Wal Mart not selling Blues anymore?

[CharlestonLion]

Stopped by Wal-Mart today to see if they had a copy of Zombieland on Blue Ray and could not find any blue rays. When I asked one of the employees, all she said was that "they came and moved all of our blue rays out of the store."

Caught me off guard. Anyone else find this going on?

[atsbill123]

Originally Posted by CharlestonLion

Stopped by Wal-Mart today to see if they had a copy of Zombieland on Blue Ray and could not find any blue rays. When I asked one of the employees, all she said was that "they came and moved all of our blue rays out of the store."

Caught me off guard. Anyone else find this going on?

They would be insane not to sell blu-rays. Walmart will always sell them.

[quetzalcoatl]

Have not see this but the selcection at the location in my town is lacking. And that is being kind. It is not uncommon for them to have 0 copies of a new release on release day.

[snsguy]

Originally Posted by CharlestonLion

Stopped by Wal-Mart today to see if they had a copy of Zombieland on Blue Ray and could not find any blue rays. When I asked one of the employees, all she said was that "they came and moved all of our blue rays out of the store."

Caught me off guard. Anyone else find this going on?

It's probably the market that your in. If they don't sell enough they move them out. There are 4 Walmarts within 5 miles of where I live. Some have a whole section of blu-rays, others have one small section, and others have a few scattered around the department. Each one is in a different market. The wealthier markets havr the most of course and the lower income markets have less.

SNSGUY

[DetroitSportsFan]

They sell Blues. They're usually in the R&B or Jazz section.

[progers13]

Originally Posted by CharlestonLion

Stopped by Wal-Mart today to see if they had a copy of Zombieland on Blue Ray and could not find any blue rays. When I asked one of the employees, all she said was that "they came and moved all of our blue rays out of the store."

Caught me off guard. Anyone else find this going on?

I kept reading that "Walmart is not selling Blues any more," and I couldn't help but think "They must be replacing them with Jazz?"

Sorry, bad joke at your expense. It's blu-ray.

Back on topic, the stores in my area are still selling them. I can imagine if some stores in certain areas aren't doing well with selling them that they might give up that space to put something else. But I seem to recall an article earlier this year that Walmart had a renewed commitment to the format and would be dedicating more shelf space in the stores as the year progresses.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by quetzalcoatl

Have not see this but the selcection at the location in my town is lacking. And that is being kind. It is not uncommon for them to have 0 copies of a new release on release day.

I've seen MUCH of the same. I try to buy from lots of places so things like B&M stores not carrying BD's or very few BD's does not happen....I guess im the only one doing that....

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

They sell Blues. They're usually in the R&B or Jazz section.

Maybe they're expanding their hip hop section in favor of Blues? If only Stevie Ray Vaughan was still around he could revive sales of Blues and they wouldn't need to stop selling them.

[Hammie]

My Wal-mart still sells them but never has any in stock.

However, they did just get a 4 foot by 5 foot section of the dual movie discs. Personally, I dislike these solely due to organizational reasons.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Are you sure they just didn't move them to another area?... My store moved all BD's out of the DVD/music section and put them under the HDTVs...

[Ringo1725]

Are they selling Blues? Does anybody have a Clue? I need a Blues Clue right now!

[RBBrittain]

Last I checked, Walmart still had the Blues--Blue Cross & Blue Shield. (Though self-insured, their health plan cards have the logos.) Their pharmacy still accepts the Blues, too.

[minlshaw]

I've been hearing more and more about Walmart reducing their Blu-ray selection (which is saying something, since they never had much of a selection in the first place), but this is the first I've heard of a store removing every Blu-ray. It's easy to think them clueless about the format, but in truth they're very shrewd about what they stock. Remember when you could scarcely find a Widescreen DVD for all the Full Screen releases there? That's because the Walmart customer base didn't support Widescreen. It only stands to reason that the same people who didn't care about original aspect ratio would be slow to adopt hi-def...especially in this economy.

I know they yanked an assortment of Blus from our local store last week in favor of Easter titles (animated fare, as well as some biblical epics like The Ten Commandments) on DVD. For those not in the know, the weeks before Easter are second only to Christmas for home video sales. Walmart would be fools not to dedicate some shelf space to these kinds of releases right now.

The kid-friendly releases are, in many cases, only available on DVD and I don't think it would matter if they were on Blu-ray. Unless it's Disney, few parents think kid-oriented titles are worth the HD treatment. They're more expensive, for starters. The average family today has a DVD player (and not a Blu-ray player) in the kids' room(s), so the parents don't have to watch these things. Finally, most parents expect their kids to outgrow these kinds of movies within the year, or damage them beyond reasonable playback, and DVD seems more expendable than Blu-ray.

My last remark on the situation is that, over a week ago, our local Walmart removed every single aisle display throughout the store and they have yet to replace them with anything. I have a hard time imagining that the bean-counters approve of that much wasted floor space, so I'm thinking they have some post-Easter overhauls in mind for the whole store. Hopefully, Blu-ray features into those plans.

[snsguy]

Originally Posted by minlshaw

I've been hearing more and more about Walmart reducing their Blu-ray selection (which is saying something, since they never had much of a selection in the first place), but this is the first I've heard of a store removing every Blu-ray. It's easy to think them clueless about the format, but in truth they're very shrewd about what they stock. Remember when you could scarcely find a Widescreen DVD for all the Full Screen releases there? That's because the Walmart customer base didn't support Widescreen. It only stands to reason that the same people who didn't care about original aspect ratio would be slow to adopt hi-def...especially in this economy.

