Retail is Useless

[Mr. Analog]

I have odd tastes in movies, music and books, this I know. But lately I haven't been able to find anything I want at local shops and Amazon.com is starting to become a once a month visit for me.

For example, today I wanted to pick up a new DVD release, see if a weird band I like has any CDs floating around and a couple Bertrand Russell books. The new DVD release was nowhere to be found (and the CD I didn't expect to find anyway) at HMV and the philosophy section at Coles was laughable.

Is anyone else out there starting to find that buying things off the shelf is getting harder and harder to justify?

[Darren Dirt]

+1!

Personally I enjoy perusing the bookstore in Southgate after having supper with the kids in the food court (almost a Friday tradition, it seems :p ) and occasionally I'll find a 75% off hardcover Sci Fi book or a new title in a genre that interests me (in that case I jot down a note of the title/author and do the Amazon.com vs. Amazon.ca comparison chore when I get home...)


Music is a bit different though, I'm happy to see that HMV seems to keep a lot of older albums too rather than just all the latest popular junk... And again I use Amazon as my "30 second clips album tester" but typically end up buying it (typically for 0.75-1.00 per song, overall) -- though I don't listen to much 'net radio anymore where the songs are actually can-support-the-artists-because-they-have-albums types.

[Mr. Analog]

I expected to see more in a downtown bookstore philosophy section than just a few withered looking copies of Plato and a "Socrates for Dummies" book. I was after some Bertrand Russell darn it!

The CDs I didn't expect to find (European pop band called "Dschinghis Khan") and I expect I will have to hit eBay for to get everything I want. I downloaded a bunch of 128 kbps mp3s but I'd like to have the CDs as well. Given how much of their music I've listened to in the last few weeks...

The DVDs however were baffling as they were new releases, HMV is usually good for that, but not this time.

So, books, anime, DVDs and whatnot have been ordered from Amazon.

[Darren Dirt]

Hey have you found that pricing of new DVD releases are the opposite of how they used to be -- i.e. in the past getting it on "DVD release day Tuesday" would save you some bucks, whereas today the new movies are high priced ($20-35) but within a month or two are almost always bearing the "2 for $30" or "2 for $20" type of stickers?

I guess to me it's opposite of what basic economics should suggest the retailers do, after all if you want to encourage first-week purchases -- especially when the producers claim all their content is being stolen and distributed every time they see a microphone or a camera -- then why not set the prices to what the consuming public think is reasonable, thus receiving actually buying dollars from those borderline DVD purchasers (i.e. the huge number who enjoy a movie in theatres, but after that refuse to spend double or even TRIPLE the theatre price to (not-even-truly-)own the film in their homes... :-\

[Mr. Analog]

It depends on where you go, where BestBuy and Futureshop are in close proximity to each other or a Wal Mart they still do it. When A&B Sound was only a few blocks away from HMV, they competed to get people over on DVD Tuesday.

For some time now I've found that there is no longer an opening day sale, but I have seen reduced pricing and 2 for 1 type deals after the face to shift stock, particularly if it's slow moving stock.

I have noticed that there is a large bandwidth for average movies (between 2 and 4 stars) that are generally available in bulk whereas 1-2 and 4-5 star films tend not to get wide distribution. So, really good or really bad movies are not to be found but if you want something average, boy do they have copies!

[Tonnica]

It's hard to get something in-store without ordering it in beforehand if it's not very very mainstream. Out of all the anime series I've been collecting the only one that's carried in HMV/Future Shop/Best Buy/etc. is Noein. I sometimes find something good but usually in very low quantities (like the single sad Gunbuster Collection at Best Buy).

Browsing vs. direct purchase. It could just come down to personal preference but it sure sucks when you can't find what you want in the brick'n'mortar locations. That suckage makes it harder to justify spending the time to haul out to a regular store just to not find what you want.

When I get the hankering to buy ELO's Time album and some Mushi-shi I've gotta choose between going online or first locating then going to stores that actually carry said items. And I say "stores" because there's no way that a brick'n'mortar will carry both items.

[Darren Dirt]

EASY SOLUTION: stop thinking for yourself and being all unique and having esoteric tastes, instead just consume what They tell you to desire...

[Mr. Analog]

Must buy the rap music... @_@

[Tom]

I find to find rareer stuff I have to go to Indigo/Chapters, and if they don't have it in stock, you can order it from the site, and they will deliver to the store, or to you.

[Mr. Analog]

I find to find rareer stuff I have to go to Indigo/Chapters, and if they don't have it in stock, you can order it from the site, and they will deliver to the store, or to you.

OR I could cut through everything and just order online :-/

[Tom]

Well sometimes its nice to just browse. The big box stores are the only ones with a decent selection these days. Otherwise yeah, check the chapters.indigo.ca site, maybe they have a better deal? (especially if you have a chapters/indigo/coles/smith rewards card!)

[Mr. Analog]

Well sometimes its nice to just browse. The big box stores are the only ones with a decent selection these days. Otherwise yeah, check the chapters.indigo.ca site, maybe they have a better deal? (especially if you have a chapters/indigo/coles/smith rewards card!)

''

I'm not much of a browser myself, I'm like the special forces when I go shopping; I'm in, grab the package and then I'm out again, and you'll wonder if I was ever there at all...

[CowGirl]

[/quote]''

I'm not much of a browser myself, I'm like the special forces when I go shopping; I'm in, grab the package and then I'm out again, and you'll wonder if I was ever there at all...
[/quote]

In other words you are a man shopper!

[Tom]

I like to browse when I'm just looking for a good book and don't know what I want to read next. I like to read the back, maybe the intro, and then decide to buy or not.

[Mr. Analog]

I'm not much of a browser myself, I'm like the special forces when I go shopping; I'm in, grab the package and then I'm out again, and you'll wonder if I was ever there at all...

In other words you are a man shopper!

A Manly-Man!