Best Buy to phase out physical media and exclusives in store/online in 2024

[digitalbabe_LV426]

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/101223-1100

 

[Steely-Booked]

Looks to me like the Best Buy listing you have pictured is the 4K and the Amazon listing is just the Blu-ray.

So $33.99 for 4K at Best Buy and $24.96 for the Blu-ray at Amazon.

My bad on the camel image, but it’s 25.99 on Amazon

 

[NateDog]

Really, I don’t see any change. I have certainly read anything to say it is improving.

From an Irish perspective I've certainly seen a (positive) change here. Golden Discs and Tower Records both seem to be stocking far more releases than I've ever seen here before. Heck I picked up the Arrow 4K Fear And Loathing set last year in Tower, GD have the Exorcist sets are up for preorder and Tower now have a Criterion section with a few bigger sets there (including the Before trilogy and stuff like Infernal Affairs).

 

[TGO]

Tower Records

 

[Avengers]

All stores nearby Orlando FL no longer accept returns on open steelbooks nor any other media. i recently purchased Prey in store and opened inside the store. It was dented, tried to exchange for another steel and they said no. They do not stand behind their product. He even told me to try selling on eBay.

 

[Maksym]

All stores nearby Orlando FL no longer accept returns on open steelbooks nor any other media. i recently purchased Prey in store and opened inside the store. It was dented, tried to exchange for another steel and they said no. They do not stand behind their product. He even told me to try selling on eBay.

You could probably sell it dented for like $80 on ebay. So good advice lmao

 

[The Fifth Rider]

I just had my pre-order of "The Wicker Man" steelbook canceled with no notification from them (saw the credit in my card statement) and it's now shifted from "Pre-order" to "Coming Soon" on the site. That's a really bad sign. Either there just weren't enough pre-orders for them to move forward or it's fallen victim to this phaseout. Either way it's a bummer, as the artwork on it was beautiful.

It's probably time to buy anything you want from them while you still can.

 

[apsmith21]

Remember that lead time for steelbooks is literally months, so personally I would not expect to see any new steelbooks be released at Best Buy after December 2024.

There's a bunch that have been announced for December 5 release, that plausibly could be the last day of new steelbooks at Best Buy.

 

[apsmith21]

I just had my pre-order of "The Wicker Man" steelbook canceled with no notification from them (saw the credit in my card statement) and it's now shifted from "Pre-order" to "Coming Soon" on the site. That's a really bad sign. Either there just weren't enough pre-orders for them to move forward or it's fallen victim to this phaseout. Either way it's a bummer, as the artwork on it was beautiful.

It's probably time to buy anything you want from them while you still can.

My GB orders are still active for The Wicker Man. Generally I think you could see some price reductions for Black Friday but it's as equally likely they just get returned to the distributor and get restocked at Walmart or somewhere else.