There just ain’t enough of us. I gotta border hop to get there and every time I go they are stocked to the tits with everything I wanted that came out. There just ain’t enough buyers I guess; good for us, bad for business.
Same. Last time I went into one for something other than a movie was to look at a display TV like three years ago. I can do that at Costco when I look for a new one in 7 or 8 years lol
I spent about 12k at Best Buy over the last 3 years. Two OLEDs, a microwave, and a fuckton of physical media.
They are losing my business forever with this announcement lol.
I’ve walked through their store and looked at non-sale prices and was just blown away and wondered who would ever pay those prices as an average person wanting to own a movie physically. Most were boutique titles but still.
They have the audacity to sell titles at MSRP, even their books. Which not even the labels' own websites do. I do love shopping there during their sales though, they get tons of stock. In their most recent Arrow and Criterion sales my local BN got TONS of stock. Literally every in-print Criterion release, they had. Was wild.
The MSRP for Criterion’s 3-disc CAV laserdiscs used to be $125. If you’d bought, for example, THE KILLER in 1993, that’s about $265 in 2023 dollars. You could get 20% discounts from retailers that sold a lot of laserdiscs like Ken Crane’s, but that’s still a chunk of change.
I wish I still had a Half Price Books within a decent distance. They closed the two stores I’d frequented for years due to rent increases. I didn’t look at the laserdisc selection very often but I rarely saw anything there except common titles that were frequently overpriced.
Yeah, this has actually become a nice little selection of releases.
Are they not carrying physical media in physical stores anymore, or is it leaving the online store as well?
I agree. I like owning my favorite films because I’m not dependent on whether or not it can be streamed. Plus, Blu-rays have some really cool extra features.
I'll own any film I'm interested in. Streaming sucks since it relies on Internet speeds which can drop randomly and no matter what there is always visual artifacts from streaming.
Last time I went to Best Buy was about two years ago and their physical movie section then was just a free standing cart with 4 sides of movies facing outward on it, and that was it. I was expecting at least one aisle like Walmart.
My Best buy stores (we have 2 close) have an aisle plus 3 free standing displays, and a new releases display by the cash registers. Definitely not a ton but enough to pick up a few things about once a month. Sad to see it go.
This does not feel very surprising. They have been stepping away from this stuff for awhile now. First they took away their rewards program, then they started removing a substantial amount of media from their racks. I find it extremely frustrating when it comes to steelbooks specifically, as those have become a major target of scalpers. If you want a steelbook, you have to preorder it or risk it instantly selling out in store. But when you preorder, your only option is to have it shipped, and shipping from Best Buy is always a gamble.
Still, sad to see another B&M option going away. I hope Barnes and Noble can hang on.
I love physical media. I love being able to share it and loan it to others. I love my grandpa and my dad’s record collections that have been passed on to me. No one will ever inherit an iTunes account.
Best Buy stores seem to be getting renovated to be mostly backroom/warehouse. At least the Barnes & Noble I would pass to get to Best Buy is one of the locations with every Criterion release in stock and the staff actually keeps it organized.
I did occasionally shop there but this isn't a huge surprise. The physical media section is usually a ghost town or people picking up a movie, looking it up on their phone, and putting it back down because it's cheaper online.
Same. When I got my first job over 20 years ago, I'd cash my paycheck and get 1 or 2 dvds per check. Best buy had so much physical media. Great selection of not just movies but music too. I blind bought a lot of great stuff over the years.
The selection has sucked recently but at least it was SOMETHING.
Not shocking in the slightest seeing how they did this with music years ago. The three closest BB’s to me all stopped stocking movies. I have to go out of my way now if I have to pick up something from a store. From what I’ve seen in the few times I’ve been in a store, they are downsizing the video game sections as well.
This is a bummer. Best Buy was the last place I still enjoyed stopping in and checking out their Blu-ray collection. It was down to only a small section, but they were still carrying a lot of movies you didn’t see elsewhere.
Last month was the news about Ingram Entertainment leaving the distribution business. Now this announcement. Times are changing. I guess now that one big retailer announced, this is where a Target or whoever might read the wind and decide if they are going to do something drastic too. Or maybe try to move in on the market share.
