kd5

I'll admit, that didn't come out quite right. Knowing you people like to read things differently than I do should've clued me in.

Gizmo

My father in-law is big into movies and TV. When I first met my now-wife in 2004, I would often bring over a a few DVDs for us to watch. Nowadays he just stream Netflix/Hulu/VUDU (movies off my account) and doesn't buy anything.

Gizmo

Well, its definitely weird. They got rid of the walking aisle in the middle and essentially force consumers to either go right through the cellphones/Samung or do a weird walk-around to realign with the rest of the store.

It's clearly forced and Best Buy wants people to stop and buy a $50 charging cable. Their days are numbered anyway so let them do what they gotta do to stay alive.

E Unit

I'll miss them as much as I miss Circuit City.

DthRdrX

I was just teasing you, and the moronic layout BB has set up.

Alan Smithee

Best Buy was actually a good place to buy movies when they first came to my area (1999- and I remember they had a video feed going to all the TVs in the store that was 16x9, playing SQUASHED on all of the 4x3 TVs. Never asked their salespeople why that was, I bet their answer would've been hilarious.). Haven't bought a lot of electronics from them though- and what use will I have for more of those without anything to play on them?

mcnabb

They came to my area around 1998 (they put Nobody Beats The Wiz out of business within a year here).

BestBuy had great deals for DVD’s for new releases. Circuit City & Tower Records DVD’s were always around $24.99 where most BestBuy DVD’s were $19.99. If you bought it the week it was released, BB would mark it down to $16.99 or $17.99. I still remember I would go every Tuesday (in the heyday if DVD 1999-2004) and they would have a huge Display of every big DVD release right when you walked in.

Ringmaster

I was in a store today browsing the media department and a customer asked a sales rep if they had the original Halloween in stock. It was sad because I knew the answer was going to be "no".

Alan Smithee

That's the main thing that pisses me off about Best Buy now- they put other retailers out of business who might be doing a better job right now had they survived. The thing that really hurts here is how they put REAL media retailers out of business by undercutting them on prices- the first Best Buy here had a Virgin Megastore in the same center that went under, and of course then Tower Records folded. (I worked at Tower's main office in Sacramento the last five years they were in business, yet still bought many discs at Best Buy because they had prices on some even lower than what I could get with my employee discount. Tower didn't pay me enough for that to not matter, even though I did feel bad about it.) Seems the least that Best Buy could do now is at least keep the selection they used to have.

Gizmo

If I was a betting man, Best Buy is just getting to much money from Samsung and other brands to display their products over others. Physical Media is used to the far, far back of the store since it's not generating enough revenue (either by consumer sales or 'perks' from movie studios).

GameStop does this very well with whole shelves filled with a game studios games and/or the phone tags.

JimRochester

The only way to generate enough revenue is to make people walk through the store and perhaps get interested in something else and make an impulse purchase.

Inhumans99

Yup, DVDs/blus were always supposed to be loss leaders for Best Buy, and while I am nostalgic for the days when you could be searching their huge section of cd/dvd/blu racks on a Saturday afternoon and discover a movie or tv show you did not even realize had made it to DVD/blu and grab it to put in your cart I get that times change and on-line is how most people satiate their blu ray/dvd/cd fix.

What I am about to post is basically a repeat of something I posted earlier in this very thread, but I bet Best Buy is utterly thrilled that by basically killing off the incentive for folks to hit them up for media they do not have to deal with the dreaded devil customer who was constantly pestering them with price matches to save a quarter on a cd/dvd/blu ray, and by Best Buy being thrilled I mean Best Buy employees who must have become masters of internalizing and holding back a raging desire to choke out the customers who only came in to pick up a few cds/dvds/blus that were on sale and week in and week out price matched those suckers to boot (said customer throwing a hissy fit that got the manager involved if they did not get their price match). Heck, there were more than a few well known dvdtalkers who were like that.

