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Forum - View topicAnswerman - Will Anime Discs Keep Being Sold At Major Retailers?
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Punch Drunk Marc
Posts: 1752 |
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This is very true. The B&N where I work has only one shelf for anime (and even then its at the bottom of a case all the way in the corner so you could easily pass it if your're not paying attention) with a bunch of older titles on it (Bebop the Movie, the original GiTS, Death Note, and like one Shippuden set). We don't really get anything new unless they are specifically ordered to us. I believe the last "new" title we got was "The Last: Naruto the Movie" and even then we only got the DVD. My local Best Buy isn't much better with it having only two or so shelves of titles. The best bet in my area is Hastings since it has at least 5 or so cases lined up, with some of the titles being even cheaper than rightstuf and site stores at times. Other than that I just hit up rightstuf if I'm too lazy to leave the house. Last edited by Punch Drunk Marc on Mon May 16, 2016 12:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4671 |
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I originally did my anime shopping at Best Buy, which was pretty sporadic, since I was in high school at the time so funds and transport were an issue. However, going there also served as something of an indicator that the bubble was going to burst. Best Buy had two sides of an aisle dedicated to anime, which decreased to one, and then only part of one aisle. Throw in that those few titles on the shelves were the big shonen series, or at least things that were on adult swim at the time, at it was pretty clear that I would have to go online for my anime purchases.
I tend not to pay much attention to titles if they are only sold through the publisher itself. Companies like PonyCan and Aniplex are already reluctant to lower prices, and that is even less likely if they don't have an independent retailer telling them that their stuff isn't selling. I ended up waiting about a year to get the R.O.D. blu-ray set because I figured if it didn't end up as part of Right Stuf's Christmas sale that year, there was no way I'd get it. I don't think it is a coincidence that the prices and shipping costs at Funimation's store track pretty closely with Right Stuf. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13243 |
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My local Best Buy used to have a great selection of anime. I even got my Gunbuster box set there, which they had mispriced at $30.
Many years later and their anime section is now pretty pitiful. It hasn't been restocked in ages (save for some DBZ releases) and I swear that first G Gundam box set has been there for at least a decade. I prefer buying from a store since I can just pick it up and take it home with me instead of waiting for the mail person. But the only store in my area that has a good selection is this place called Cinema 1, but all their stuff is double the retail price. 90% of my buying is now done through Amazon.ca, where I can get free shipping and usually 2 day delivery. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7584 Location: Wales |
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Funimation have came a full circle thinking about it; they originally had their own Z-store (although I can't remember if they sold discs or just merch; what I wanted was their exclusive Kiddy Grade figures, but they couldn't ship to the UK "because AB Groupe had the European license for DBZ"), then they offloaded everything to RightStuf with a branded portal (at which point I could suddenly import those figures at last) but now they have their own store again.
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Punch Drunk Marc
Posts: 1752 |
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I remember seeing some ads for the Z Store on my old DBZ tapes. iirc they sold discs on there too. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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As recently as 2-3 years ago, the entire back wall at my local FYE was reserved for anime DVDs and BDs. Granted quite a few of them were used DVDs, especially old singles, but they still had enough inventory that it took me at least 10-15 minutes to browse through everything, and occasionally I found a hidden gem for a decent price. Now they have one rack for anime in the middle of an aisle (like four shelves total), and nearly all of it is popular Viz/Funi franchises and Ghibli movies. From a business perspective I get it, but that's not the stuff I'm in the market for, so I haven't bought anything at that store since I found Sentai's Ninja Scroll re-release there last summer.
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Zilan
Posts: 167 |
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I quit buying discs about 2 years ago, aside from a few quality releases I am done with it. Been burned too many times with promised quality and disc extra's. I like streaming from CR and Funi apps and collecting manga.
I sometimes look at my collection of anime blurays and DVDS and think to myself, man wish I could get some of that money back. |
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Heishi
 Posts: 1359 |
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Heh, I remember seeing anime in places like Best Buy. That's where I bought my complete copy of Shigurui.
