Borders stores dropping media (CD and DVD) (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

FWIW, the information presented in that other thread about Best Buy phasing out DVDs is completely false.

There are a couple of articles from anime "news" sites posted which announce that BB is cutting back some of its anime inventory at some of its stores. That's all. Nothing about phasing out DVDs altogether. A ridiculous thought.

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While we are all in agreement that Border's media prices were often too high, they used to carry an assortment and selection of CD and DVD titles that was much more thorough than at any other B&M in my immediate area. That truth, along with the omnipresent coupons for its "Reward Club Members" often meant that I could be relatively certain to find something there at a competitive price that I was surely NOT going to find at Best Buy or Target.

It's just too bad to see yet another local source for CDs and DVDs taken away.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I started this thread in the bargains section to point out that Borders will be slashing prices on media in a large percentage of their stores that are now eliminating media inventory. Non-Rewards-members will be able to enjoy the same discounts members have been getting from coupons over the past few years. At least, as long as the media inventory lasts.

That information was factual, based on sources (hey, I did time as an investigative reporter for a newspaper chain, so I check my sources). The Best Buy stuff is purely observational.

There are four Best Buys within 15 miles of my house. Two are the new style versions and two the old-style versions. All of them have cut shelf space for DVDs or replaced a good portion of it with Blu-rays. That trend will obviously continue. I never said they were eliminating DVDs, I said they were phasing them out, which is observationally true. And particularly with deeper catalog items that I used to find regularly.

The newer Barnes & Nobles have dropped CDs (except for the very top sellers). You can only order them through a kiosk in the store. Their DVD sections are also significantly reduced. It just seems all B&M are starting to follow the same pattern. I really wouldn't be surprised if Best Buy moves the majority of their SD DVD sales to online with kiosks in the stores, too.

 

[Will_B]

There's a new Best Buy in Boulder as of last November, and they installed it with a full selection of all 3 -- DVDs, BluRays, and CDs.

But of course if you wait long enough, all things may come to pass.

 

[Doug Schiller]

Border's 30% off sale = Everyone's else's retail price

Wonder why they had an issue selling?

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

That percentage will go up after March 1. There seems to be a tipping point. CC out of business sale marked everything up to retail before taking percentage off, and it took 40% to really make things move (according to an employee at my local store). I suspect when Borders hits 40% or 50% off, the stores will make some new friends for a while. And at least they had a deeper inventory to begin with, so you can find more stuff (like Criterion!).

But it surprises me the animosity toward Borders just because on the surface they charge retail. It's a brick and mortar. It has overhead. It carries deeper catalog stuff that doesn't move every week. You can browse there. You can wait for something to go on sale or clearance before buying it there. Or discover something there, and turn around and order it online.

I just find it sad to lose that option. Shopping by keyboard exclusively just doesn't really have the same discovery, impulse buy experience as finding something in a physical store, where you can pick it up and look it over.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Really, Wayne? I would be surprised at that--at least for the immediate future. BB is an electronics store for the masses. To sell hardware-only on-site would be, I think, a bad business decision for them. I don't think a lot of people would purchase ANY DVDs without being able to walk into a store to see them sitting on a shelf. I think for many people DVDs amount to an impulse buy--even at a place like Best Buy.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Here's the actual breakdown from an article in Billboard magazine:

"According to its last 10-K filing (the next one is scheduled to be filed in mid-April,), Borders typically carries about 7,000 video titles, and sources say that about 15 Borders stores will continue to carry that full assortment, while 120 stores will carry a nearly full assortment of 6,000 titles. Another 135 stores or so will carry about 4,000 DVD titles. Finally, 135 stores will reduce to about 1,500 titles while 108 stores will carry mainly the top 100 DVD titles."

Borders To Shrink Music Shelf Space

So only 15 Borders stores nationwide will be carrying full DVD inventory.

Anyone who doesn't think Best Buy is headed this direction, if not immediately, sometime in the foreseeable future, hasn't been to a Best Buy store in a while. The last ten years has seen their media software section shrink exponentially. Circuit City's most recently opened stores before they closed, completely de-emphasized (and nearly eliminated) media software, and focused on hardware. That appears to be the trend model of big electronics stores. HHGregg doesn't even offer media software.

It's not Chicken Little; it's just the way business for B&M electronic/media stores appears to be going. I used to be able to find almost any DVD at my Best Buy. Not even remotely the case today.

 

[TravisR]

I was in Best Buy this morning and their DVD inventory was bigger than it was in 1999.

Whatever sells, they will continue to stock. If it was legal and sold well enough, they'd even stock snuff films.

 

[Will_B]

Yeah, I don't see any writing on the wall for Best Buy abandoning media. They know it brings in browsers each week, whereas people only buy a new piece of equipment maybe once a year.

