Is Costco phasing out DVDs? (1 Viewer)

Over the past few weeks I've read comments on various forums about the dwindling DVD selection at Costco. Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed my local store starting to downsize, and then today when I went it was very noticable. I would estimate that the selection is less than half of what it was just a month ago.

I asked one of the customer service supervisors about this and was told that, yes, they were downsizing because selling DVDs really wasn't their focus. She said that if membership picks up or demand increases then they probably would start carrying more.

This was disappointing news as I've purchased a lot of DVDs from Costco the past 2 years. Their prices, particularly on Warner box sets, were usually the cheapest of any retailer, including on-line ones. We buy a lot from Costco anyway, but the savings on DVDs more than justified my membership fees.

Bottom line: if you want an increase in selection, let your local managers know.

While we do buy other things there since we have a membership, the reason we have a membership is for me to save money on dvds. If they stop carrying dvds, or the selection dwindles to uselessness, my family & I will not renew our membership.

I don't understand what Costco is thinking. DVDs are the primary items I buy there. I thought that they would be a major part of their product selection. Perhaps this is a sign of the DVD market softening.

The selection at my local Costco is the same as it's always been. Perhaps this is a regional or local change.

As I noted in last week's 'Round-Up' my local Costco gave up 8 ft of DVDs to Sylvan Learning Systems tutorials, I think they gave up another 8 ft since then. I can't imagine that a month or quarter of Sylvan sales is going to result in a sales increase, though margin might be better (provided they sell any).

Sam's eventually stocked noir & tough guys. I visited another not so convenient Costco, same story 25% of their DVD space was gone.

Tim

My local Costco (Miami, Florida)is also cutting back, today I saw like 1/3 of the ususal stock, much less than last week they usually had full boxes stacked up three deep, only single boxes today . :frowning:

FWIW, it seems to me that my local BJs Wholesale Club is also cutting back on its inventory of DVDs.

Maybe its a more widespread wholesale club thing.

If you really want to let Costco's upper management know how disappointed you are in the reduction in the DVD department:

Costco General Member Service:
800-774-2678

I called today (I did have to wait on hold for a few minutes) and got a CSR to document my concerns about the DVD situation at the Eugene store (approx. 25% it's previous size and a complete mess,) and I also made it clear that our company (I'm part of a family business membership) was strongly considering switching to Sam's Club if the situation did not improve.

My local Costco has about half the selection it used to have. I, too, was very disappointed. I like to buy my TV on DVD sets there. I'll call and complain. Thanks, Karl.

Seems to me my local store had about the same selection as the last time I was in, but if it looks a lot smaller the *next* time I'm in, I'll definitely talk to a manager. I buy a lot of sets in particular there, and like a lot of you, it's the main reason I got the Costco card. Even when I'm not going in specifically for DVDs, I always have a swing through that section and often wind up picking something up.

I'm thinking the Sylvan thing might be seasonal -- back-to-school and all that, you know.

That's what I'm hoping. If things don't pick up when we start moving into autumn, then we should really start a ruckus.

Yeah, the Costco in Hawthorne cut down its DVD section as well. I went in to pick up "Rescue Me" and much of that area was gone.

Yeah the Costco here cut the DVD section in half. Very dissapointing

Costco rules for things other than DVDs. You can practically eat lunch there for free, and the membership is pretty cheap, and you can easily save enough money on a few items to pay for the membership itself.

I still get gas and toilet paper at Costco.

Eat at Costco and get gas.

Actually, they're the most expensive membership fee of all the clubs. It's now $50/year.

For me, I stopped buying DVDs there because new releases were cheaper at other places like Best Buy or Circuit City. Occasionally they have some good deals with coupons and stuff, but for the most part they weren't much cheaper.

They don't have great prices for new releases as they do not follow a loss leader pricing strategy. But you can often find catalog titles for real cheap, for example, I picked up the first and second "Final Destination" movies for $7 apiece. You can occaisionally find good 2 pack sets for a good price (although I have the frustration of usually having one of the DVDs in a two pack that interests me) Costco usually has good prices on sets (I remember buying the Alien Quadrilogy there for a relatavely cheap price).

For the record, I was at my Costco yesterday and I did not notice a reduction in the DVD section at this point

Costco is hit & miss with their pricing strategy; its not too unusual to see them price match the loss leaders. As stated in post #1, their pricing on new WHV & other box sets is generally pretty aggressive and exceeds that of e-tailers on occasion. This is why most of the posters are concerned with the reduction in footage.

Tim