I even remember one Best Buy having a copy of Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne. Last edited by Heishi on Mon May 16, 2016 10:27 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5514 Location: Iscandar |
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I prefer buying anime online. I especially use Right Stuf because I understand that publishers get more money selling through them. Also Right Stuff is also an anime publisher, and I like supporting N.A. anime companies. I sometimes use Amazon when they have items significantly discounted.
Funimation sold DVD-only sets of Attack on Titan (and Tokyo Ghoul IIRC) through Wal-Mart. As Justin says that is a great idea for very popular titles. But I don't that it will be such a big loss if one day no more anime discs are sold in brick and mortar stores. |
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1122 Location: Puget Sound |
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As with so much else, what your local store carries often depends on local conditions. In my fairly small town, my local FYE's anime section has stayed the same size, and maybe even expanded a little. (We even have a small anime goods store across the street in the mall now. Though if their inventory was a diverse and deep as their stores down the road in the Big City they might do better than they are.) Their [Western] TV section in the meantime has perhaps doubled in size. (Their music section however is suffering.) Honestly though, every time I drive by there, I'm just surprised they aren't having a going-out-of-business sale.
With near ubiquitous streaming, and mainstream streaming sites (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon) having increasingly deep and diverse back catalogs, allowing for "just stumbling" onto physical media is all but obsolete marketing method. In part due to the aforementioned back catalogs, in part due to the steady and ongoing rise of online shopping. The content producers and the retailers are just reacting to this new reality. |
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xchampion
 Posts: 370 Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho |
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I still do browse the anime selection at at Hastings and Best Buy but I rarely buy. I do most of my shopping on Amazon because I live in Idaho and we dont have a physical Amazon presence in the state so I dont get charged sales tax on any purchases
 Of course I do price match at Besr Buy if I want instant gratification. Lol.
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pluvia33
 Posts: 197 Location: Dayton, OH, USA |
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I remember when Best Buy made huge cuts to their anime section back in 2009. They had big clearance sales on the stuff they still had in stock; I remember seeing a guy walk to the register with a stack of literally every DBZ box set. Looking back and knowing a little more about how retail works, I suppose it was nice of them to do that instead of just ship everything back to the companies for refund. That would have really hurt.
Since I did purchase a lot of my first anime DVDs at Best Buy back in the early 2000s, it is a little sad to see the current state of anime in physical stores. But then again, the last time I probably bought a release from a physical store was likely during that Best Buy sale and even 5 or so years before that I was buying almost all of my stuff online. So yeah, I guess I was part of the problem? |
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ssgOverlord
 Posts: 91 |
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Once in a while FYE will have 50% off Funi's S.A.V.E. releases. I think that's the only time I've bought "new" anime from there considering the discounts otherwise by shopping online, but it is fun to browse the newer releases.
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MagusGuardian
 Posts: 593 |
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the B&N in my area puts best buys anime selection to shame, if I were to stack all the anime sets at best buy on a table I'd probably get an 11 - 12 1/2 inch tall stack if I were to stack up the anime sets at B&N I'd probably get three to four stacks that stand just about or just short of my actual height. the nice thing about some of the people I know at B&N is that they're trying to get the anime section expanded even with some complaints from corporate office, while at best buy I get smug jerks who always go and say "oh we're never getting that back in stock again" one week and a few weeks later down the road when confronted with the item back in stock they always say "it was put up against My disapproval" which is funny since the person(s) saying it is always some low level grunt employee with crappy customer service who has no say in what gets stocked and what doesn't
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Zendervai
 Posts: 202 |
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Up here in Canada, there is one store that usually has a pretty good selection of anime, HMV. They usually only have one or two copies of a given dvd or blu-ray set, but it's surprisingly broad. Mostly Funimation, but Sentai and Discotek have been sneaking in there in recent months (I found the set of Space Pirate Captain Harlock there), and I've even seen a couple Media Blasters dvds. And if they don't have the specific show you want in the specific store, it might well be in their warehouse and they'll order it for you. I did that for Full Metal Panic.
Granted, HMV is a DVD, music and merchandise store that actually had its sales go up after internet sales became a huge thing, mostly because their board of directors are surprisingly on the ball, as well as the fact that they very much pride themselves on their enormous selection, even though they're exclusively a mall store now. No one else sells anime though, unless it's a really wide release. |
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