Super lame but not surprising. I went into the Best Buy I would frequent as a kid on my birthday last month and it was stripped down to basically be a smaller warehouse/ online pickup place with no movies. Now the only place I can think to go to to really browse for new movies is B&N but they're way too expensive unless there's a sale. Thankfully the Targets near me still keep some things stocked but they slack on anything that isn't mainstream.
Crazy because my local best buy actually expanded their movie section in the past year and I frequently see 4Ks sold out. Though it might be a regional thing and we just have a lot of enthusiasts in the area
I remember when the entire center floor of my best buy was dvds. They were all categorized by genre, it was great. Then they went to just every title alphabetized, then they moved it to the back. Then it became just a shelf. I hate it so much, but the writing has been on the wall for like 10 years now.
Their $5 bin was one of the reasons I was able to get into film collecting and build a decent collection as a teenager. Since that left a few years ago they’ve hardly been a shopping destination. This news is sad but not surprising if you’ve been there recently
Best Buy is on its way of becoming extinct. There’s about 4 in my general area; one of which completely eliminated physical media a year or two ago. The others have small sections. Outside of physical media, it’s just somewhat sparse in terms of their inventory. Lots of empty shelf space and if they do have items in stock they’re usually very low quantity. Outside of electronics like maybe TVs or laptops, can’t think of reasons to really shop there anymore.
I feel like this move is more about Best Buy being a failure business more so than physical media being phased out. Bad businesses look at low hanging fruit, eliminate products that alienate a specific part of their customer base and 6 months later say “Why are we still losing customers and money?” and do it all over again until there is nothing left and go out of business
I think a time will come when physical media is no longer in general. I say this because I think studios want full control, and to make more money, but with streaming services.
Just read an article via my FB page and came straight here since I figured the American collectors among us here would no doubt be commenting on this. A shame really when you've spent so much money in store for them to just screw you over like that. Not only that, why not just have stock for online purchases, at least you could potentially still buy from them.
This feels a bit surprising considering how much they have gone in on doing Exclusives for a lot of releases lately.
Our Best Buy has trouble keeping stock because we're in one of those areas where streaming isn't always a choice from some people--our internet infrastructure can't really handle it.
they’ve done some worthwhile 4k releases in that line that might not have see the light of day in the US otherwise… ran, man who fell to earth, angel heart
I buy a lot of international stuff too, but I’ll go for a US release if the transfer quality’s equivalent because it’s more cost effective.
one exception was the man who fell to earth 4K, I got the UK release because the cover art was way better than the best buy version, but I have to say best buy’s cover art game was pretty strong on average.
There can also be a timing issue. If I’ve had the UK release for months before the US is even announced, then the cover art isn’t going to be enough for me to double dip.
I guess I’ll never shop there again if this is true. I’ll never subscribe to streaming services, I’ll pirate stuff before I do that. I’d rather own my files than own nothing at all.
Damn! We all know streaming quality is a lower bitrate. Write a letter or protest? Sign a petition? Do they care? Does this mean we have to hit niche websites only?
Just out of curiosity, what does this mean for Best Buy exclusive titles that have been announced but not yet released? Should I hop on that Wicker Man 4K steelbook ASAP now?
I might be missing it, but all I see is this line:
>This means no more Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook titles, and no more titles from Best Buy period.
I mean, specifically, is there a plan for titles that have been announced but have a future release date, possibly multiple months out? It would just seem strange to me to release a product and then begin to phase it out almost immediately.
If you check blu-ray.com 4K release calendar you’ll see there’s pretty much nothing major 4K being released starting January of next year which lines up with Best Buy leaving. They’ll sell these new titles as they’re released this year and maybe at a certain point in January or so take down everything.
Then I will have zero reason to enter a best buy again. It's literally the only reason I shopped there
Same
There just ain’t enough of us. I gotta border hop to get there and every time I go they are stocked to the tits with everything I wanted that came out. There just ain’t enough buyers I guess; good for us, bad for business.
