Best Buy to Stop Selling CD'S

[marybrewster]

Just read several articles that major retailer Best Buy will stop selling CD'S on July 1st.

[marybrewster]

At least in-store, not sure about online.

[soulster]

This has been coming for a long time now. Best Buy [[I like to call them "Worst Buy") has been whittling down their CD inventory for years. Some stores have a half a shelf. Some have none at all. They have even been cutting down on DVDs and blue-ray discs. People want to stream their stuff nowadays.

I don't like streaming. Not only can the content providers remove movies and music on a whim, but, for those of us who care about sound and picture quality, the quality is lacking. The worst part is that you need an internet connection.

For those reasons, I prefer to buy CDs or download lossless files of my music. New vinyl is too damn expensive! And, I like 4k HDR video.

[carlo]

Our Canadian Best Buy stores stopped selling CD's at least five years ago. They used to have a large CD section filled with great selections. Now they only sell DVD's and Blu-ray.

[woodward]

Our Canadian Best Buy stores stopped selling CD's at least five years ago. They used to have a large CD section filled with great selections. Now they only sell DVD's and Blu-ray.

Carlo: Glad to know we have a Canadian forum member. I often wondered whether we did or did not. Thanks for this posting.

[carlo]

Carlo: Glad to know we have a Canadian forum member. I often wondered whether we did or did not. Thanks for this posting.

Thanks woodward. There are a couple more Canadians on here...Jobeterob and Mark R. Desjardins...I believe they're both on the far west coast.

[Mark Desjardines]

Yes, I live in Vancouver, B.C.

[milven]

Just read several articles that major retailer Best Buy will stop selling CD'S on July 1st.

They just reported this tonight on ABC's WORLD NEWS TONIGHT. They said that they will still sell vinyl for at least three more years.

Didn't even know that they sold vinyl. DVDs and CDs are just about dead.

Oh well. There's always 8 Tracks

[antceleb12]

They just reported this tonight on ABC's WORLD NEWS TONIGHT. They said that they will still sell vinyl for at least three more years.

Didn't even know that they sold vinyl. DVDs and CDs are just about dead.

Oh well. There's always 8 Tracks

Yeah, Best Buy got into selling vinyl, but its largely a crap selection. Mostly modern pop and rock, with a few Beatles, classic rock, and the occasional Marvin Gaye. Disappointing selection.

It's a shame to see retailers stop selling CD's. People just aren't buying them anymore and companies can't afford to stock product customers aren't buying. There's nothing that beats having the physical CD...

[bmoe11]

I worked at a chain record store when Best Buy and Circuit City came on the scene. They lowballed everyone on price and drove alot of stores out of business. I'll never forgive them for that.

[sansradio]

I remember shopping around in a Best Buy about 13 years ago and discovering they carried no Dinah Washington whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned, they stopped carrying CDs a long time ago.

[soulster]

I worked at a chain record store when Best Buy and Circuit City came on the scene. They lowballed everyone on price and drove alot of stores out of business. I'll never forgive them for that.

They didn't do it on purpose. The record labels gave big-box retailers volume discounts, and the stores were able to sell the product as loss-leaders. They offered mom & pops no such deals. To make it worse, the labels did not take returns, and cut out the rackjobbers by taking over the distribution.

I bought the majority of my music at Circuit City at the time because they carried the widest selection of music, including imports and audiophile CDs. But, I shopped at Zia's, a regional store because they got product on the shelf first every Tuesday morning. My last stop was always Best Buy. They had the least of what I wanted, but had good prices.

[soulster]

I remember shopping around in a Best Buy about 13 years ago and discovering they carried no Dinah Washington whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned, they stopped carrying CDs a long time ago.

That would be the fault of the store's buyer. They pick through a list of titles they want to sell. In most cases, these buyers, or department heads, were too young to know who someone like Dinah Washington was, or wasn't into the music, so, no CDs by her.

[sansradio]

Side note: My partner went into a Best Buy today. CDs were still available.

[Ngroove]

Best Buys used to been awesome with CD selections, extremely early 21st century ago, back when there actually was multiple aisles of them. Regardless that their organization of R&B acts were lumped in with "Rock / Pop", I still remembered fond memories of finding and buying the Ultimate Collections of David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, and Mary Wells, there.

Last time been in a Best Buy, a year and a half ago, I had to ask to find a "CD Section". Down to a lone single rack, hodgepodged multiple genres of only budget cheapo same old, same olds.

