Where Have All The Blu Rays Gone ?!? - Blu-ray Forum

Terrorfirmer · 08-29-2014, 10:18 AM

In my town there is a Walmart, a Futureshop, and a Target. Last year Futureshop made changes and now there is one short row of blus and a couple of small dump bins, Walmart has now made the same changes with bare racks and a dump bin of the same old stuff and as far as im concened target is a joke...Anybody know what the logic is behind these changes?...also, i swear there are more DVDs than blu rays in all of these stores, anybody else notice this?

Lacenaire · 08-29-2014, 12:19 PM

The logic behind this is that fewer and fewer people are buying physical media and the Blu-ray market is slowly becoming a niche market like Laserdiscs. I haven't even bothered to go to a big box store in years.

Thankfully I live near Toronto where there are still a few independent video stores that have a good selection and the HMV downtown is still decent. But still, I order at least half of my Blu's online and online ordering will soon be the only way to get most Blu's.

uther · 08-29-2014, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terrorfirmer

Anybody know what the logic is behind these changes?...also, i swear there are more DVDs than blu rays in all of these stores, anybody else notice this?

FS/BB announced they planned to reduce their physical media section two years ago and when they did it was pointed out a year ago in the FS/BB threads plus Walmart threads had mentioned WM lack of BDs two years ago. Not sure how you missed it.

The only plus side is Sobey's, Dollarama & DollarTree had started carrying BDs albeit just a small selection at random times.

coolkev1701 · 08-29-2014, 04:33 PM

Yeah, my Walmart still thinks it's 1999 since their movie section is still mostly DVD's. I'm more and more having to buy my blu-rays off of Amazon and other sites, since I can't find them anywhere else.

uther · 08-29-2014, 10:44 PM

What I am really disappointed with FS/BB is their online selection of BD titles is also greatly reduced which is a pity because they pm unlike any other online store plus support paypal and in my area delivery is lightning fast.

R1978 · 12-07-2014, 05:33 AM

Yea this is getting quite absurd, personally speaking I have never nor will I ever buy "virtual/digital files", I buy "product" when it has a package and I'm mainly paying for the package and quality disc.

My fs, wm and most other places have nothing, I just blew about $200 on br from both chapters and future shop online, because no local stores have much in stock and certainly nothing I would buy.

I don't think it's fair to claim BR is the new LD, what it comes down to is most media is sold virtual now, I used to be a huge video game collector and am disgusted by what they have done with that too but seems like this is spilling off into music and movies.

I tend to spend around $60 on vinyl a month, $50 on bd now and I don't see this ever changing till media is 100% digital then I will stop buying outright and go back to "TPB".

uther · 12-07-2014, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R1978

My fs, wm and most other places have nothing, I just blew about $200 on br from both chapters and future shop online, because no local stores have much in stock and certainly nothing I would buy.

It's not just in-store, pretty much all the online 'retailers' have been reducing stock as well and it seems amazon.ca has more '2 to 6 weeks' stock notices then 2 years ago.

R1978 · 12-08-2014, 06:10 AM

This creates an interesting situation though when we consider a lot of it.

1 There is a lot of Blu Ray that is now oop, and while some is being repressed or having a re release, I doubt it will be all of them.

2 While we know there is millions of dvd's out there and some dirt cheap and some expensive, we know also that in the future filling out our BR collections may be quite difficult especially with the prices people are asking for certain versions or even titles in general.

3 Both VHS and DVD have had their era, they have both had plenty of bargain bin days too, with BR it's different because not as many stores online or offline are carrying them, and we are still unsure what exactly it's future holds in terms of availability, obviously if BR takes off eventually how vhs and dvd did...then chances are we will start seeing them sold online and in store more, but for now that is a bit up in the air even if it seems br sales are growing a bit.

What makes this different than LD is the fact many people own ps3 and soon ps4, this means plenty already have or will have BR players ( if they choose to buy movies to watch is another question, I remember LD rentals at jumbo video in the 90s and while they looked cool I don't think I ever knew a single person with a player. BR is different than this and...they are certainly cheaper or at least on par with some dvd prices.

I think one of the problems here is probably netflix and virtual media files, why people even buy them in the first place will always be a puzzle to me, but this situation we are facing poses a lot of long term problems for collecting a video library and having physical media to own.

Loafy · 12-08-2014, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lacenaire

Thankfully I live near Toronto where there are still a few independent video stores that have a good selection and the HMV downtown is still decent. But still, I order at least half of my Blu's online and online ordering will soon be the only way to get most Blu's.

I'm in Toronto too and besides HMV, it's pretty hard to find any decent selection in a physical store. FS/BB now suck. What other shops do you frequent?

uther · 12-09-2014, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loafy

I'm in Toronto too and besides HMV, it's pretty hard to find any decent selection in a physical store. FS/BB now suck. What other shops do you frequent?

