Big Lots question

It's a dice throw. Sometimes I'll go there and there will be nothing worth purchasing, but there are those times where I wipe out my budget purchasing Movies and TV Series on DVD. What can I say? It's either Feast or Famine, but when you're hot, you're hot, when you're not you're not!

^What William said. It's a major crap shoot at BL. You must be an opportunistic purchaser and not specifically looking for any title other than those mentioned in the BL Bargains thread. Even then the store(s) in your area may not get a title mentioned. I regularly post what I see listed on another forum and see at the store here. I'm currently waiting for some Disney titles to show up but even if they do what I'm looking for may not get a single copy here. For example, on Black Friday 2010 BL had *lots* of TV seasons at $6 each. The store here got 8 trays (about 24 sets per tray) of the same 12 titles while other stores got as many as 30 or so different tiles.

It's very good to get to know the staff - be a "regular" so they know why you're there. Often I'll have someone tell me when I walk in the door if there are new DVDs out. Of course the first thing I do when walking in the door is check the DVDs.

It also helps to find out when they put the new stuff out. Here it's typically Thursday (day after the truck) and Saturday (day before the flyer), although there are times when it seems somewhat random as far as DVDs are concerned. It can depend on store traffic and how many stockers are available to put new stuff out.

Also join the "Buzz Club", especially if you make regular purchases of $20+. You get advance notice of sales and special discounts. This Saturday you get 20% off your purchase if you're a Buzz Club member (you can join that day before you check out and get the discount). Sunday is a 20% off coupon sale. If you don't get one, print this:

What exactly have you guys found in there? The only tv series I've found are junk like Laguna Beach and the Hills. Occasionally, they'll have former rental copies of stuff like "The Shield." I've gotten dozens of good movies for my collection but no tv series. Once a while they'll get a shipment of blurays for about $8 each (stuff you can probably find in BestBuy for the same price anyway). Can't say BigLots has done much for my tv-on-dvd collection (I lie--I did get season 1 of Knot's Landing for about $6).

A couple of summers ago there were quite a few WB animated sets: The Flintstones (s1, S2, S3, S4, S5), Jonny Quest, Top Cat, Josie and the Pussycats, SpaceGhost, Birdman and Galaxy Trio, Batman TAS (S1, S2, S3), Superman animated, Pinky and the Brain (all sets), Animaniacs (all sets), Tales from the Crypt, and more - all were $3 set/season.

Last Black Friday there was:
7th Heaven S3, S5, S6, S8, S9
90210 (The CW one) S1
Beverly Hillbillies S2
Beverley Hills 90210 S4
Bosom Buddies S1
Brady Bunch S1, S2
Brotherhood, The S1
Cannon S1V1
Caroline in the City S1
Cheers S3, S6, S7, S9
Cleaner, The S1
CSI S2, S3, S7
CSI Miami S1, S2, S3, S4
CSI NY S2, S3, S4, S5
Daily Show: Indecision 2004 (cheaper on Amazon MP)
Diagnosis Murder S1, S3
Dynasty S3v1
Evening Shade S1
Everybody Hates Chris S1, S2
Family Ties S1, S2, S4
Friday the 13th S2
Fugitive S1V1, S1V2. S2V1
Gomer Pyle S4, Final Season
Gunsmoke V1(50th), S2V1
Happy Days S4
Hawaii Five-O S1, S2, S3, S5, S6, S7
Hills, The S1, S2
J*A*G S2, S3, S5, S6
Joan of Arcadia S1
Laguna Beach
Laverne & Shirley S2
Love Boat S1V1, S1V2
Matlock S1, S2
Medium S4
Melrose Place S1, S2, S3, S4 S5V1, S5V2
Mind of Mencia S2, S3
McGyver S4
Mission Impossible S5
Mod Squad S2V1
Mork and Mindy S2
Odd Couple S2, S3, S5 (Final Season)
Petticoat Junction S1
Perry Mason S3V1, S3V2, S4V1, 50th Anniversary
Police Squad Complete
Rawhide S2V2
Resurrection Blvd S1
Sabrina the Teenage Witch S1, S2, S3, S4
Sleeper Cell S1. S2
Soul Food S3
Star Trek Animated Series
Star Trek Fan Collective - Borg
Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log
Star Trek Fan Collective - Klingon
Star Trek Fan Collective - Q
Star Trek Voyager S3
Streets of San Francisco S1V1, S2V1
Taxi Final Season
Touched By An Angel S3V2
Two-A-Days S1
Twin Peaks S2
Wild Wild West S1, S2, S3, S4
Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection V2

Not every store got every set (the one here got about 20 of them) but they were $6/each.

