interesting post - I also enjoyed the link "is blu-ray worth the price' video.

http://screenrant.com/best-buy-reduc...k-pauly-81532/

Wait until the DVD forum reads this article. A lot of people here are going to start jumping off bridges.

It's only a matter of time before Target, K-Mart and Wal-Mart follow suit. Are those the only other national chains still around?

Optical media is being phased out. The article is exaggerated though. DVD is only being shrunk like 20% which will be the crap no one buys.

Best Buy will have to keep the dvd selection around for awhile though, since studios still tend to release some titles only on dvd. But overall this is a good thing because it will push bluray prices down.

It will push them up, not down, if the cheaper alternative is not available.

Doesn't surprise me at all.

Retail stores have been trimming down their DVD/BD sections every month for as long as I can remember. Most stores have a (monthly) mandatory list of DVD's/BD's to pull then send back to Manufactures for credit.

If I remember right it can range anywhere from 100-400 different titles per month.

Yeah...keep us posted on that, Sessa. I love seeing those guys freak out. Of course...

I'm not breaking the news to them, I don't want the guilt of any of their deaths on my hands. A couple of those guys there still think DVDs are superior.

Like, technologically superior? You've got to be joking.

Great. It's not like I buy DVDs anymore anyway. I remember when the Horror section was massive, now it's typically half a section.

I had to go up to Cedar Park to pick something up yesterday, so I stopped in Best Buy and they had COMPLETELY reorganized the media section.

This is a larger store layout... video games are up front with XBOX/PS3/PS3 taking up 2 aisles on one side and the Wii/DS taking up 2 aisles on the other size. Demo kiosks in the middle. to the back of the section are the CDs which are now religated to half the size of the DVD/Blu section. There are perhaps 3 different aisles of Blu and 2 of TV/DVD ... and 1 of DVD. DVD is definitely being pushed out. Also the new 'New Releases' is a kinda V-shaped thing with CDs and Blu-ray to the front... DVD is relegated to the back of the bus.

Cedar Park is usually a 'test' store... I'd expect the rollout in all the larger-type stores in time for the holiday season. Our smaller stores (Barbara Jordan... TechRidge) I'm not so sure about because they have really really small layouts already. Was at North Austin (big store) today and they still have the regular layout.

I've noticed that the last few rows of DVDs at Fry's are also becoming very bare... so it seems like this isn't just Best Buy this is happening at. I know our Target stores have greatly expanded their BD sections.

The Best Buy I usually shop at has been shrinking their DVD section for some time now.

They only have about half of the floor space dedicated to CDs that they had a year ago; most of it has now been given to shit like iPod accessories and cell phone cases. Also looks like their video game section is about half of what it was a couple of years ago.

Same thing happened at the small Best Buy near me about 2 weeks ago. I went in one day, and the entire media section had been revamped.

CD section was definitely reduced in size and SKU. (Does anybody still buy these things?) The DVD/Blu-ray section seems to have been squeezed down as well. I really can't say if there are fewer SKUs, but the footprint is definitely smaller.

I don't think they are phasing out DVDs to be replaced with Blu-ray, as they would be alienating the majority of the movie-buying public, as Blu-ray struggles to hit 15% market share each week. Rather, as another poster suggested, it's more likely an overall phase-out of optical disc-based media altogether.

I don't think it's a shift towards eliminating DVDs, it's a shift towards not having 90% of your stock being stuff 5% of your customers might buy. Borders did the same thing and took it one step further eliminating most movie sections except at stores that do a certain amount of sales.

The last retail store I know of with a massive DVD section is Barnes and Noble, but with their general prices being 2x-3x more expensive than even other brick and mortar retailers, I won't be shocked to see them eliminate a good percentage of their section.

Target will be condensing some dvd's too. Expanding their blu-ray selection soon.

Our local one just did that. They have a lot more of the TV seasons now on blu ray and pretty much just doubled their blu ray section.

This will sit well with all those angry, Blu-ray hating, DVD guys. And here I thought Blu was a doomed format.

Mines been two rows for a year now. Another Target is just one row.

This pisses me off. First Blu versions get more special features. Next, they get higher resolution. And now this? Why does the industry hate DVD owners so much?

Really? The game sections at both the stores here has nearly tripled in space. They went from about 5 single rows (two double sided and one single) to about 12-15 single rows in the past few years.

If anything the video game sections are bigger in the new store layout. The rows seemed longer, but that might just be my imagination.

They also had some consoles that apparently really wanted to be bought... a console, accessories, and games all in a Best Buy basket near the cash registers ready for people to... impulse buy? heh.

It doesn't really surpise me at all. Best Buy has tonnes of titles sitting on their shelves with the same $19.99 price tag as they did six years ago. With Blu-ray, Netflix and Redbox out there, why waste the space on dead merchandise? Even the $5 bin is gathering dust in most stores.

With DVD still averaging close to 85% of the physical market, new release DVDs will still be around for a while.

Will we see Blu-ray prices go down? I think we will. If they're smart, they know physical media is in its twilight so they may want to maximize sales while they still can.

I used to feel this way about physical media... But now, I'm not so sure. Guess we'll see how it all pans out.


As for BB and DVDs... I'm not surprised really. The only other real collector / film geek that I know has gone strictly BD and streams a lot as well.

The game section will be growing so they can show off the Move and Kinect. Movies...well, looks like no one cares anymore lol.