Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

I agree with you on that. It would astound me how BB would send their Steelbooks out.

But then again, don't count on Amazon to not do the same thing. I get media from them constantly that is banged up because of poor packing/shipping.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Posted this in the videogame forum but if this is true, this is also no good:

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

I may have just gotten lucky but they shipped my GotG v3 Steelbook in a box with proper cushion paks. I was shocked.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

This is unfortunate for my family. We use the BB CC and ensure we use it on the bonus categories. We also bank the points. Then we use hose points for physical media purchases. If not for that we'd hardly spend on the larger ticket items.

It is also unfortunate for all of us who still purchase physical media. Because often the sales we see at Amazon etc are the result of BB or others having items on sale.

Which could lead to physical media being often higher than now. Which may begin to price itself out favor. Which may then reduce people's purchases. Which then may lead bean counters to say physical media is selling even worse than now.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

It's impossible to say I'm shocked by the news. The only real surprise is knowing about it ahead of time.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

It sucks but I can’t say I’m surprised. I don’t have a Best Buy in town to go to but I do occasionally order something from them online.

The part that worries me more is when other retailers follow suit. Target essentially already has eliminated their movie section. Walmart is probably close to it starting with games and then slowly getting rid of movies.

I guess it’ll be Amazon or direct from places like Shout, WB Archive, etc.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Not surprised. Over the years physical media has gone from the very front of the store as soon as you walk in, to the middle of the store past the cell phones, all the way to the back corner beyond the vacuum cleaners. The section has also gotten smaller and smaller with each movie.

I honestly can’t remember the last Blu-ray I bought at Best Buy. I buy so few anymore that it’s just as easy for me to pick up a new release at Target when I run in for some other item.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

It's sad, but I guess I'm part of the problem. I don't buy anything on release day anymore. I usually wait until it's on sale for $9.99. I finally bought No Time To Die and The Fabelmans this week. They were on sale for $9.99 and $10.99. I'm going to miss seeing discs in store and making impulse buys. I'll really hate when physical games go away.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

That sucks

I remember I would be there almost all the time on Tues in the aughts browsing and buying DVDs and CDs.

Sucks there will be a monopoly and less stores carrying them.

I miss Circuit City too.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Is Amazon doing well with their physical media sales or enough for them to continue that part of their business or will they join the other retailers in a couple of years?

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

If anything Amazon has become the go to spot for the majority of physical media sales. I don't see how they would give that up.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Bullmoose is a great all-around option. DeepDiscount is alright, especially when they have 15% coupons going, if a far cry from the steep discounts they used to offer. Its sister site Movies Unlimited has monthly coupons that can be pretty irresistible. GRUV’s selection isn’t as expansive as other retailers but has nice prices (especially after a coupon) and early shipping.

If you’re into genre stuff and imports, Orbit DVD, Diabolik DVD, and Grindhouse Video are all terrific.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

I think the last physical media I bought was in 2016, which was a Christmas gift.

For myself? Probably 2014 - World Series Bluray.

I still get stuff from Best Buy maybe once a year, but it sure isn’t physical media.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

It appears that movie physical media is going the way of the niche market that everyone has been saying it would.

That is fine with me. You tend to get rarer films, more love, cooler extras, and better packaging from the small distributors/producers than the studios.

The only issue is when you want to watch a flick and it can't be found anywhere, even streaming. I have run into that a few times already during this year's horror challenge.

Or you discover a film, want to own it but then find out there was only a small, limited number of copies made that sold out two years ago. Then the only option is paying big bucks on the secondary market.

Luckily, I have hit the age where I don't worry about that as much anymore because I own more content now than I will probably be able to view, read or listen to before I die. :lol:

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

The one thing I'll miss is the Black Friday sales. Best Buy was the biggest driver of that, and probably 75% of my annual media buying is done in the holiday season. Target's already given up on Black Friday media sales (I think they did B2G1 for the past couple years), and similarly Walmart has had an anemic Black Friday selection for the past couple years. Hopefully, Best Buy gives us one last blowout for Black Friday this year, but once they're gone, is Amazon going to be driving Black Friday bargains next year? I don't think so.

So, what is the future of media buying besides Amazon? Are we going to see more D2C from the studios, like Gruv? Is it going to be even more licensing to the boutique labels, and now everything will be at least twice as expensive as it used to be?

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Marty was right.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Sad news we all expected would happen eventually. It was circulating as early as 2019 Best Buy's executives were plotting their withdrawal from the media market. Rumors said the pandemic had pushed them to pull out even sooner. I believe the original plan was 2025-2026 but online streaming greatly picked up during the lockdowns.

A little surprised they're dropping the online store this quickly. Thought they would keep it around since servicing it isn't expensive.

The fall-out from all this is bad news for the remaining physical media market. Hollywood wants out and looking for an excuse to abandon physical releases. I'm sure the boutique labels will carry on as long as they can but it's hard seeing them carrying anything but a niche market the size of the old laserdisc segment.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Probably the latter more than the former.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

And release day used to be when you would get the best deals. Buy it for $14.99 that week, or $24.99 anytime after.....and waiting to see if it was on sale on Black Friday was truly a gamble.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Right. And if you didn't get a steelbook first day you might never see it. They trained us to wait.

On the videogame side, same thing, I'm not buying any new release a few months around BF.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

That store has been on the downward trend for a while. I remember how you used to walk in and nearly get assaulted by employees wanting to help you, but recently we were trying to buy a laptop for my teen and we practically had to beg them to talk to us. And before that we were shopping for a new TV and we would check their website to see what was on display and kept going to different stores and the TV was never out there. We even tried calling them but they all go to a centralized customer service center and they were absolutely worthless.

I will certainly miss them having exclusive steelbooks like Prey and The Wicker Man, but they haven't had much of a selection for a while now. I guess I'm going to have go all online now.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

Yeah, part of me doesn't give a shit because how they've neutered their stores and made them places I don't even want to step in. But then the other side sees the inevitable demise of physical media and being forced to use a substandard digital licensing arrangement that only benefits the studios, and this is just one more big nail in that coffin.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

It would be cool if record stores and other boutiques were to run with this and start carrying movies in greater quantities.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

I've ordered a single disc from them in the past 3 years - only because they had the best price and the "membership" had changed to free shipping on any order. They closed the store here after it was hit by a tornado ~3 years ago so no more order for local pickup (which was frequently a huge hassle anyway). I won't miss them at all.

Re: Best Buy Finished w/ Physical Media?
 

I used to spend so much money at Best Buy. I live down the street from one and never even go there anymore. This particular store sucks because they never have anything I am looking for, for instance Quest 3 launched this week and I couldn't get one from this store, would have had to go to a store 45 mins away to pick up one up. I'll still be sad when they disappear, but at this point who even cares anymore?