Some of them showed up later/restocked that month, along with a few new titles, at $10/each (there are dups here):
Beauty and the Beast S1,S2,S3
Beverley Hills 90210 S6
Bosom Buddies S2
Cannon S1V2
Caroline in the City S2
Charmed S1, S3
Dave's World S1
Dexter S3
Dynasty S2
Early Edition S1
Everybody Hates Chris S3
Galactica 1980 - Complete Series
Girlfriends S1, S2, S5, S7
Gomer Pyle S2, S4
Guardian, The S1
Gunsmoke V2 (50th), S3V1
Hawaii Five-O S4
Hogan's Heroes S5
Jake & The Fatman S1V2
Jericho S1
Laverne & Shirley S3, S4
Mod Squad S1V1, S1V2, S2V1, S2V2
Mork and Mindy S1
NCIS S2
Perry Mason S1V2, S2V1
Petticoat Junction S2
Rawhide S2V1
Soul Food S3
Star Trek Deep Space Nine S4, S5
Star Trek Fan Collective - Time Travel
Star Trek TNG: Jean-Luc Picard Collection
Star Trek TOS: Best of V2
Streets of San Francisco S1V2
Tales From The Darkside S1
Taxi S2
Two-A-Days (MTV) S1 (5 bucks on Amazon MP)
Untouchables S1V1. S1V2, S2V1
Walker Texas Ranger S3

Again, not all in every store. The one here got a few "restock" and a few "new". Some titles went within hours and others were still there months later. You can still get a $10 copy of Caroline in the City at the one here if you wish...

They have had seasons of Dallas, Joey, Wonder Woman, Who's the Boss, McMillan & Wife, Babylon 5 movie collection, Coach, Blade the Series, Mission Hill, Galactica 1980, The West Wing, and many others I can't recall.

Recently: The Mind of Mencia, Star Trek TAS, Samantha Who?, That's so Raven, 'Til Death, Kath and Kim (US), Northern Exposure (S1), and others. Except for STTAS ($6) these are all $3/season.

When Hollywood/Premier Video shut down they had rental versions of TV series in season bundles. I got Rome S1 and S2 for $6/each. Some others I saw here were various seasons of Entourage, Alias, 24, Family Guy, Futurama, and 3rd Rock.

There have been many, many more that I don't remember or didn't show up here.

It's like William and I have said. You have to watch the BL bargain/sale threads, look at the ads, visit regularly, and be ready to jump when something gets reported 'cause it generally doesn't stay long. For every good haul I'll have a dozen or more visits that are fruitless.
Edited by BobO'Link - 10/8/11 at 4:51pm

Titles and availability can also vary from store to store, so if you happen to have more than one store within a reasonable distance you might want to check them all if you hear of something specific you want that's appearing at Big Lots.

BL also has lots of other great bargains beyond DVD's as well, so even if you don't get any DVD's you will likely find something else. BL is probably my favorite store. You never know what you might find.

Thanks, Howie--for all the info! The only one I actually picked up was Flintstones season 2, and that was a couple years ago. Also Knots Landing season 1, which I mentioned. I did not stop by BigLots last Black Friday--went straight to Target at about 5 in the a.m. to pick up a bluray player that was somewhat cheap lol. I recall seeing no great deals on shows I'd wanted at the time. In 2009, however, I purchased something like 25 tv seasons at Target's B.F.

I'll be sure to watch the ads and make Big Lots my first destination this year!!

Notice how a huge amount of the sets you mention appear to be CBS/Paramount backstock. Wonder what that's all about?? Must have been over-runs. There's a grip of sets I would have bought had I known about that sale! From time to time (I stop in once or twice a month) I still see stuff that must have come from that sale. I still can find some of the less-desirable titles like Caroline in the City, the inferior Twin Peaks Season 2 set (inferior as opposed to the magnificent Complete Series set, that is). I see Laguna Beach all the time, along with the Hills, Sweet Sixteen and other crapapalooza reality series. And I tell you, I might even have picked up a few of those titles for resale on ebay. No doubt that's why they all disappeared so quickly in the first place lol~~

They're having a TV set sale - $6 for selected sets on Thanksgiving day only.

They're open on Thanksgiving day itself? That's bizarre. Well I wonder what they'll have this year---??

^Yes. They'll open at 7am. They've been open on Thanksgiving day for the past few years. For titles already spotted and more info see the Big Lots Sale thread in the Bargains and Deals sub-forum.