RSSWal-Mart Winds Down VHS Sales
By Ed Oswald | Published February 22, 2007, 3:32 PM
Wal-Mart said Thursday that it plans to stock about 2,800 of its stores with a special Academy Awards section of DVDs including popular titles that many of its consumers may own on VHS. The company is clearing out the last of its inventory of the aging format and spots a new market opportunity.
"It's the right timing to have these classics highlighted and available on DVD at an even better value, so that everyone who loves movies can replenish or create a new, personal movie collection," Wal-Mart Entertainment senior vice president Gary Severson said.
Pricing on the DVDs would range from $7.50 to $13.72 USD, and would sport a special "O" DVD sleeve to allow consumers to spot these discs. Titles such as "Rain Man," Forrest Gump," and "Gone With the Wind" would be included in the promotion.
In addition, the retail giant said many of this year's nominees would also be included in its video download service, launched earlier this month.
Wal-Mart recently remodeled its electronics section to allow for a better variety of products, as well as to include bigger ticket items such as HDTVs. The company said it would continue to stock low-cost DVD players, some under $30 - cheaper than VCRs ever were, even at the height of their popularity.
The retailer is also committing to bringing next-generation entertainment technology to the consumer at affordable prices. "Now our goal is to make the next generation of home entertainment, whether that be Blu-ray, HD DVD, video downloads or other, more accessibility and more affordable for all consumers, just as the DVD is today," Severson said.
DVD PLAYERS may be cheaper than VCRs but not DVD RECORDERS. One can still use a VCR to record, so it's not a fair comparison.
Almost nobody buys commercial releases on VHS anymore because the DVDs are much easier to store. I doubt there's much still being produced on VHS anyways. The downside of this is that once VHS is gone there will likely be a jump in prices because VHS was helping to keep them down.
With Blu-ray and HD DVDs starting to make their way into stores, standard DVDs could become the old technology. VHS still has one advantage; a scratch on a tape won't render the entire tape unuseable.
On a similar note, has anyone noticed that blank CDs are often more expensive than blank DVDs? It seems there's a push to eliminate CDs as a recording medium even though CD players can't handle DVD disks.
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|Wow...I remember when I said, "I hate fuk!n DVDs" because I was so in love with VHS and the reason why, was because it was cheaper around $5-7..now, that I'm in love with DVDs I say..."YAAAY!!!", four years from now, I'll be doing the same thing with BLUE-RAY!!!
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|Wow...I remember when I said, "I hate fu
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|It puzzles me why movies have still been coming out on VHS when DVD players are now much cheaper than VCRs.
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|Or even now that DVD players are cheaper than the actual DVDs themselves.
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|Its about time. The sooner retailers stop selling in that the more space can be devoted to the better format anyway. It forces those resistant to change to finally get a DVD player.
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|wow VHS still exists? :O
now that proves that you can buy ANYTHING in Wal-Mart lmao
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