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Walmart DVDs And Blu-rays (1 Viewer)

Spottedfeather

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Just yesterday, I was in Walmart. Wow, the selection of dvds and blu-rays was severely lacking. Last year at this same time, there were 5 or so double sided racks of dvds and blu-rays along with several 5 dollar bins. But yesterday, there were only two double sided racks, each with endcaps, a 5 dollar bin, a 3 dollar bin, and a rack of 7 dollar movies.

Really ? There were no tv section as there was last year. And the new release section was a single shelf on an end cap.

What's happened here ? Is Walmart not going to be selling physical media anymore ? There were 3 or 4 racks of cds. I just don't get it.
 

Clinton McClure

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Unfortunately, physical media is no longer king. The average Joe would rather stream an inferior, heavily compressed presentation of a film or tv show than buy a superior presentation of it they can keep and rewatch. And since Walmart caters to the average Joe...

Occasionally I still find a good deal on a catalog bluray title at Target but most of my movie shopping has gone to Amazon. Best Buy has a very limited selection and I try to avoid Walmart at all costs.
 

Richard V

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Just yesterday, I was in Walmart. Wow, the selection of dvds and blu-rays was severely lacking. Last year at this same time, there were 5 or so double sided racks of dvds and blu-rays along with several 5 dollar bins. But yesterday, there were only two double sided racks, each with endcaps, a 5 dollar bin, a 3 dollar bin, and a rack of 7 dollar movies.

Really ? There were no tv section as there was last year. And the new release section was a single shelf on an end cap.

What's happened here ? Is Walmart not going to be selling physical media anymore ? There were 3 or 4 racks of cds. I just don't get it.

Their warehouse Division, Sam's Club, quit selling physical media, about 6 months ago, so yeah, I expect Walmart will soon follow suit.
 

Bryan^H

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Yes, when Sam's Club stopped selling DVD\Blu-Ray completely I was shocked.
They were one of the best places to get TV on dvd sets at great prices, and had a massive selection.
A member for close to twenty years, I remember they used to have a great VHS selection before DVD.
My highlight shopping there being a stop in the movie section" to see what was new(especially around Christmas when they seemed to double their inventory).
Needless to say, I am no longer a member.
 

Richard V

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Echoing what Bryan said, Sam's had the best selection of TV on DVD ever. They had some kind of relationship with Timeless Media, at the height of TMG's heyday. Sam's was a gold mine for TMG, and as previously noted, a massive selection of DVDs and the latest Blurays. It slowly dried up, but I think accelerated once TMG sold out to Shout. Now it is a DVD ghost town, nothing except I think a few children's cartoons and educational DVDs. Truly sad,
 

Alf S

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It seems the era of buying discs, not matter what quality it is, is dead (or near death). Stores see the writing on the wall.
 

skylark68

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Hmm. The Walmart near me still has a large selection of DVD's (especially those in Espanol). They've never carried very many blu-rays though outside of big name new releases.
 

David_B_K

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All the Walmarts I have visited have crappy disc/media sections with little discernible order to the department. The only time I look for discs there is if it is one of their exclusives, and i seldom find those. I quit looking for discs at Sam's some time ago, and am actually going to let my Sam's card lapse now that Costco is my favored warehouse store.

Once I built up my DVD and Blu-ray collection, I did not have a need to browse stores for releases. When DVD first started, I was constantly checking for releases to build the collection; same with Blu-ray. Now that I have hundreds of discs, I usually learn of new releases at this forum and order online.
 

B-ROLL

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The Electronics section of my "SuperWal*Mart" went under a revamp a few years ago but there has not been much change in terms of the number of DVDs, and Blurays. They now are selling a limited number of 4K HDRs (sometimes at lower prices) they have shown they are willing to expand ... They DO have a LOT of $3.74 cheaply made DVD releases on the shelves but have also had some good selection of Anime type titles "Inspirational titles,and a whole case devoted to TV shows. There's a similar rack of newer release DVDs and of course, the $7.88 bluray dump bin. There's two racks outside the electronics department with "Family" type movies (Disney et al.) ...

And they were the only store in the mall to have 1776 (@$13 when it came out):drum:

Apparently their brief flirtation with Criterion - Issuing a DVD only version of It'a a Hard Days Night did not bear fruit, but they have a good relationship with Shout! and have some limeted-tim Exclusives that have been detailed on this site ...

