BEST BUY and FUTURE SHOP remove all physical releases from store in Canada

Why not just buy a dvd or Blu-ray player. They are dirt cheap these days and as a bonus, you can play (gasp) movies on them! Both play CDs just fine and 99% come with a remote.

 

Cambridge, Marantz, Music Hall, NAD, Onkyo, and Yamaha seem to still be selling CD players at reasonable prices. Some even make a point in their marketing that their CD players use dedicated music drives, not re-purposed DVD or computer drives.

 

All Best Buys are good for anymore is picking up major CD and Blu-ray releases on street date at decent prices. The cd or home video has to be in the top 5 or 10 releases of that week to be carried and once you're about a month past the street date, good luck finding the copy there (see U2's SOI for example).

I cannot wait to see Best Buy go the way of the dinosaur.

 

Serious question here - when Best Buy put mom and pop shops out of business, did the used CD market exist or not? My local CD Warehouse doesn't compete with new CD sales, they compete with used CDs which are just as good as new ones and cheaper. Their profit margin is also greater on used CDs. They can make 5 bucks on used CD and they only make about 2 or 3 bucks on new stuff.

So my question again - what was the used CD market like when all this went down.

 

I can't speak for anywhere else, but where I live, the used CD market has been around about as long as the CD format itself. It was particularly important in the early days, when discs were often over $20 new, but used discs could be had for half that.

 

I am creating a thread on this.

 

In NJ we have a glut of old Circuit City, Borders, Linens n' Things, and probably some other large retailer locations that are still sitting empty years after going out of business. Yeah, last thing we need is another retail space with 2600 square feet of emptiness.

Last year, Best Buy had a lot of exclusives and I've barely seen anything for this year so far. Not sure if that's a case of not much being released or Best Buy truly getting out of the game. The titles that had bonus tracks seemed to do well vs their created box sets with a t-shirt and the new CD (with no bonus).

 

When Best Buy stopped selling MFSL, Audio Fidelity, SACDs and DVDA discs I quit going there, I think that was not too long after Tower
Records closed.

 

Have you got a link with official confirmation of this? I cant find anything online.

 

True, but the handy thing about local stores is being able to return things immediately when you learn they automatically shut off after being paused for more than fifteen minutes, meaning you have to reboot them and skip back to where you left off if you go to do something else.

 

I remember about 12-13 years ago when Best Buy had a SACD/DVD-A section with lots of titles. And cheap too.
I didn't buy ANY.
Flash forward to now - really getting into these formats - and I kick myself now for not grabbing as many as I could then. : (

 

What surprises me most is they aren't even bothering carrying a "top 10" new releases.

I'm also wondering where the Best Buy CD stock went. There must be one warehouse full of it right now and nowhere to stock them.

Does anybody have a store that ONLY sells new cds in their city? Lots of used record stores use new vinyl to drive traffic on more profitable used vinyl.

You can see the back cover online for new releases. Where I see the problem is how do people find out about new releases or the process of stumbling upon a new releases in a store.

Real estate is crazy here. I think a couple of indie stores own their locations outright so they aren't prone to rent fluctuations.

Some lesser performing HMC Canada sotre got nucked but the higher traffic places seem to be ok with their CD stock.

I spoke with 2 managers at the Vancouver Cambie location. They'd never announce it for PR reasons(are they publically traded?).

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/...ing-friday-new-global-release-date-for-music/

Here's the link that said Target US might do the same.

 

My local Book World is trying to get rid of their old CD and DVD stock by selling them at 25% off but they will still special order music and video media. MSRP changes all the time and they have always had a hard time keeping up with the price changes.

 

Last I heard HMV in the UK had returned to profitability, a huge turnaround from two years ago. HMV in Canada is also doing fine. Admittedly CD's are only part of what they do now, but the new model - which includes a good deal of vinyl - seems to be working well. Let's hope it stays that way.

 

I stopped looking in BB years ago. I love Amazon, as a Prime member they have everything I want and I get it either in two days or even the next day.

 

Wouldn't know.In the 90s my music buying was limited to:

Scouring thrift stores for classical LPs and 70s.

Buying new indie rock vinyl from mom & pop stores,and the Estrus.Dionysus,etc catalogs.

Buying new imports of titles not issued on vinyl in the US.

 

So true, and put your hands on them, see how they look before they go home.

 

I shop at Best Buy maybe 4-6 times a year. They are still an option when we need an appliance. We bought a dishwasher there a little over a year ago and a new dryer there last month. To my surprise, we found knowledgeable, helpful staff there on both occasions.

Of course, it's rare that I need a new appliance. I don't shop there for music much these days. Amazon is often cheaper, plus I like AutoRip.

 

I can't speak for TinyTim, but some people believe a dedicated CD player sounds better than a comparably priced DVD or Blu-Ray player.

When I was in a Magnolia Hi-Fi inside a Best Buy store a few months ago, I'm pretty sure they had one of the mid-priced Marantz SACD/CD players on display.

 

Good news for indie shops that still exist. No more best buy exclusive ********.

 

Ain't that the truth.....here in Charleston back in the day Circuit City was the place to go for cds ,etc. even bought my first stereo system there.
Sometime in the late 80's though they did a one eighty and when you hit the door the sales "associates" would start the hard sell , talk about a pain in the **** like going to a used car lot. Well ,low and behold starting about 6 years ago Best Buy picked up on that business model and every time you walk in the "associates" start the same routine
trying to push anything from cheap home cable plans to whatever. I hate going to the BB stores in Charleston any more...... Yeah i don't wish the downfall for those employees but you really have to hand it to the meatheads at corporate for some truly poor decision making skills.

 

In Canada, the only home electronics retailer with a music section worth a damn was the BC-based A&B Sound, which I don't think had any stores past Manitoba. They didn't have maximum depth of catalogue, but the range was pretty impressive, with lots of indie labels covered, box sets and special editions, and imports at non-insane prices. They went under about five years ago, naturally.

 

That may be a little premature...

"Best Buy Co Inc, the largest U.S. consumer electronics chain, on Tuesday reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on a strong holiday season and said it would buy back stock for the first time since 2012."

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/03/03/bestbuy-results-idINL4N0W547N20150303

 

We had A&B in Vancouver. They were fantastic!

 

Perfectly stated. All my "normal" (haha) friends think buying a CD is about the same as buying a buggy whip.