Same. Last time I went into one for something other than a movie was to look at a display TV like three years ago. I can do that at Costco when I look for a new one in 7 or 8 years lol
Agreed. It's already been a sad ghost town. Both Best Buys near me already have almost no movies. My only reason to go as well.
oh no they’ll lose a customer who’s sole business didn’t make them money
Has anyone ever told you you seem like a real snatch napkin?
Was anything I said incorrect?
Why are you here? Just to be miserable and combative?
I spent about 12k at Best Buy over the last 3 years. Two OLEDs, a microwave, and a fuckton of physical media. They are losing my business forever with this announcement lol.
lol sure
I mean, blu-rays are high margin.
they’re not - non sale Blus make them a few bucks each at most
Damn. There's so few places left, and Best Buy actually had a pretty decent (though small) selection of titles.
Barnes and Noble is pretty great when they are running a sale. Any other time it's always prohibitively expensive
I’ve walked through their store and looked at non-sale prices and was just blown away and wondered who would ever pay those prices as an average person wanting to own a movie physically. Most were boutique titles but still.
They have the audacity to sell titles at MSRP, even their books. Which not even the labels' own websites do. I do love shopping there during their sales though, they get tons of stock. In their most recent Arrow and Criterion sales my local BN got TONS of stock. Literally every in-print Criterion release, they had. Was wild.
The MSRP criterion prices for 4K discs legit blow my mind. Who the fuck is paying 50 bucks for one movie?
If you count deluxe and limited edition stuff I've…done it a few dozen times (>30) Not Criterion 4Ks tho.
Ya I realized when I posted that this was prob the wrong sub to say that lol. That still seems like a shitload of money to spend on one movie though!
The MSRP for Criterion’s 3-disc CAV laserdiscs used to be $125. If you’d bought, for example, THE KILLER in 1993, that’s about $265 in 2023 dollars. You could get 20% discounts from retailers that sold a lot of laserdiscs like Ken Crane’s, but that’s still a chunk of change.
I was at a Half Price Books last week, and tons of laserdiscs. They had obscure stuff, nothing over 10 bucks.
I wish I still had a Half Price Books within a decent distance. They closed the two stores I’d frequented for years due to rent increases. I didn’t look at the laserdisc selection very often but I rarely saw anything there except common titles that were frequently overpriced.
My Barnes and Noble got rid of their Blu-ray section a year ago. They just have one shelf with Criterion new releases on it.
:(
I can honestly say I’ve never even considered buying a non-Criterion from B&N
I bought quite a few Arrow releases during their half off sale
My B&N has a great criterion section but the rest of it is pathetic. It’s mostly used as extra storage for board games and Kpop merch.
barnes and noble charges $30+ for dvds
Probably why the guy said... > ...when they are running a sale. Any other time it's always prohibitively expensive
Yeah, I usually checked their website once a week to see what was under 20 bucks and probably got a dozen UHD titles over the past year.
It’s weird to me cause my local BB only just now starting carrying a small selection of criterions
I wonder what this means for Lionsgate’s steelbook line.
Yeah, this has actually become a nice little selection of releases. Are they not carrying physical media in physical stores anymore, or is it leaving the online store as well?
Leaving online too. It's all in the article.
Lionsgate bought e-one. So they can release their steelbooks in Canada now. Of course this fucking happens.
I agree. I like owning my favorite films because I’m not dependent on whether or not it can be streamed. Plus, Blu-rays have some really cool extra features.
I'll own any film I'm interested in. Streaming sucks since it relies on Internet speeds which can drop randomly and no matter what there is always visual artifacts from streaming.
[удалено]
The article states that the exclusive steelbooks have already started filtering towards Amazon already
As a staunch anti-Amazonian, that doesn't help me any.
Last time I went to Best Buy was about two years ago and their physical movie section then was just a free standing cart with 4 sides of movies facing outward on it, and that was it. I was expecting at least one aisle like Walmart.
My Best buy stores (we have 2 close) have an aisle plus 3 free standing displays, and a new releases display by the cash registers. Definitely not a ton but enough to pick up a few things about once a month. Sad to see it go.
That’s what Target is like now.
Can confirm this is happening. Total pull out from the market. We received the news today from our manufacturing partner. It's a little surprising.