This is in the same mall that has a Costco and a SuperTarget ...
 

Spottedfeather

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well, this is kind of sad. It used to be that you could find stuff at walmart that you couldn't really find other places...and cheaper, too. It really shocked me that they didn't really have a new release section. There was one or two little shelves...and that was it. And even then, it was stuff that came out a couple of weeks ago.
 

Tony Bensley

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Unfortunately, physical media is no longer king. The average Joe would rather stream an inferior, heavily compressed presentation of a film or tv show than buy a superior presentation of it they can keep and rewatch. And since Walmart caters to the average Joe...

Occasionally I still find a good deal on a catalog bluray title at Target but most of my movie shopping has gone to Amazon. Best Buy has a very limited selection and I try to avoid Walmart at all costs.
Our Walmart has really gone downhill since they converted to a Super Store a few years back. They still have some DVD / Blu-ray selection, but it isn't what it once was. Our local Best Buy (Formerly Future Shop), has also recently scaled back on their Home Video aisles.

The vast majority of my video purchases are via Amazon these days, especially with fewer and fewer options at our local Brick & Mortar outlets.

CHEERS! :)
 

Joseph Bolus

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Let's not forget that Walmart owns VUDU -- one of the premier streaming services. So this is not at all surprising.

... And of course,
* Kids these days would rather stream their Disney movies on their Smartphones/Tablets than stick a disc into a player and be anchored to a TV set.
* Adults enjoy the convenience of "renting movies from the couch"; and are also simultaneously happy that their kids are viewing the "kiddie stuff" on something other than the living room TV set.

Folks, we're a dying breed ... :(

The good news is that physical media will still be popular enough for the studios to continue to release titles for at least the next five years. When Amazon starts curtailing their inventory, then we can *really* start getting nervous. In the meantime let's just continue to enjoy true ownership of movies while we can ...
 

skylark68

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I rarely buy any releases at Walmart anymore. While I used to be very interested in the newest films (back in the pre-blu ray days), I'm more into catalog titles now that Walmart rarely carries (and when they do, it's rarely blu ray). I have bought the TCM collections there when they pop up now and then. I usually buy off of Amazon or eBay.
 

BobO'Link

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Two stores here. A "SuperCenter" and a smaller "supercenter" store.

The smaller has limited selection consisting mostly of new releases dating back 3-4 weeks and a limited number of TVonDVD (mostly HBO and newer series). There's a DVD "dump bin" and one for BD (but at $7.88 most tiles can be purchased less elsewhere) and a two sided rack of $5-$10 DVD multi-titles sets and some "catalog" titles (mostly 80s and newer).

The "big" store has a "respectable" selection with two rather long(ish - ~25') racks of movies and TVonDVD titles. They also have a TVonDVD end cap with ~$10 seasons and 3 free standing racks (double sided with "caps") - one is mostly HBO and Shout! product, one is all kids stuff, and the 3rd is $5 DVDs.

I look at both when I'm in the store but it's rare I find anything to take home. Most often it'll be one of the WM exclusive titles but they have only ~50/50 shot at having any of those.

Target has a far better selection (roughly twice as much) but they still don't have much of what *I'm* looking for (mostly catalog and older TVonDVD titles). Like WM, I look whenever I'm in the store but rarely purchase anything.

I no longer waste my time with Best Buy unless I see a great bargain I can order online for store pickup. They have 2 double sided racks about ~15 in length with not much of a selection (mostly newer product which is mostly overpriced). But it's mostly due to their checkout process being very slow and it's a difficult store to get to (in the middle of a hard to get to mall). Most of the time Amazon price matches what I want from BB so I just order it there as it comes to my door.

Like many of you, the majority of my purchases are made from online vendors - usually Amazon and DeepDiscount.
 

Malcolm R

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The local store here is called a "supercenter," but is probably one of the smaller such designated in the entire chain. We have part of one side of a single aisle (about 20 feet) for videos, one end cap, and a couple of small individual racks and dump bins scattered in the store. Aside from new releases, it seems like mostly kids DVD's and catalog TV-on-DVD seasons. This has always been a small store (started with 66,000 SF, expanded last year to 93,000), so they've never had much space dedicated to physical media.
 

