Best Buy to Discontinue Physical Media

[Brian Lutz]

I visited the local FYE here in Greensboro (at the Four Seasons Town Center) and confirmed that they do still have one rack of CDs and one rack of DVD/Blu Ray movies (plus a small New Releases rack near the front and a small vinyl section) but it would be charitable to say that physical media in general takes up 1/4 of the store. As others have said a lot of the store has been filled up with Hot Topic/Spencer's style merchandise along with a lot of Anime stuff and Japanese food (one "highlight" is a selection of foreign potato chips being sold for $9.99 per snack size bag.) I'd say the selection is comparable to but much smaller than the selection you'd find at a Daiso store, but since Daiso hasn't reached this part of the country yet (aside from some stores in New York and New Jersey) you could probably find the same stuff at an Asian grocery and probably cheaper.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

What is funny is the closing Rite Aid has a little section of CDs and DVDs, some of them look like they've been there for 20 years. The price for the store closing sale was $1 for DVDs and 75% off CDs.

In some countries though this physical media is still much more of a "thing."

RAD was already in the process of phasing out music and movies from their stores before Chapter 11 though at their go-forward locations they are only discounted at 50% off.

[storewanderer]

What is funny is the closing Rite Aid has a little section of CDs and DVDs, some of them look like they've been there for 20 years. The price for the store closing sale was $1 for DVDs and 75% off CDs.

In some countries though this physical media is still much more of a "thing."

RAD was already in the process of phasing out music and movies from their stores before Chapter 11 though at their go-forward locations they are only discounted at 50% off.

This is such a slow moving category. I wonder if that is even Rite Aid's inventory or a consignment thing from the vendor like magazines etc. were. The fact that someone (be it Rite Aid or the vendor) was willing to $1 them all in the closing sales is interesting.

[Alpha8472]

I saw some movies still on sale at Best Buy yesterday. No one was buying any of it.

A Rasputin Music recently opened up next to Best Buy in Pleasant Hill, California. It is a large used music, movie, and clothing store inside of a former Buy Buy Baby. The selection was huge. I saw thousands of movies and cds on sale for 99 cents. There were Blu-ray movies for $1.99. Why pay full price?

I had so much fun discovering different movies, TV series, and cds. Seeing the artwork and descriptions on the boxes was so much more pleasant than looking at a computer screen.

Customers were buying tons of movies and cds. It was so cheap. The store even buys back used disc's.

There was also a used clothing store inside that took up a quarter of the space.

[BatteryMill]

Looks like the removal of physical media displays has begun, per multiple sources. Many have took to social media to forecast a grim outlook for Best Buy in the wake of this decision.

[ClownLoach]

Looks like the removal of physical media displays has begun, per multiple sources. Many have took to social media to forecast a grim outlook for Best Buy in the wake of this decision.

These displays haven't been stocked in years. Many stores had removed some or most of them anyway. Like I said previously, they'll keep a couple of endcaps of CDs and DVDs sourced directly from the vendors. Costco hasn't carried movies or music for many years now and is currently removing books from stores... Many people said the same thing, that they would go out of business for removing this product. Obviously the people talking aren't the people buying. Specialized stores are the future of this product, like Amoeba records.

[Alpha8472]

These used music and movie stores are doing good business these days. Many of them sell used cds and movies for 99 cents or $1.39. The prices are great and the discs generally work well. Why pay outrageously high prices at Best Buy when you can fill up a basket of cds and movies for a cheap price?

[buckguy]

Handleman was the company that served the big discount and variety chains, as well as Best Buy. They also supplied books to the same stores and various other media. Kresge was their first big client and they grew from there, but they never had a big presence in other retailers other than selling cheapies to drug stores and supermarkets. They always focused on high volume items, so they never held a lot of backlist. They sold their inventory to Anderson Merchandisers which is still in the music distribution business. Handelman still distributes other items.

The main thing is that physical media has become a small niche item and no large national retailer is going to sell a lot of it. There always will be people who want to own rather than rent and collectors who like the "hunt" but they are not going to build volume for a Walmart or Target. Given that the selections were never very deep, most of these mass merchadisers didn't appeal to hard core music collectors and the same was true of the mall music chains. Tower had a limited number of flagships and other chains like Sam Goody and HMV had a very few here and there which appealed to serious collectors. The closure of the big Tower stores in the early 2000s was probably the signal that large scale music sales were on their way out.

[BatteryMill]

The main thing is that physical media has become a small niche item and no large national retailer is going to sell a lot of it. There always will be people who want to own rather than rent and collectors who like the "hunt" but they are not going to build volume for a Walmart or Target. Given that the selections were never very deep, most of these mass merchadisers didn't appeal to hard core music collectors and the same was true of the mall music chains. Tower had a limited number of flagships and other chains like Sam Goody and HMV had a very few here and there which appealed to serious collectors. The closure of the big Tower stores in the early 2000s was probably the signal that large scale music sales were on their way out.

Even then, I do hope that an ample (not massive as years prior) stock of new releases, all-time best-sellers, and collectors' items remains. That would realistically work.

Since you mentioned that Tower Records' downfall was the beginning of the end for physical music, what were factors already causing that sector to decline then? Tower went under in 2006, less than a decade removed from the introduction of Napster, iTunes and the iPod, and before streaming (Spotify, Apple Music) was introduced to the masses.

[mjhale]

The main thing is that physical media has become a small niche item and no large national retailer is going to sell a lot of it. There always will be people who want to own rather than rent and collectors who like the "hunt" but they are not going to build volume for a Walmart or Target. Given that the selections were never very deep, most of these mass merchadisers didn't appeal to hard core music collectors and the same was true of the mall music chains. Tower had a limited number of flagships and other chains like Sam Goody and HMV had a very few here and there which appealed to serious collectors. The closure of the big Tower stores in the early 2000s was probably the signal that large scale music sales were on their way out.

Even then, I do hope that an ample (not massive as years prior) stock of new releases, all-time best-sellers, and collectors' items remains. That would realistically work.

Since you mentioned that Tower Records' downfall was the beginning of the end for physical music, what were factors already causing that sector to decline then? Tower went under in 2006, less than a decade removed from the introduction of Napster, iTunes and the iPod, and before streaming (Spotify, Apple Music) was introduced to the masses.

There is a good documentary about the rise and fall of Tower Records called All Things Must Pass. The documentary talked about a lot of common reasons for records stores to fail at the time - Napster, digital music, competition from chain music stores and mass merchandisers. Another thing specific to Tower that was discussed was Tower's aggressive expansion in the 90s. It was argued that Tower over-expanded ending up in areas that did not have long term support for a music retailer like Tower.

I was a regular shopper at the Congressional Plaza and Tysons Corner Tower locations until they closed. At the time I was in semi-mourning because I thought where else am I going to buy CDs, DVDs and books that I could reliably get at Tower. However, over time, with the rise of digital media and streaming I have purchased a lot less physical media. What I do buy (mostly DVDs) I can get from Amazon or Walmart in a reasonable amount of time. I could see short term displays of blockbuster movies like Oppenheimer or a mega stars like Taylor Swift at new release time. Beyond, that outside of "cool", "nostalgia" and collectables, physical media space can be reused for other items that are more productive and don't pose as much of a theft issue.