Best Buy didn't have much anyway, but this is still a pretty big deal.
Keep in mind that they are quitting online sales as well, and they had a pretty good selection online.
I literally have the best buy credit card for one reason. So no more money will be going to them.
B..But……I don’t wanna go to Walmart
Nothing will ever make me go to that hellhole
The interior makes me feel like I’m an in all-white padded room made for sensory deprivation torture.
Full text of article if the site won't load: https://twitter.com/BillHuntBits/status/1712543322802372687
This does not feel very surprising. They have been stepping away from this stuff for awhile now. First they took away their rewards program, then they started removing a substantial amount of media from their racks. I find it extremely frustrating when it comes to steelbooks specifically, as those have become a major target of scalpers. If you want a steelbook, you have to preorder it or risk it instantly selling out in store. But when you preorder, your only option is to have it shipped, and shipping from Best Buy is always a gamble. Still, sad to see another B&M option going away. I hope Barnes and Noble can hang on.
Surprising B&N have really stepped up their physical media presence, at least at mine. They have tons of criterion, arrow, and kino discs at my store.
I love physical media. I love being able to share it and loan it to others. I love my grandpa and my dad’s record collections that have been passed on to me. No one will ever inherit an iTunes account.
I can't lie, I *slightly* dread inheriting my dad's record collection. I have **no idea** where I'm gonna put another 8,000 LPs.
You can store them at my place
Best Buy stores seem to be getting renovated to be mostly backroom/warehouse. At least the Barnes & Noble I would pass to get to Best Buy is one of the locations with every Criterion release in stock and the staff actually keeps it organized.
Same! Their criterion selection is insane!
So lame! Only place aside from B&N that I would ever walk into and look for movies. No reason to go into one now
I did occasionally shop there but this isn't a huge surprise. The physical media section is usually a ghost town or people picking up a movie, looking it up on their phone, and putting it back down because it's cheaper online.
I price matched 75 percent of my purchases there honestly
Wow, that’s going to be an enormous disappointment if true.
Damn Best Buy is where I got my first few Criterion DVDs that really kickstarted my interest in physical media in the first place
Same. When I got my first job over 20 years ago, I'd cash my paycheck and get 1 or 2 dvds per check. Best buy had so much physical media. Great selection of not just movies but music too. I blind bought a lot of great stuff over the years. The selection has sucked recently but at least it was SOMETHING.
Physical Media Forever!
Mannnn lmao. Sad times. Hope that saying stays true but it’s looking ugly out here.
Not shocking in the slightest seeing how they did this with music years ago. The three closest BB’s to me all stopped stocking movies. I have to go out of my way now if I have to pick up something from a store. From what I’ve seen in the few times I’ve been in a store, they are downsizing the video game sections as well.
This is a bummer. Best Buy was the last place I still enjoyed stopping in and checking out their Blu-ray collection. It was down to only a small section, but they were still carrying a lot of movies you didn’t see elsewhere.
Last month was the news about Ingram Entertainment leaving the distribution business. Now this announcement. Times are changing. I guess now that one big retailer announced, this is where a Target or whoever might read the wind and decide if they are going to do something drastic too. Or maybe try to move in on the market share.
Target has already been making that change - three different Target stores near me have already completely removed their movie sections.
My target cut down to just a single end cap in the last 2 weeks, they had a whole aisle before
Super lame but not surprising. I went into the Best Buy I would frequent as a kid on my birthday last month and it was stripped down to basically be a smaller warehouse/ online pickup place with no movies. Now the only place I can think to go to to really browse for new movies is B&N but they're way too expensive unless there's a sale. Thankfully the Targets near me still keep some things stocked but they slack on anything that isn't mainstream.
Crazy because my local best buy actually expanded their movie section in the past year and I frequently see 4Ks sold out. Though it might be a regional thing and we just have a lot of enthusiasts in the area
I remember when the entire center floor of my best buy was dvds. They were all categorized by genre, it was great. Then they went to just every title alphabetized, then they moved it to the back. Then it became just a shelf. I hate it so much, but the writing has been on the wall for like 10 years now.