Spottedfeather

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It's a shame. I don't go into walmart often, but I was in last year. They had a GREAT dvd/blu-ray section. You could count on all the big new releases, a huge selection of great tv shows, and a bunch of 3, 5, or 7 dollar bins and racks.

But this year, as I said, there was barely anything. No tv series aside from random kids dvds with random episodes. No seasons whatsoever. A FEW complete series, but nothing special. I was really surprised to see almost twice as many racks for cds as there were for movies. Did get a chance to check out a 4K curved tv in person. THAT was kind of cool, though.

I don't get it. Blu-ray has far superior picture quality to streaming. Yeah, streaming may be more convienient, but you don't get the bonus stuff like commentaries, behind the scenes footage, and stuff like that. I'm more than willing to go through a few more seconds of loading time to get the best possible picture quality.

It's sad.
 

Malcolm R

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I think it's the curse of modern technology making so much content available all the time.

Those of us of a certain age recall when in order to see a movie, you either had to catch it in a theater or wait until it was broadcast on one of the handful of TV channels you received.

Then came home video where we could begin to own copies of our favorite movies and watch them whenever we desired. Yay!

Now, there is the internet, all kinds of streaming services, apps everywhere, hundreds of cable TV channels in many homes, all of which are producing their own original content. The younger generations likely see little need to own a copy of a movie and having it taking up space in their home when there's always something new coming down the pipeline that you can stream, as well as the availability of many catalog streaming options.

Hard to believe this progression has all happened in the span of my lifetime. :eek:

If you want a specific title, it may not always be available, but I think the sheer mass and availability of digital content has trumped the need for many to hold on to large home collections (though I haven't reached that point yet). But as I get older, I do begin to wonder when I'll possibly have time to watch and read all the movies and books in my collection.
 

Robin9

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Those of us of a certain age recall when in order to see a movie, you either had to catch it in a theater or wait until it was broadcast on one of the handful of TV channels you received.

Oh yes. I remember those days. I think then we treasured films more than people do now that they're immediately accessible. My basic attitude hasn't changed much. I still value my collection of discs as priceless, even though I know their second hand value is more or less nil.

I've just watched The Lady Takes A Flyer on DVD. The film is little known and no great masterpiece but I'm not letting that disc leave my house!
 

jcroy

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If you want a specific title, it may not always be available, but I think the sheer mass and availability of digital content has trumped the need for many to hold on to large home collections (though I haven't reached that point yet). But as I get older, I do begin to wonder when I'll possibly have time to watch and read all the movies and books in my collection.

Good point. I think you may be onto something here.

This past June, I largely stopped regularly buying any cds/dvds/blurays. Since then, I've had no shortage of stuff to watch on network tv and basic cable channels. With the recent start of the fall season on network tv, my plate is full just about every evening. With my evening hours limited, I find it is sometimes a "chore" to keep up with all the shows I've been watching regularly.

Eventually I'll drop some of the current and new tv shows I've been recording to the DVR every day. (ie. "The Exorcist" show on Fridays, is slowly moving to my chopping block of shows to drop). Basically if too many episodes of a particular tv show starts to accumulate on the dvr without being watched by me, I'll eventually drop that show.


If I'm jonesing to watch a particular movie/show and it is not readily available to me (whether dvd/bluray, basic cable, or other "sources"), I usually just do without it for the time being and wait until it shows up on a basic cable channel. For some titles, I know I'll be waiting for a very long time. In spite of this, there's usually still tons of other stuff on the dvr that I want to finishing watching or delete immediately (if a show/movie turns out to be garbage and/or difficult to watch). For example, I still record the daily Star Trek franchise episodes onto the dvr which I watch very frequently.
 

Oliver Ravencrest

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My local Wal-mart is one of those Super-centers and they have a large physical media section. There's at least 4 long shelves with DVDs and Blus, 3 end caps, a circular shelf with TV titles, 3 more smaller displays, 1 of which is in the main aisle. There are 2 dump bins, one for DVDs and for Blus. There's also a square display by the registers at the front of the store. That doesn't include the ones for music. They also carry discounted Blus and DVDs that can be very cheap. They recently put out Horror titles for Halloween. There are still some good deals to be found there. One thing I noticed is they carry far more DVDs than Blu-rays and I've only seen a couple of UHD titles.
 

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