Again, I remember the days of having an incentive to leave my apt. on a Saturday morning and chilling at my local BB/Frys (usually the McCarthy Ranch BB location and the Fry's Fremont even when I lived in San Jose) because I knew I could spend a ton of time there and not care if I was not at a theater watching a film, or whatever because it was cool to spend a couple hours browsing at BB and Fry's when they had a gajillion cd/dvds/blus to peruse on the racks. I just understand that time does not stand still and Fry's and BB's business practices have changed and instead of telling myself that BB and Fry's are missing out on millions, millions I tell you if they would just bring back those media racks, I am pragmatic and realize that will never happen.

Edited to add: Yup, this is basically a repost of post #33 I made in this thread.

Gizmo

Well, this isn't milk. Blu-ray/DVDs isn't a huge revenue for them anymore so sticking them in the back isn't like milk at a grocery store. They reduced stock dramatically - if it was a huge revenue boost that wouldn't have happened.

DthRdrX

Mine didn't reduce stock. They just moved it all.

Also, according to their last stock conference call, revenue was up across the board, primarily in cell phones. They stated they wanted to push high end electronics (TVS/players) while shifting more customers toward BB.com to compete with Amazon in online sales.

orangerunner

It sounds much like the major department stores. What do you see when you walk into most department stores? Cosmetics.

This is because the major cosmetic companies pay enormous sums of money to rent space in the high-traffic main floor areas. The employees you see behind the counter are actually employees of the cosmetic company, not the actual department store, giving them the added value of not having to worry about hiring and maintaining their own employees.

I'm sure Best Buy is using this concept to some degree as well. Have the major companies rent or kick-back huge money to support their product front-and-centre.

clckworang

The Best Buy I usually use just moved its media section. It's now more in the middle whereas it used to be accessible from the main front area. They also changed the organization again. The most irksome is that the UHD section no longer seems to be alphabetized. I had to go through the whole section just to find the empty spots for Bram Stoker's Dracula and Blade Runner. It was very random, but it also felt still transitional. At least they had the discount bins and standalone displays all together.

The good thing is that I think media still does pretty well down where I live. I haven't seen much of a reduction in stock.

asianxcore

The store closest to where I teach has done the downsizing that others have spoke about here. I haven't checked the store I live closest to, as they usually have a lot more Physical Media (in terms of BD/DVD) than that particular store.

Everything they originally had is now contained in an aisle and a half, displayed magazine-style.

I worked Retail in my 20s, so I understand this. It stings as I live in a County where large B&Ms are the only places to get BDs & DVDs. Anything that isn't a Target, Walmart, Best Buy or Big Lots, is about a hour (or more) drive away.

Texan26

Fry's in SW Houston just did the same thing. They moved all their blu-rays and dvds to the back next to the video games. Condensed to about one aisle. They used to have over 15 aisles of physical media. They put mattresses where the movies used to be located.

hdnmickey

Mattresses at Fry's electronics? Are they at least the air bed type use electricity?

Josh Z

My local Costco is apparently done with physical media. Last week, the movie section was reduced to just copies of Wonder Woman. Now, nothing. Completely gone.

bunkaroo

Yeah Frys here is pathetic too. Stopped in there for the first time in ages to get an adapter and saw the same movie setup. Oh and War For The Planet Of The Apes was 33.99.

dvdjunkie32

Thankfully my Best Buy hasn't downsized much. They still have a front door display of all the new release movie, cds and video games. CD selection is down to one shelf now and they have one entire shelf dedicated to 4K.

I noticed my Sam's club has completely stopped carrying physical media several months ago. It's only a matter of time before Amazon is the only way to get physical media.

BuckNaked2k

Best Buy is free shipping until XMAS w/no minimum. Why go in?

DthRdrX

I think all the Sam's Clubs in my area stopped sometime ago. We don't have any Cosco's nearby.

Josh-da-man

The Sam's Clubs I've been stopped carrying DVDs a year or two ago. The only thing they might do is have a display of the occasional blockbuster title like Wonder Woman. But even then, their price will be higher than most other places. They ditched CDs maybe five years ago.

My Costco carried some DVDs and blu-rays until, maybe, a few months ago. I remember they had quite a few BBC titles, but nothing now. Granted, they're constantly bringing in new stuff and cycling out old stuff, so it's possible some DVDs and BRs could return at some point.