I know they yanked an assortment of Blus from our local store last week in favor of Easter titles (animated fare, as well as some biblical epics like The Ten Commandments) on DVD. For those not in the know, the weeks before Easter are second only to Christmas for home video sales. Walmart would be fools not to dedicate some shelf space to these kinds of releases right now.

The kid-friendly releases are, in many cases, only available on DVD and I don't think it would matter if they were on Blu-ray. Unless it's Disney, few parents think kid-oriented titles are worth the HD treatment. They're more expensive, for starters. The average family today has a DVD player (and not a Blu-ray player) in the kids' room(s), so the parents don't have to watch these things. Finally, most parents expect their kids to outgrow these kinds of movies within the year, or damage them beyond reasonable playback, and DVD seems more expendable than Blu-ray.

My last remark on the situation is that, over a week ago, our local Walmart removed every single aisle display throughout the store and they have yet to replace them with anything. I have a hard time imagining that the bean-counters approve of that much wasted floor space, so I'm thinking they have some post-Easter overhauls in mind for the whole store. Hopefully, Blu-ray features into those plans.

Removing of most displays on the sales floors is something Walmart is doing on their sales floor. It's acalled action alley. They decided that it looked messy and allows for more space for customers. My wife is a Co-manager for Walmart and she had to clear the action alley out a few months ago. Her store was one of the trial stores and they've been getting a positive response to it. They are now having all stores slowly transition to the same program. As for the blu-rays it depends on if your market is selling blu-ray's. If it they aren't they are removed. Those stores who are selling will keep them.

SNSGUY

[minlshaw]

Originally Posted by snsguy

Removing of most displays on the sales floors is something Walmart is doing on their sales floor. It's acalled action alley.

I'm familiar with the term "action alley." I always understood it to mean a walking path with merchandise in it. The idea of getting you to browse (and hopefully) buy more stuff as you walk is what gives the term the "action" part.

In any event, even if they intend to leave the walking paths open, they've got an awful lot of unused space. Even as large as the average Walmart consumer is, it's more than what is needed. I would expect them to eventually restructure the sales floor to come farther into the unused walk path.

Instead of XX|^X^|XX (old arrangement with merchandise in the aisle)

or XX|^^^|XX (new arrangement with empty aisles)

Perhaps XXX|^|XXX

[snsguy]

Originally Posted by minlshaw

I'm familiar with the term "action alley." I always understood it to mean a walking path with merchandise in it. The idea of getting you to browse (and hopefully) buy more stuff as you walk is what gives the term the "action" part.

In any event, even if they intend to leave the walking paths open, they've got an awful lot of unused space. Even as large as the average Walmart consumer is, it's more than what is needed. I would expect them to eventually restructure the sales floor to come farther into the unused walk path.

Instead of XX|^X^|XX (old arrangement with merchandise in the aisle)

or XX|^^^|XX (new arrangement with empty aisles)

Perhaps XXX|^|XXX

I agree it is wasted space, but it feels a lot more open. Now some stores will have a lot more open space the others it just depends on how they are built. The older stores, I think are the ones benefiting from clearing out the action alleys. New stores have much wider alleys than older stores. It also depends on whether or not that particular Walmart is constantly crammed with shoppers. Most of time, the ones around here are. You won't be seeing arranging of any of the alleys to fill up that space unless there is a remodel going on. It just costs way to much to rearrange something that is already working. When any remodel happens most people differ to the next closest Walmart or Target or such because they don't want to deal with the hassle. That's a lot of money Walmart doens't want to see go elsewhere.

SNSGUY

[quetzalcoatl]

Originally Posted by snsguy

As for the blu-rays it depends on if your market is selling blu-ray's. If it they aren't they are removed. Those stores who are selling will keep them.

SNSGUY

And yet there can be so many reasons as to why blus are not selling at a location.
Did the store adopt early. I know the stores near me when I was in So Cal did not. I checked there in the early days when I was buying and wrote them off my list.
Did they give a section to the movies and keep it stocked. I know when I moved to Oregon last year the store near me had a very small section but it was seperate, which was good. But they did not keep it stocked.
Then they moved them in with DVDs. So now they are hard to find.
And kind of the final straw to me was the fact on release day I could not even find a copy of Ponyo there.

Now compare this to the only other major retailer in town Fred Meyer.
They have their own blu ray section. It is not huge but it is respectable. And they keep it stocked.

I live in a small town and those are the only two choices to me without driving 30 mins to a target or costco.

So the question can be answered why do the walmart not sell blus?
Well to me it is because they donot have them avail. So I shop for them elsewhere. I will still check them from time to time since I only have 2 choices without leaving town. But my first stop if I want something will be the other store unless there is something I am already buying at walmart.

[phil4v7]

My local wal-marts' selections suck as well. I sent off an email to corporate and they claim they've forwarded it on to the appropriate stores for follow-up. I doubt anything will come of it, but at least they know that they have a dissatisfied customer. The worst that can happen is that I wasted five minutes of my time.

[Jeremiah]

Our area Wal-Mart still has them, but a slim selection. I don't even bother shopping there for Blus.

[toyfigure]

The Wal-Mart at my location has several racks up, with CHEAP prices but is always empty. What the hell