Dollarama...

Loafy · 12-09-2014, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uther

Dollarama...

lol me too but I was hoping for something more substantial. I enjoy the browsing.

uther · 12-10-2014, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loafy

lol me too but I was hoping for something more substantial. I enjoy the browsing.

Oh and I forgot to mention Sobey's, Canadian Tire, Giant Tiger, Bed Bath & Beyond and Dollar Tree. Gotta scrounge around like a hobo these days...

murphywmm · 12-11-2014, 11:05 PM

Here in Edmonton, FS and BB for the most part have more Blu-Ray than DVD. All the HMV stores have a decent Blu-Ray selection (especially the West Edmonton Mall store) but DVD still outnumbers in some stores. Wal-Mart, unfortunately, still has more DVD than Blu-Ray. We only have two rental stores left, but since neither is really close to where I live, I've never gone in to see if they have any Blu's for sale. There is also 3 stores owned by the same person (two called Revolver and one called Supertunes) that sell lots of used and some new Blu but their prices are a bit silly sometimes ($24.99 for a used Studio Ghibli title when I can get a new one for the same price?). They are good for OOP stuff though.

Giant Tiger seems to be a good place to score some cheap Blu's. I check them frequently as their selection often changes. And occasionally Superstore has some good deals as well.

I can't say I've ever seen Blu-Ray discs at Sobey's, Canadian Tire, or Bed Bath and Beyond as of yet...

uther · 12-12-2014, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murphywmm

Giant Tiger seems to be a good place to score some cheap Blu's. I check them frequently as their selection often changes. And occasionally Superstore has some good deals as well.

I can't say I've ever seen Blu-Ray discs at Sobey's, Canadian Tire, or Bed Bath and Beyond as of yet...

All of them are YMMV, always have been. Went to 3 Dollarama stores and only one had the new supply of BDs... Still scored two of what I wanted so I cannot complain. Maybe I will check NoFrills tomorrow.

RiderNation · 12-12-2014, 10:19 PM

Yeah, it's a challenge buying physical media--I order most of my vinyl record albums and blu-rays online because a lot of the brick-and-mortar stores don;t offer a varied selection (and I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart). Places like Giant Tiger are great for finding cheap blu-rays--some of the Dollarama stores carry the odd offbeat/quasi-indie films on blu-ray (I live in downtown Calgary, so our Dollarama is picked over). Most of my blu-rays are purchased at Amazon.ca, but I do frequent HMV (they always have good sales and their proces have gone down in recent years) and the 17th Ave. Best Buy, although that store is sorely lacking in selection.

uther · 12-13-2014, 12:53 AM

BB & FS seemed to have added more BD titles online this month but still missing a lot. For the first time BB refused me minor pm for an online order that was not on BF or CM, not sure if they are still honoring their web policy this month.

jctcom · 12-13-2014, 05:52 PM

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the main reason why physical stores are reducing their physical Disc inventory. Their prices are ridiculous. It is too easy to find reasonable prices online now and with most places offering free shipping for orders over $25.00 I for one am not willing to pay $20 - $30 for a rehashed 30 year old movie because it was re-released on Blu-Ray. & $30 - $40 or more for a new movie is also ridiculous. The Studios need to start realizing that they can't double and triple dip anymore. They want to make millions of dollars at the box office and then again at the Home Video release(s) and then again on a new format release. I and I am sure many others are not willing to pay the outrageous prices that are asked of us time and time again for the same material.

I also will never purchase Digital media. At least not until it is the same quality or better than Blu-Ray for both audio and Video and about 1 /4 the price.

I love blu-ray.com's price tracking feature and I keep huge lists of movies with prices that I am willing to pay for them and get notified when they come into that price range on Amazon. There are of course certain exceptions that tempt me (Such as True Lies and The Abyss if they ever get released on Blu!) But for the most part I am not willing to pay the prices they ask for in the brick & mortar stores and I suspect that this is the real reason why inventory is being drastically reduced in them (Even if they are not willing to admit it).
Carl.

Ninty64X · 12-13-2014, 06:00 PM

The same thing is happening at all the Wal-Marts near me. They used to have a lot of blu-rays, but now almost all of it has been replaced by DVDs. Thankfully Barnes and Noble has a pretty good selection, even if they're pretty pricey.

uther · 12-13-2014, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jctcom

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the main reason why physical stores are reducing their physical Disc inventory. Their prices are ridiculous. It is too easy to find reasonable prices online now and with most places offering free shipping for orders over $25.00 I for one am not willing to pay $20 - $30 for a rehashed 30 year old movie because it was re-released on Blu-Ray.

