Some Blockbuster locations dropping Blu-Ray
 

Ok, not all the Blockbusters. But the Blockbusters in my area are dropping blu-ray. These are franchise stores (not corporate stores). But there's over a dozen in the group.

Swung by BB today. First time I'd been inside one in probably a year. I expected a big blu-ray section with some pre-viewed titles on sale. Instead I found the blu-rays tucked away in a corner. A tiny selection, maybe two racks. Nothing within the past 2-3 weeks.

I talked to the manager and asked what's up. He says there's been almost no interest in blu-rays. So the entire block of stores is fazing out blu-ray. They're not ordering any new ones. They plan to re-evaluate the situation a year from now. But until then, they're basically done with blu-ray.

Good thing I buy instead of rent.

Interesting.

May be just to expensive for franchise stores. Spending that much for one copy that may be rented once or twice vs a DVD which is much cheaper and could be rented 10-20 times before its transferred over to be sold as used. Understandable, but it does suck.

I have 5 Blockbusters in a 10 mile radius of my home. Only one had BR from the beginning, but recently even the smaller stores have started carrying BR.

My locations are expanding their selections, so they must be doing well. Thread title should read "My local Blockbusters are dropping Blu-ray".

Sigh. It says 'some' which is perfectly acceptable.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for mine to carry Blu-ray. They need to take out that stupid Game Rush that no one ever works in and put so Blu-ray in its place.

Agree, this thread title is misleading.

The Blockbuster near me said they are really going to expand their Blu-Ray selection.

Let's all play jump to conclusions --> Blu-ray is dying! Blu-ray is dying!

The blockbuster across the street has a whole long shelf dedicated to rentals and new discs. They seem to be quite popular as well, as I a lot of new releases were gone as well as catalog titles. I was hoping to rent Be Kind Rewind too :(

Of course, Irvine is a pretty wealthy area so it would be normal that more people are into it.

Most Blockbusters in my general location still have healthy Blu-ray sections. And a couple "mom and pop" video stores in my town (not a big town) started carrying Blu-ray discs several months ago. So things are looking good here. :)

Really? Irvine being wealthy? I go down there three or four times a year and I always fear I'm going to get car jacked. :lol:

What part of Irvine have you been going to? :lol: It's routinely one of the safest cities in the US.

Not sure which part, but the first time there I saw two guys run up to a car, punch the guy inside, pull him out and drive away. Maybe that's why Irvine freaks me out.

What are you talking about? Irvine is not Long Beach.

Yep.

What's wrong with posting information. Can anyone post anything other than "Blu-ray is my Plastic Jesus"? Personally, I'd like to be kept on top of what's going on.

Oh, and I still plan on buying a Blu-ray player later this year.

There's nothing wrong with posting information. But you can't expect anecdotal information to be treated as seriously as official press releases, can you? And further, these types of comments:
do seem a bit over the top to me. Don't you see any sign of chicken little-ism there?

Outstanding! Is there a particular brand/model you're waiting for, or just better prices on 2.0 players?

I'd say that most people have interest in Blu-Ray are already sophisticated and informed buyers and either look for deals to buy, or if they rent, they rent from netflix or some variation.

Well, he mentions he's still buying Blu-ray titles. I don't think he means Blu-ray is doomed. But let's face it, in the current economy, it's not the best of times for Blu-ray rentals.

Well, as usual, I'm spending $$$. Call me a sucker. The Panny BD-50 or the Sony S550. Have to wait for reviews or get a hold of some spec sheets on both. I can't find anything on them other than announcements.

I'm staying far away from Blu-Ray, so I do not mind at all.

I just posted the info because I was shocked. I doubt you'll see a blu-ray press release that says some stores are dropping the product. But it's true nonetheless.

And those comments were basically verbatim. I think his exact words were:

"There's been almost no interest in blu-ray in any of our stores. We're not getting any new ones and we're gonna start phasing it out at all our 'locations' (I forget the exact word he used). They (I guess he was referring to the owners) plan to take another look at blu-ray sometime next year. And they might bring it back then. But until then, we're basically done with blu-ray."

Like I said, I was shocked. And disappointed, because I'm basically done with DVD. I wanted to buy some cheap previewed blu-rays.

Instead I find a tiny section buried in the corner. And I use the term "buried" because it's obviously the least visited corner of the store. It's hard to explain, but if you saw the store you'd understand.

Last time I visited this store (6-12 months ago), the blu-rays had a good display in the middle and you'd notice it as soon as you walked in. This time I had to actually look for them, and it was like they'd been banished to the worst location in the store.

There was maybe 100 total. I only saw 2-3 checked out. No pre-viewed blu-rays for sale. I probably should have asked if they would sell off the remaining discs. But there weren't any titles that I didn't already own.

I own about 350+ blu-rays. Picked up most of them during the format war sales. But I'm still buying around a dozen each month. So I'm not trying to attack blu-ray.

But my family is still recovering from the death of HD-DVD. We own a player and about 100 HD-DVDs. I got my brother's family an HD-DVD player with some movies last year. And the first thing I heard on the way out of Blockbuster is "So blu-ray's dying too?"

It's hard getting them to accept the next-gen technology. Now I've got to convince them that blu-ray isn't the next HD-DVD.

Which city/state do you live in? We need the details!! :)

Glad I made the right choice in backing HD-DVD!

Roanoke, VA - Southwestern Virginia

The current economy isn't really the best of times for much of anything (except politicians running for office, but that's another story ;)). I don't think Blu-ray is really very different than anything else in that regard.