There is no plan to phase DVD out of Best Buy, because there is no knowledge from the future about when DVDs will fall out of favor with the consumers. If it happens, Best Buy will respond. But until then, they'll just be trying to find the right balance between DVD and BluRay. Some smaller titles will be squeezed out since BluRay is taking up shelving, but, that's to be expected, and is not a sign that they'll not be carrying new titles each week.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Good point. I should have said the media sections have shrunk exponentially from when DVD sales had peaked a few years ago (not 10 years ago). DVD's only hit the mass market around 1997 and it took several years for the amount of releases on DVD to peak out. I was a member of NetFlix back in 1999 and remember the inventory going from like 1,000 to 11,000 in a couple years, but it was a while waiting for some of my deeper catalog favorites to come out.

Context is often lost in posting (that's why we have our emoticons, I guess), but I'm not trying to be the Paul Revere of DVDs leaving Best Buy; just read the business pages to see those trends coming (also, Digital Bits has lots of good posts on declining DVD sales, inventory, and the "rise" of Blu-ray). My tone was more wistful from my own experience as someone who has shopped at Best Buys extensively for the past decade, and now it's no longer a reliable source for the releases I look for. :frowning:

But I've got my eye on a few items at Borders when the inventory clearance sale hits 50% off, probably in a few weeks.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wayne: Don't you think there's any chance this might be unique to your local BB?

 

[gene c]

My local BB has reduced their dvd selection by about 10-15%. And their concert dvd section has been eliminated all together. I don't go there as often as I used to. Any cd/dvd purchases that I haven't made on-line are the cheap stuff at Big Lots or from Fry's. They still have a very large selection of titles but their hi-res audio is diss-appearing quickly :frowning: .

 

[TravisR]

I don't know if it's true for all stores but the store in my area moved the concert DVDs to the tops of the shelves in the CD department (so if you're looking for a Beatles DVD, it's at the top of the racks that have Beatles CDs). It's a terrible setup but they still stock them.

 

[Mike Frezon]

That's what they did at my BB. And, I agree, it sucks. I loved it when all the concert DVDs/BDs were in one place--alphabetically.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

There are 5 Best Buys within 15 miles of me, and they range in age (and style) from the original set up to the latest 'streamlined' (one that opened last year). So when I shop one, I can have them check inventory in any of other four local stores. And yes, the inventory varies from store to store, but more and more, non-bestseller titles I am seeking are online only.

Now I read that Netflix is even thinking about dropping DVDs:

Will Netflix Dump the Red Envelope? - WalletPop

Most of the younger tech guys at my company don't even buy DVDs. They're perfectly fine with a download, legal or otherwise. Fans who actually collect hard copies, well, we're beginning to feel like an anachronism.

Blu-rays will probably stretch the life of collectable disc media for a few years, but the cessation of DVD releases is not a matter of if, but when. But hey, vinyl's coming back.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I did a real double-take the other week when I saw an endcap devoted to vinyl copies of recent audio releases (including a very prominent Springsteen release). Now they seem to have moved most of the vinyl into that messy area above the CD racks with the box sets, and music DVDs & BDs.

 

[Mike Frezon]

About that Netflix article...

I cannot imagine they are even close to making that move. While we agree that younger folks are much more "ready" to watch movies on their PCs and laptops, I would find it hard to believe that either the customer base or Netflix is anywhere near ready to make that transition. The investment on Netflix' end would be both huge and their resources (titles) would be severely limited. of course, there are also the vagaries of internet technology to contend with. And, much of their current customer base would be unable to use the product in the "traditional" sense of watching on their TV.

While Netflix may have surveyed their customers about the service, it still all sounds pretty speculative...right down to the last sentence of the article:

 

[Tony J Case]

Actually, there's some talk over on DVDManiacs where the consensus is that at least the horror section is shrinking. There's some comments from Don May (the head guy at Synapse) that supports that, how it's getting tougher to get smaller cult titles onto the shelves when Best Buy is favoring your more mainstream Saws and whatnot.

Since I dont want to misrepresent anyone, here's the actual discussion

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

What are your thoughts about that, Mike? I really miss having the stand-alone Wolf Road bookstores. Both felt more like libraries than bookstores. Borders did a better job keeping its feel intact, but suffered the bigger loss in inventory (two-story building to a one-story mall storefront). The thing I hate about B&N is that it's right by the main entrance for the mall, so the store's always congested with people pushing their way through. My crowd aversion is stirred up every time I'm in there.

I actually look at Borders ditching media as a good thing. Their prices have never been competitive, and the glass cases prevent even the tactile advantage over online stores. Because their mall space is so limited, freeing up what can amount to half the store in many cases for more books will hopefully make room for some of the more esoteric offerings they've lost over the years.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I'm hugely disappointed by both moves. Both were a HUGE downsize. Borders feels like it's in a closet now. B&N is much bigger (it seems, than Borders) but I agree about the difficulties of trying to get in and out of that store due to it's proximity to Regal Cinemas, PF Chang, Cheesecake Factory, etc.

I'm gonna really miss Border's giving up the media. While highly priced, the omnipresent coupons usually made their diverse catalog affordable.