Guess you are writing about online in the US prices (in USD) vs Canadian b&m CAD. The online Canadian retailers prices, especially at amazon.ca, are barley different then the b&m prices in Canada. I often find better deals at b&m, one just has to look.

Of course then the subject is changed to convenience.

jctcom · 12-14-2014, 01:10 AM

Admittedly I do purchase more from Amazon.com than .ca But I still do purchase a lot of BD for less at Amazon.ca than I do from FS or BB or anyone else online or offline in Canada (Most of the time) Granted there are sales etc.. and if you watch sometime something will be cheaper at a brick & Mortar (Or their online counterpart).

Something else I do though is I keep several of the apps on my iphone. Any time I am looking at Blu-Rays in a B&M store I scan it in and get them to price match against the online price since here in BC they pretty much all price match against the online prices now.

Carl.

08-29-2014, 10:18 AM	#1
Terrorfirmer Blu-ray Guru Top contributor Member since:Apr 2012 Location:Canada 4K collection:53 Blu-ray collection:1037 DVD collection:282 Trading Score:11	Where Have All The Blu Rays Gone ?!? In my town there is a Walmart, a Futureshop, and a Target. Last year Futureshop made changes and now there is one short row of blus and a couple of small dump bins, Walmart has now made the same changes with bare racks and a dump bin of the same old stuff and as far as im concened target is a joke...Anybody know what the logic is behind these changes?...also, i swear there are more DVDs than blu rays in all of these stores, anybody else notice this?

08-29-2014, 12:19 PM	#2
Lacenaire Active Member Member since:Jun 2012	The logic behind this is that fewer and fewer people are buying physical media and the Blu-ray market is slowly becoming a niche market like Laserdiscs. I haven't even bothered to go to a big box store in years. Thankfully I live near Toronto where there are still a few independent video stores that have a good selection and the HMV downtown is still decent. But still, I order at least half of my Blu's online and online ordering will soon be the only way to get most Blu's.

08-29-2014, 04:33 PM	#4
coolkev1701 Special Member Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Tucson, AZ Home Theater Gallery:10 4K collection:801 Blu-ray collection:2224 DVD collection:158	Yeah, my Walmart still thinks it's 1999 since their movie section is still mostly DVD's. I'm more and more having to buy my blu-rays off of Amazon and other sites, since I can't find them anywhere else.

08-29-2014, 10:44 PM	#5
uther Blu-ray Guru Member since:Sep 2008 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:1	What I am really disappointed with FS/BB is their online selection of BD titles is also greatly reduced which is a pity because they pm unlike any other online store plus support paypal and in my area delivery is lightning fast.

12-07-2014, 05:33 AM	#6
R1978 Member Member since:Dec 2014 4K collection:12 Blu-ray collection:382 DVD collection:104	Yea this is getting quite absurd, personally speaking I have never nor will I ever buy "virtual/digital files", I buy "product" when it has a package and I'm mainly paying for the package and quality disc. My fs, wm and most other places have nothing, I just blew about $200 on br from both chapters and future shop online, because no local stores have much in stock and certainly nothing I would buy. I don't think it's fair to claim BR is the new LD, what it comes down to is most media is sold virtual now, I used to be a huge video game collector and am disgusted by what they have done with that too but seems like this is spilling off into music and movies. I tend to spend around $60 on vinyl a month, $50 on bd now and I don't see this ever changing till media is 100% digital then I will stop buying outright and go back to "TPB".

12-08-2014, 06:10 AM	#8
R1978 Member Member since:Dec 2014 4K collection:12 Blu-ray collection:382 DVD collection:104	This creates an interesting situation though when we consider a lot of it. 1 There is a lot of Blu Ray that is now oop, and while some is being repressed or having a re release, I doubt it will be all of them. 2 While we know there is millions of dvd's out there and some dirt cheap and some expensive, we know also that in the future filling out our BR collections may be quite difficult especially with the prices people are asking for certain versions or even titles in general. 3 Both VHS and DVD have had their era, they have both had plenty of bargain bin days too, with BR it's different because not as many stores online or offline are carrying them, and we are still unsure what exactly it's future holds in terms of availability, obviously if BR takes off eventually how vhs and dvd did...then chances are we will start seeing them sold online and in store more, but for now that is a bit up in the air even if it seems br sales are growing a bit. What makes this different than LD is the fact many people own ps3 and soon ps4, this means plenty already have or will have BR players ( if they choose to buy movies to watch is another question, I remember LD rentals at jumbo video in the 90s and while they looked cool I don't think I ever knew a single person with a player. BR is different than this and...they are certainly cheaper or at least on par with some dvd prices. I think one of the problems here is probably netflix and virtual media files, why people even buy them in the first place will always be a puzzle to me, but this situation we are facing poses a lot of long term problems for collecting a video library and having physical media to own.

