What's new

It Ain't Supposed to Be a Treasure Hunt... (1 Viewer)

Jordan_E

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2002
Messages
2,233
So, the wife went out yesterday to pick up the new Blu edition of The Fifth Element. Four B&M's later, no luck. She also wanted to pick up Dante's Peak and The Untouchables for me. Also, no luck. Best Buy...Target...Wal-Mart...Circuit City. No wonder so few titles for either format are being sold when customers who actually want to buy no less than three titles can't find even one! "So, buy 'em online!" the choir exaults. I never order online until holiday shopping season. Why pay for tax AND shipping? This is looking less like when DVD first came out and more like a treasure hunt...what's playing in HD OnDemand? At least I don't have to look for that!
 

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy
Moderator
Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 9, 1998
Messages
67,604
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Robert
You're paying for tax when you're buying them in a store. Also, I don't pay taxes for any of my online orders and in some cases, no shipping.
 

Nick Graham

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 16, 2001
Messages
1,406
Honestly, be it HD or Blu, there really isn't a single mass retailer out there (Fry's doesn't really count due to its few locations) where you can go there and KNOW that they will have what you are looking for unless they are sold out. The only one I can honestly say that about it Suncoast, and I'd never be able to bring myself to pay what they charge. Essentially, B&M is pretty worthless for HD/BD shopping, and will likely be that way for some time.

I'm a guy who prefers to buy B&M on release day - nothing beats going to a store in anticipation of a big release and holding it in your hands, but price wise and availability wise, B&M sucks in this regard.
 

Paul Arnette

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2002
Messages
2,613
Yeah, man, I hate to pile on but I agree with Crawdaddy and Nick here.

I was lucky enough to get Amazon 10% HD discount, and when combine that with Amazon Prime there little reason to go anywhere else unless you want to trade in some SD DVDs or buy titles cheaper used.
 

Jason_V

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 7, 2001
Messages
8,955
Location
Orlando, FL
Real Name
Jason
Check online before your poor wife goes to all the stores. BestBuy.com has in store pick up for online orders and you can see which stores have the disc in stock. I'm sure CircuitCity.com has the same type of service.

But you're right: it's not supposed to be a game to see which store has what you're looking for.
 

John Garcia

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 24, 1999
Messages
11,571
Location
NorCal
Real Name
John
Where do you live? At first I had this problem with certain big titles, but lately it hasn't been an issue for me.

Fry's may have a few locations elsewhere, but here (where they started) they are all over the place.

Make sure you CALL to verify CC or BB have the disc because I found that the online system sometimes says they have it and then you get to the store and they don't or it sold before you got there... I've even had that happen when I BOUGHT it online with pick-up in store option at BB. I was pissed because I had to go to THREE stores to finally get what I had already paid for.
 

Thornhill

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
168
Real Name
Tony

I buy everything online (who's got time to go out to the store, let alone three!!!) and I never pay tax. Shipping I'll pay for because I'd rather spend
a couple of bucks than drive around looking for stuff that's not there to begin
with. Amazon will give free shipping on stuff as well as Deep Discount.
It takes awhile to get the stuff but at least you won't pay for shipping if
that matters to you.
 

Paul_Scott

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
6,545

Yeah, the 10% adds up- and Amazon Prime has been well worth it.
Last week I went to three places that should have carried a certain title (sd dvd, no less) but didn't- went home defeated, immediately placed the order on Amazon, and two days later had the movies.

For so many years, Tuesdays used to be a ritual- hitting various B&Ms- now I can go for months without ever stepping into one.
Don't miss it at all.

And hell, Gas is expensive these days. Those little trips add up to another 'tax' on your purchases.
 

Nick Graham

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 16, 2001
Messages
1,406
I live in a small town in SE Kansas (population just under 8000), however I am in Tulsa weekly on business and in KC often - even in the cities, selection on BD and HD is pretty poor if you are wanting anything other than the new big releases - catalog titles are still pretty sporadic in what is carried and what is not.
 

Jason_V

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 7, 2001
Messages
8,955
Location
Orlando, FL
Real Name
Jason

Forgot that part. But that does lead to another problem: people in the stores who know less about product than we do. Never ceased to amaze me when I worked at BB how dumb the media prods could be.
 

Jordan_E

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2002
Messages
2,233

Exactly!
My wife DID call BB and they said: "Oh, we have plenty of copies of The Fifth Element!" She went there, one copy, and it was the old edition! She was royally pissed! It was only then, being hacked as she was, that she hit the other stores which were within a few blocks.

Amazon here charges tax (Amazon is based here), their service has been only so-so for me (my Buttkicker purchase from them drove me away from THAT place for a good long time!), and I simply don't care for waiting on the mail. Fry's is a good 30 miles away and is usually a once-a-month trip. Oh well, the studios loss. Will wait for them from Blockbuster Online, me thinks.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,807
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top