FYE making a comeback?

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by KeithH, Jan 7, 2016.

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  1. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    went into my local FYE (inside a mall) to look around....the CD section has been reduced to 1 2-sided upright metal rack, new and used mixed together, maybe 1000 total CD's.

    even the DVD/blu-ray section was smaller and on the same type of metal rack.

    mostly t-shirts and toys.

    probably the last time i will ever go in there.
     
    LordThanos1969 likes this.
  2. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I was at a strip mall store recently. I think it is the last one in my metro area, the mall stores have all closed. The CD section is still very large, as are the DVD sections, and there is a decent sized vinyl section. Honestly I'm surprised the store is still around. Whenever I go in there it's mostly dead. Occasionally someone will be buying a movie or video game. I never see anyone buying music, though sometimes I see people browse then not buy anything.

    The main reason I still stop in occasionally is for used CDs. Often I can find good older pressings that go on eBay for more than what I would pay at FYE during one of their sales. Buy 2, get one free is pretty common sale they have. The last sale was Buy 2, get one for $1.
     
    melstapler likes this.
  3. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Update:It seems as the vinyl section was cut in half from a year ago. About 10% of the display seems to be reduced @ 25% off. Similar experience at Barnes & Noble. Racks thinned out. Lots of space holding maybe 12-15 vinyl titles as new releases. This,when a week before Black Friday,stores should be at their fullest. In both,I asked if they had the new Herb Alpert Christmas album. Don't laugh. First seasonal LP in 49 years from an act that,in the past,sold a lot of Christmas vinyl. Also,Herb was touring in the area this past week. Neither FYE nor B&N had one piece either on vinyl or CD,and,as usual,hired help was clueless.
     
    melstapler likes this.
  4. dee

    dee Senior Member

    Location:
    ft. lauderdale, fl
    Yeah, me too, I was able to sell some miscellaneous titles there that I had acquired for one reason or another and don't listen to and use the cash from them to buy a few titles I had been wanting.
     
  5. Hot Springs, AR still has an FYE, the only one I have shopped at in years. I always find something worth buying when I shop at FYE. It is always busy enough that it has the appearance of a store that will remain open, at least for the short term. As far as all of the space taken up by trinkets and t-shirts, I seem to be able to completely ignore all of that.
     
    fluffskul likes this.
  6. vinylbuff

    vinylbuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Port Florida
    Things haven't changed at the store near me. They have two small racks of vinyl and a majority of what's there is priced at 15-25% OVER suggested list price. Led Zeppelin HOTH deluxe two record set was $54.99
    The rest of the store had an overflow of T shirts and used cds and dvds.
     
  7. Channel Z

    Channel Z Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Disappointing Black Friday trip to FYE today, a few sale items in CD and DVD. No used item sales other than the usual buy 2 get the 3rd for a 1.00. No vinyl sales just the usual crazy high price. Noticed a Beatles Mono Vinyl Box for $469.99. With tax in my area that would cost $507.59. Insane crazy. I did buy the Cheap Trick Christmas CD for $11.99.
     
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  8. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    If FYE does a decent used sale,it will start post-Christmas. This "buy 2,get the 3rd for a buck" has grown really tiresome this last year. It seemed that during three-day weekend holidays they had a slightly better one. Add to that the ever-diminished value of much of their second hand product. Their algorithms are giving less for incoming yet their resale price rarely reflects just buying one. It appears that if they can't con you into picking up three items,they don't care. My past experience has been to stay out of FYE entirely Nov.-Dec. They want maximum price to pay for the outrageous rent. Especially last minute,a period that Amazon is closing in on while they seem to think that panic buying from around Dec. 15 still exists in 2017. From Dec. 26 on,they have to worry about getting any gift cards redeemed and paying bills. A good bit of holiday themed product is either non-returnable nowadays or they have made deals with the manufacturers to keeps returns lower with incentives to warehouse remaining unsold product at Trans World. Once again,never buy Christmas CDs or DVDs till the 26th.
    I've found this true at Barnes & Noble with books. You will see some new "bestsellers" with pretty decent quantities during the holidays,but some "bestsellers" that aren't the bestest go into clearance Dec. 26th,usually 40-50%, just so the manufacturers don't have them back in their warehouse. Once again,redeeming gift cards is part of that scam. Gift cards are the crack cocaine for retail.
     