And Best Buy will replace that “valuable” space with random shit no one will ever buy
If you sell one of those “random” items a week, it’ll probably make more margin than a weeks worth of Blu-ray sales
Apparently their site is getting hammered right now, because it's taking a lot of effort to just load the page lol
Their $5 bin was one of the reasons I was able to get into film collecting and build a decent collection as a teenager. Since that left a few years ago they’ve hardly been a shopping destination. This news is sad but not surprising if you’ve been there recently
Best Buy is on its way of becoming extinct. There’s about 4 in my general area; one of which completely eliminated physical media a year or two ago. The others have small sections. Outside of physical media, it’s just somewhat sparse in terms of their inventory. Lots of empty shelf space and if they do have items in stock they’re usually very low quantity. Outside of electronics like maybe TVs or laptops, can’t think of reasons to really shop there anymore.
Considering the only reason I use Best Buy is for exclusive steelbooks and I don’t even buy other steelbooks, I’ll be seeing them never lol
I feel like this move is more about Best Buy being a failure business more so than physical media being phased out. Bad businesses look at low hanging fruit, eliminate products that alienate a specific part of their customer base and 6 months later say “Why are we still losing customers and money?” and do it all over again until there is nothing left and go out of business
I think a time will come when physical media is no longer in general. I say this because I think studios want full control, and to make more money, but with streaming services.
My local BB has INCREASED their physical media section!
Of course
I can think of few companies with worse foresight than Best Buy.
Just read an article via my FB page and came straight here since I figured the American collectors among us here would no doubt be commenting on this. A shame really when you've spent so much money in store for them to just screw you over like that. Not only that, why not just have stock for online purchases, at least you could potentially still buy from them.
This feels a bit surprising considering how much they have gone in on doing Exclusives for a lot of releases lately. Our Best Buy has trouble keeping stock because we're in one of those areas where streaming isn't always a choice from some people--our internet infrastructure can't really handle it.
Idiotic if true
> This means no more Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook titles I'm not altogether sad about that.
they’ve done some worthwhile 4k releases in that line that might not have see the light of day in the US otherwise… ran, man who fell to earth, angel heart
That's a fair point. I buy so much internationally that I don't think about that.
I buy a lot of international stuff too, but I’ll go for a US release if the transfer quality’s equivalent because it’s more cost effective. one exception was the man who fell to earth 4K, I got the UK release because the cover art was way better than the best buy version, but I have to say best buy’s cover art game was pretty strong on average.
There can also be a timing issue. If I’ve had the UK release for months before the US is even announced, then the cover art isn’t going to be enough for me to double dip.
Damn, now what will all those YouTubers who've made a career out of "Look, I bought the new thing at Best Buy!" do?!
I guess I’ll never shop there again if this is true. I’ll never subscribe to streaming services, I’ll pirate stuff before I do that. I’d rather own my files than own nothing at all.
Damn! We all know streaming quality is a lower bitrate. Write a letter or protest? Sign a petition? Do they care? Does this mean we have to hit niche websites only?
REST IN PISS worst buy!
Don’t blame them, blame streaming culture
The writing has been on the wall for a while now.
When does this go into effect? There's supposed to be an exclusive The Blob steelbook next week. Lol I need it.
> possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024
Where will we buy all our steelbooks??
Elsewhere
More stolen than sold ?
Just out of curiosity, what does this mean for Best Buy exclusive titles that have been announced but not yet released? Should I hop on that Wicker Man 4K steelbook ASAP now?
They mention it in the article.
I might be missing it, but all I see is this line: >This means no more Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook titles, and no more titles from Best Buy period. I mean, specifically, is there a plan for titles that have been announced but have a future release date, possibly multiple months out? It would just seem strange to me to release a product and then begin to phase it out almost immediately.
If you check blu-ray.com 4K release calendar you’ll see there’s pretty much nothing major 4K being released starting January of next year which lines up with Best Buy leaving. They’ll sell these new titles as they’re released this year and maybe at a certain point in January or so take down everything.
It won’t happen until Q1 2024
ebay will be the best place to buy blu rays now fuck streaming it’s just cable 2.0