Wal*Mart pulling out of high def war?

[katharsis]

I wanted to pick up a few Blu-rays on my way home today. Just this past saturday 2 of my local Walmarts set up nice High Def shelving with 2 big LCD TVs on either side (1 for Blu, 1 for HD) and were selling about 15 - 20 movies each format. This has been set up for a few weeks now and every time when I checked for new movies there were people looking around and definitely buying as sometimes they were down to only 10 movies...
Today the nice set up was gone and at its place they are selling some $200 Toshiba CRT Tvs. The high def movies went back onto the regular shelf into the corner with the DVDs, where they have been before. All of them older titles (2-3 weeks at least) and no indication of todays releases. When I asked an employee about this and also when Troy, Alexander etc will arrive, he just said they did not order any and might stop selling high def movies at all as the market is not ready for it yet.
Pretty bummed out I went to the other store, same story over there.

Any similar stories at your local Walmarts??

[Banjo]

Not any Wal-Mart locations here in Niagara region. They are still stocking quite a number of Blu-ray titles.

I was at the Wal-Mart location in Welland, they had 3 whole shelves for Blu-ray movies while HD DVD was sharing half of its only shelf with Blu-ray movies. :-)

[Robmx]

All the Walmarts in Niagara see me once a week going through them checking BDs out.... I make sure I take my time so others see me and get interested themselves and take a look.... I support as many different places as possible and won't buy 2 discs from one place..... To get our point across anyone sells these discs needs to see them sell to keep them there........

[jw]

I think that is just involving your particular wal-mart, though the mods are being set and they do include some blu-rays being intermingled within the dvds, not a good idea, but a start.

[Xerious]

i think the people at your walmart have been smoking too much crack lately... i suggest you not shopping at walmart and supporting domestic terrorism by shopping at target.

[Joe Cain]

Except for TVs my local Wal-Mart has virtually no HD presence whatsoever: last trip I saw three BD titles and one on HD DVD, barely a handful of units altogether; the only player in sight is the PS3 (no standalone units in any flavor, no Xbox360 add-ons of any sort).

But my Wal-Mart has been dying a slow death over the past year because the new Supercenter opens next month about a mile away. And the geography is interesting (above & beyond the fact the new location takes Wal-Mart outside my town's incorporated limits and into the city of Birmingham, taking a huge chuck of our tax revenue along with them): the Supercenter is positioned to target Mountain Brook clientele, which is the city with the highest per capita income in the state.

Brand new Supercenter, targeting a more upscale customer base than the store it replaces, opening just in time for the holiday season---based on all the WallyWorld rumormongering going on, I'll be very interested to see the new electronics department.

[Xerious]

Originally Posted by Joe Cain

Except for TVs my local Wal-Mart has virtually no HD presence whatsoever: last trip I saw three BD titles and one on HD DVD, barely a handful of units altogether; the only player in sight is the PS3 (no standalone units in any flavor, no Xbox360 add-ons of any sort).

But my Wal-Mart has been dying a slow death over the past year because the new Supercenter opens next month about a mile away. And the geography is interesting (above & beyond the fact the new location takes Wal-Mart outside my town's incorporated limits and into the city of Birmingham, taking a huge chuck of our tax revenue along with them): the Supercenter is positioned to target Mountain Brook clientele, which is the city with the highest per capita income in the state.

Brand new Supercenter, targeting a more upscale customer base than the store it replaces, opening just in time for the holiday season---based on all the WallyWorld rumormongering going on, I'll be very interested to see the new electronics department.

that just sounds weird to me... it's like saying the new jenna haze flick is targeted towards evangelical christian ministers...

[Albert1119]

The Super Walmart in my area only has a couple of BD titles (300, Premonition, Are We Done Yet?, and one other I forget) and only one solitary copy of Blades of Glory on HDDVD, I picked it up and set it on some other shelf

I am waiting for titles I am really interested in be stocked and it did seem like they were redoing the whole DVD section, but any HD movies are kinda put off to the side on those holders on the posts. Kinda sad but I hope with the holiday season upon us they'll have more available to compair price points with and purchase in store.

[wisper9999]

I am not surprised. Many of us buy on-line. Plus 90% of the time Walmarts price online is cheaper than the local store and usually the local Walmart is cheaper than BB or CC.

[calcajun]

Wal Marts are notorious for constantly moving things around too.

[FiReBiRd95]

my walmart has like 10 br titles that have been raped by costumers, and one fully stocked hddvd title (blades of glory) no one touches the hddvds.

[Xerious]

Originally Posted by FiReBiRd95

my walmart has like 10 br titles that have been raped by costumers, and one fully stocked hddvd title (blades of glory) no one touches the hddvds.

was there biological evidence of this left behind? if so, remind me to never shop at your walmart. ever.

[Bluray_ne1]

Originally Posted by katharsis

When I asked an employee about this and also when Troy, Alexander etc will arrive, he just said they did not order any and might stop selling high def movies at all as the market is not ready for it yet.
Pretty bummed out I went to the other store, same story over there.

Any similar stories at your local Walmarts??

I had the exact same experience yesterday a Wal-Mart, almost verbatim. My store is in a kind of depressed area of town and hi-def products may not be a big seller there. I went to Best Buy instead to buy Troy (it was actually cheaper there anyway).

[mrb713]

Originally Posted by katharsis

I wanted to pick up a few Blu-rays on my way home today. Just this past saturday 2 of my local Walmarts set up nice High Def shelving with 2 big LCD TVs on either side (1 for Blu, 1 for HD) and were selling about 15 - 20 movies each format. This has been set up for a few weeks now and every time when I checked for new movies there were people looking around and definitely buying as sometimes they were down to only 10 movies...
Today the nice set up was gone and at its place they are selling some $200 Toshiba CRT Tvs. The high def movies went back onto the regular shelf into the corner with the DVDs, where they have been before. All of them older titles (2-3 weeks at least) and no indication of todays releases. When I asked an employee about this and also when Troy, Alexander etc will arrive, he just said they did not order any and might stop selling high def movies at all as the market is not ready for it yet.
Pretty bummed out I went to the other store, same story over there.

Any similar stories at your local Walmarts??

No but try your local best buy or circuitcity I'm sure you'll make uot a whole lot better

[LoneRangers]

The Original Poster's Location was listed as Hawaii...

[FiReBiRd95]

Originally Posted by Xerious

was there biological evidence of this left behind? if so, remind me to never shop at your walmart. ever.

lol, no there was maybe on or two copies left of each title and the store usually has 10 or more of each title.

[Xerious]

Originally Posted by FiReBiRd95

lol, no there was maybe on or two copies left of each title and the store usually has 10 or more of each title.

and here i thought people found a new use for the hole in the middle of the disc... PHEW, my faith in humanity has been restored!

[dragons lair]

I have three Wal-Marts all within 10-15 min. of where I live (Michigan), two of them never had any BR or HD DVD, the one in Canton, MI did have until last week, gone now, cartoons in their place and this is a very big area (Ikea, Best Buy and Circuit City not far away, Sam's, etc), not rural at all.

[DrinkMore]

I wish the US would ban ALL Wally worlds from existence. They are a drain on society and carry nothing but crap. 90% of all the stuff they carry is made in china. The other 10% is Taiwan.

I despise Wal-Mart and will NOT ever step foot in one.

[Xerious]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

I wish the US would ban ALL Wally worlds from existence. They are a drain on society and carry nothing but crap. 90% of all the stuff they carry is made in china. The other 10% is Taiwan.

I despise Wal-Mart and will NOT ever step foot in one.

if they banned wallyworld then all those unfavorable types who shop there will go to target... keep them away please!!