the blu ray prices. I will rarely look through the dump bin because I just don't have the patience for it anymore. With blu ray coming down, I am less likely to plunk down $5 for a single disc, regular dvd title. I've become much more selective at Big Lots also. When Walmart drops their price point to $3 or even 2 for $5, you'll see me digging through that bin like a Criterion collector on the hunt for a legit copy of Salo

Gotta get the 2nd one!

Question for those that find things in the bin: where in your store is the bin located? I haven't seen it at mine for a while and have only come across $5 titles on shelves like the other DVDs are. I'm kind of hoping maybe they just moved it to a different section that I'm not looking in, but that doesn't seem too likely.

Some stores still have a dump bin, others put the $5 DVDs in regular racks. My main Wal-Mart has one endcap filled with $5 DVDs, and then a second section down that aisle with more $5 DVDs.

I never find some of the deals that people do at my local walmart, I think it is very hit and miss
at least in my area

There are 2 stores here. One *large* one and a smaller one. The large store has the dump bin in the DVD area. It's at the "head" of the "isle" between 2 double-sided shelving units. This "isle" has other free standing displays to provide some separation of the longer, standard, shelving. The smaller store does not have a dump bin. It has a small shelf section of $5 titles.

Tonight I picked up a copy of The Last Starfighter: 25th Anniversary Edition for $5. But here's a bit of news: I bought Breach a few weeks ago at a different Wal Mart for $5, and this one was selling it for $8 !!! (This DVD was on a cardboard stand in the traffic aisle vs. in the run. I did check the details on the price sticker, in case the disk had been put there by mistake.) So not only did they eliminate their $9 price bracket, but they drastically increased the price of certain $5 titles. And you know what...they will still sell. But I don't tend to have a problem with Wal Mart ripping me off, as I've never given them more than $5 for a single disk.

As for their dump bins (and any bins where the movies are just thrown in without order), I've started avoiding them. Having the corners of keepcases rubbing against the front and back covers of other keepcases (particularly if there's only an eco-box behind those covers) can lead to a warped, torn, or generally ugly looking insert once the package is unwrapped. Not even for $5, thanks.

at the milford DE store I picked up

appaloosa
the patriot
king of kings
the right stuff


all were in the 5.00 bin or the 5.00 rack

The Shrek 4, donkey Christmas 2 pack is $10.

I picked up the "4 Movie Marathon: Dark Comedy Collection (Serial Mom / Nurse Betty / Very Bad Things / Your Friends & Neighbors" for 5.00 All at 16x9 and are on two disks

this was at the milford DE store

Not technically a deal but I noticed a Hellraiser III/Hellraiser IV two-back in the $5 bin (which is not a bad price); but the big news for me is that Hellraiser III is going back in print this week after fetching a high price on second hand market. It seems like this set was put out early too.