12-11-2014, 11:05 PM	#13
murphywmm Special Member Top contributor Member since:Jul 2014 Location:Edmonton, Canada 4K collection:368 Blu-ray collection:3717 DVD collection:63 Blu-ray reviews: 7 Trading Score:2	Here in Edmonton, FS and BB for the most part have more Blu-Ray than DVD. All the HMV stores have a decent Blu-Ray selection (especially the West Edmonton Mall store) but DVD still outnumbers in some stores. Wal-Mart, unfortunately, still has more DVD than Blu-Ray. We only have two rental stores left, but since neither is really close to where I live, I've never gone in to see if they have any Blu's for sale. There is also 3 stores owned by the same person (two called Revolver and one called Supertunes) that sell lots of used and some new Blu but their prices are a bit silly sometimes ($24.99 for a used Studio Ghibli title when I can get a new one for the same price?). They are good for OOP stuff though. Giant Tiger seems to be a good place to score some cheap Blu's. I check them frequently as their selection often changes. And occasionally Superstore has some good deals as well. I can't say I've ever seen Blu-Ray discs at Sobey's, Canadian Tire, or Bed Bath and Beyond as of yet...

12-12-2014, 10:19 PM	#15
RiderNation Member Member since:Nov 2014 Location:Calgary, Canada Blu-ray collection:829	Yeah, it's a challenge buying physical media--I order most of my vinyl record albums and blu-rays online because a lot of the brick-and-mortar stores don;t offer a varied selection (and I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart). Places like Giant Tiger are great for finding cheap blu-rays--some of the Dollarama stores carry the odd offbeat/quasi-indie films on blu-ray (I live in downtown Calgary, so our Dollarama is picked over). Most of my blu-rays are purchased at Amazon.ca, but I do frequent HMV (they always have good sales and their proces have gone down in recent years) and the 17th Ave. Best Buy, although that store is sorely lacking in selection.

12-13-2014, 12:53 AM	#16
uther Blu-ray Guru Member since:Sep 2008 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:1	BB & FS seemed to have added more BD titles online this month but still missing a lot. For the first time BB refused me minor pm for an online order that was not on BF or CM, not sure if they are still honoring their web policy this month.

12-13-2014, 05:52 PM	#17
jctcom Member Top contributor Member since:Nov 2008 4K collection:36 Blu-ray collection:512 DVD collection:33	I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the main reason why physical stores are reducing their physical Disc inventory. Their prices are ridiculous. It is too easy to find reasonable prices online now and with most places offering free shipping for orders over $25.00 I for one am not willing to pay $20 - $30 for a rehashed 30 year old movie because it was re-released on Blu-Ray. & $30 - $40 or more for a new movie is also ridiculous. The Studios need to start realizing that they can't double and triple dip anymore. They want to make millions of dollars at the box office and then again at the Home Video release(s) and then again on a new format release. I and I am sure many others are not willing to pay the outrageous prices that are asked of us time and time again for the same material. I also will never purchase Digital media. At least not until it is the same quality or better than Blu-Ray for both audio and Video and about 1 /4 the price. I love blu-ray.com's price tracking feature and I keep huge lists of movies with prices that I am willing to pay for them and get notified when they come into that price range on Amazon. There are of course certain exceptions that tempt me (Such as True Lies and The Abyss if they ever get released on Blu!) But for the most part I am not willing to pay the prices they ask for in the brick & mortar stores and I suspect that this is the real reason why inventory is being drastically reduced in them (Even if they are not willing to admit it). Carl.

12-13-2014, 06:00 PM	#18
Ninty64X Active Member Member since:Jul 2014 Blu-ray collection:198 DVD collection:123	The same thing is happening at all the Wal-Marts near me. They used to have a lot of blu-rays, but now almost all of it has been replaced by DVDs. Thankfully Barnes and Noble has a pretty good selection, even if they're pretty pricey.

12-14-2014, 01:10 AM	#20
jctcom Member Top contributor Member since:Nov 2008 4K collection:36 Blu-ray collection:512 DVD collection:33	Admittedly I do purchase more from Amazon.com than .ca But I still do purchase a lot of BD for less at Amazon.ca than I do from FS or BB or anyone else online or offline in Canada (Most of the time) Granted there are sales etc.. and if you watch sometime something will be cheaper at a brick & Mortar (Or their online counterpart). Something else I do though is I keep several of the apps on my iphone. Any time I am looking at Blu-Rays in a B&M store I scan it in and get them to price match against the online price since here in BC they pretty much all price match against the online prices now. Carl.

Best Blu-ray Movie Deals