  9. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    does FYE still buy used CD's?

    and, if yes.....are they at least fair about it?
     
  10. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Visited Lehigh Valley Mall FYE 12/28 unable to find any Christmas CDs, LPs, new or used. So no Christmas clearance. Pulled from shelves 12/26? Kinda strange. The week between Christmas & New Year's is a necessary part of brick & mortar retail survival. Gift cards do not become sales until redeemed.Lots of folk off with money to spend. Just read an article highlighting how crucial this week is for troubled mall anchors like Macy's and Penney's-this has been going on well before Black Friday became a thing. These newly minted Journalism majors-wake up!
    Entering the store,clearance crap meets the customer and indeed was indeed heavily discounted-yellow dot items included a retro Allman Brothers Eat A Peach tour shirt with a 1973 schedule-two bucks-that's a nice knock around the house tee. Found a Minion tee for the grandkid to use as a sleep shirt,also two bucks. Those dust-collecting figures in the square boxes-I don't understand that stuff at all.
    Once again,the used deal continues to be "buy 2,get the third for a buck"-disappointing with a year-end clearance,especially since surrounding stores seemed to be loaded with customers spending money. That won't last-come back around MLK day,mid-Jan. and much of the mall will seem like a deserted bowling alley once again. Maybe a buy one,get one(aka-bogos) would have helped move some of that stagnant stock. They ain't gonna turn into collectables overnight.
    LP section looked sparse,with the added bonus of red dot LPs going for 50% off-now all they need is a selection. I'm not up on current vinyl acts,but FYE just seems to have pulled back in selection.
    I found a Midnight Special 7 DVD set for $14.99,which turned out to be a good,but not great buy. Sure,it is overstock from manufacturer,but there was a tag with no color code to indicate either new or used. Just a plain back type against a white label. FYE will sometimes mark this kind of stuff as "used",sometimes with original shrink-wrap,sometimes re-wrapped,so it can qualify for the "used" promotion. Not here. 75% "great value" not freshened up,but that seems to happen until later in the new calender year. Bins loaded with used stuff,but no bargains,really. I noticed that they mark DVD "complete,Must See TV!" sets from Mill Creek Media for an everyday high, high price of $49.99,while area Ollie's Bargain Outlets have them at $29.99-that is mall rental,kids. Once again,those plain white price tags are evident.
    So,all in all,I guess just the fact that FYE is not hemorrhaging store closures nowadays is good for everybody,but they still don't know what they want to be-a bright Spencer's or a dedicated physical media store. But I spent $60 bucks and my receipt says I saved $77,but I still feel like I was taken a bit.
     
  11. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I was at Annapolis (MD) Mall the other day and stopped at their FYE to see if they had any interesting used CDs.

    The entire CD section - used and new - was tiny. I didn't even bother to look - they had so few CDs that you could easily believe they didn't carry CDs at all!

    Not a total loss - I got some $2 T-shirts. Will I wear a Pokemon T-shirt in public? Nope, but for $2, it's good to wear around the house! :D
     
  12. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Recent visit to the FYE Berkshire Mall,Reading,Pa. What is always interesting here is they seem to be an FYE warehouse dumping ground. The area invented the modern day "outlet mall",back when that meant a pretty good deal. Today,it's buyer beware,but they still attract busloads of shoppers(and shoplifters,as I have witnessed police action,dragging out folks with bags full of stolen stuff). While other locations are clearing out their clearing out stuff,this place was putting newly shipped garbage from Trans World's warehouse. Those $2 tees-a couple of hundred being put out while I visited. Found a way cool Capitol Tower logo shirt-I suspect this might have never been meant for actual retail.
    It is not unusual to find promo stuff in an FYE. They don't take them in as trade but the warehouse has no problem unloading promos,cutouts made to look like used product and problem merchandise from previous store closings,the occasional defect return,etc. Yellow tag "great value" was not as plentiful as past visits,but they had a bunch of "2.99" tagged used stuff that rings for a buck. The never ending "buy 2,get the third for a buck" used sale is just like other FYEs but here there is a lot more to choose,especially DVDs. At least two new cases of crud added to the mix during my stay. So a 40Rock S1,West Wing S6 and the double Allman Bros. Filmore CD from the Chronicles era cost a total of $19. Passed a lot of time and hoping my wife doesn't see the Christmas Story apron(two bucks) put away with our holiday stuff till next year. And a sealed Red Sox Nation 2DVD set rang up for a quarter and that will make my doctor's receptionist happy.
     
    InStepWithTheStars likes this.
  13. clhboa

    clhboa Forum Resident

    Those Capitol shirts were being sold at Capitol's website a few years back. Almost ordered one myself.
     
  14. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    Even when they were popular and in many malls, I could never understand why people shopped there. Their CD's and DVD's were always like 30-50% higher priced than places like Best Buy. Back in the day they wanted like $22 for the same CD you could get at best buy for like $9.99
     
  15. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Convenience!
     
  16. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Last time I was in my FYE (which was my second home from 2012 to 2013), they were charging $50 for the standard edition of Led Zeppelin II and $75 for the white album. The CD section was one cramped side of a flimsy rack and was full of obvious bootlegs for outrageous prices. The only thing I'd want that they might ever stock is used copies of the Flaming Lips CD/DVD sets... and there's no culture 'round here. I'll survive.
     
    Joey_Corleone likes this.
  17. puffyrock2

    puffyrock2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisiana
    The FYE in my neck of the woods is closing. All CD's are now 30 percent off....which means a lot of them are still more expensive than Amazon even with the discount. To anyone else who has seen their store close, what's the lowest the CD's go? If they get to 50 percent I'll consider that a good deal.
     
  18. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Stopped into mine again recently. I can't remember what I was looking for, but it was big enough that I figured FYE might have it. Yeah, waste of time. On the plus side, anyone looking for AC/DC's Gratest Hit's on CD can get it for the low, low price of $22.99. I think the bootleg count outnumbers the official CD release count in that store now, and they don't even try to BS it by putting an "IMPORT" sticker on the shrinkwrap. Honestly, that's a pretty good tactic - wait to sell the "good stuff" once suspicion is at an all-time low, because who the hell buys CDs anymore and why would they look at FYE? - but there's no "good stuff" and one album costs roughly the same as a small dinner at a decent restaurant.

    Such a shame. Back when I was in high school that place was a land of magical wonderment. Now it's a desolate windswept plain complete with buzzards, tumbleweed, and a plaintive, lonesome harmonica as the sun descends. Of course, I didn't know actual record stores existed when I was in high school, so my standards were set kinda low.
     
  19. clhboa

    clhboa Forum Resident

    Second Spin (which was listed on the FYE website as one of their stores) closed a few weeks ago. Was working a bunch of overtime and missed the going out of business sale.
     
  20. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I must have caught one of their deals then. Ordered a disc from SecondSpin a month or two ago, paid about half the going rate on Discogs/eBay. It came with the orange FYE "USED" sticker, which made me smile. The smile turned into a grimace when I remembered how annoying those are to get off.

    I'm just realizing how weird it is that I'm getting nostalgic over FYE's used media stickers. I think I have a problem.
     
  21. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Yeah,they make it to 50,but the good stuff has possibly been pulled and sent to the warehouse well before the first GOB sign went up. Remember this GOB sale is run by a third party. Employees must stay on to get unemployment benefits to the bitter(and it is indeed bitter)end. Do look around for what they would consider "drek" as it is often in a dump bin you may find a goody just because they can't return it. Also,ask if they have any intention of returning months down the road,as closings have been fewer these years,and often they return to renegotiated smaller digs with less product but still uninformed folk on the clock.
    If you know anyone that as an indi shop,they sell the fixtures as well;maybe even the ceiling lights. Sign holders,signage,stuff in the back room-it all has a price.
     
    puffyrock2 likes this.
  22. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    After decades in retail and changing prices during the inflation '70s on petroleum based products, I consider myself a pro at sticker removal. FYE's red "used" tags or yellow "great value" tag are pretty easy. The white & yellow sticker covering the bar code are harder and leave a glue residue.
     
  23. realdiel

    realdiel Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Paul, MN
    The other day, I received an email from FYE for a 25 per cent off sale online only. I found the Elvis Costello Rhino reissue. It was pictured as Rhino, described as Rhino, and priced as Rhino, but today I received the Warner Bros single disc. Very frustrating. I have been looking for a decently priced copy of this for a long time. Website says they do not have it in stock. Rats.
     
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