[soulster]

Regardless that their organization of R&B acts were lumped in with "Rock / Pop",

I'm happy when stores lump R&B in with rock/pop.

1) It keeps stores from discriminating against the fans of the music. Most of the time, when store separate R&B, and hip-hop/rap from rock/pop, they put the section at the front in sight of the counter, or ensase all the CDs in security lock cases, as if all R&B and hip-hop fans steal. Truth is, while they are busy profiling R&B and hip-hop customers, the rock people are stealing them blind!

2) When there is a separate section, they tend to stock much more rock/pop, and relatively little R&B.

3) Artists are constantly mis-filed, often based on nothing more than the skin color of the artist, or the name of the band. This happens when the workers and buyers don't know anything about the music. The result is that artists like The Average White Band or teena marie get filed in the rock section, where no one thinks to look, and where the rock customers don't know or care what the music is all about. Black artists that do folk or rock get lost in the R&B section. Most workers in the music retail industry are young, and don't have a clue. And, again, it is too often assumed that Blacks play R&B music, and Whites play rock music. The same goes for Christian/Gospel music. Whites do Christian, Blacks do Gospel, at least that's what the mentality is.

About the only artists I can think of that escapes this segregation is Michael Jackson, and maybe Johnny Mathis, and that is because they just appeal to too many Whites.

So, if artists are simply filed by the alphabet [[and I realize that jazz and country are still separated), it's much better. The customer has to look a little longer for what they want, but it's not a Jim Crow system. Well, rap is still segregated because it is somehow assumed that the music's constituents are all criminals, anyway, which is very wrong. There are an awful lot of well-paid professionals and public service workers who love rap and were weaned on it.

[milven]

I disagree with just about everything that you said in the post above. Our stores had the music seperated by music genre. It is called organizing, not segragating. We had Teena Marie in the Soul section, and Charlie Daniels in the C &W section. The R&B and Rap was not just a little section of our stores. It was prominent. Our customers were people of all colors. Our people behind the counter knew their music and loved the music and helping the customer. Our people loved turning on the customers to new artists and songs and making them aware of upcoming releases from their favorite artists. Our stores had a friendly atmosphere to all our customers . We knew their names and they knew our names.

I am not a fan of rap music, but we sold tons of rap music in our stores and we had people behind the counter that loved it and buyers that knew the music. We never thought of our customers as gansters just because they were buying rap music.

We never were busy profiling R&B/ and hip-hop customers while rock/pop were stealing us blind.

Did anyone steal from us? Of course. Who? People.

You are probably not a racist. But your post is.

[Ngroove]

Ehhh, usually the lumping in R&B with pop / rock, usually means they just don't have enough R&B. Nothing as breadth and depth as Deniece Williams, Stacy Lattisaw, or Alexander O' Neal, but generalizing the genre as mostly Motown, Aretha Franklin, and whoever's popular of the [[still CD selling) day. But, say I want a Babyface. I still might have to cringe at seeing "not my bag" kinda dividing "artist" and genre categories like "Backstreet Boys", "Beastie Boys", and "Beatles" sharing the same rack with him.

"Rock / Pop" usually means, to cover up marginalizations of R&B, bury them with loads and loads more of singers and genres I don't give a fig about.

[soulster]

I disagree with just about everything that you said in the post above. Our stores had the music seperated by music genre. It is called organizing, not segragating. We had Teena Marie in the Soul section, and Charlie Daniels in the C &W section. The R&B and Rap was not just a little section of our stores. It was prominent.

Yeah, well, my experience has been different. Besides, categorizing genres makes it hell for people like me who like all kinds of music to search for what we want. "Hmmm...is so-and-so's album in this section or that section?". "Excuse me! Why is so-and-so's album in this section?".

I am not a fan of rap music, but we sold tons of rap music in our stores and we had people behind the counter that loved it and buyers that knew the music. We never thought of our customers as gansters just because they were buying rap music.

I don't know where your store was, or where you lived, but a lot of stores, both mom and pop, and big-box retailers out here always put the rap, then R&B sections in the sight of the cash register so the workers can keep an eye on it. And, i'm not making it up. I've asked plenty of stores why they do it, and what I wrote is exactly why. You also find individual rap CDs in security cases that have to be removed by the clerk after the purchase is made.

We never were busy profiling R&B/ and hip-hop customers while rock/pop were stealing us blind.

All I am telling you is that my experience is different.

Did anyone steal from us? Of course. Who? People.

Again, people get profiled, maybe not in your little store in who-knows-where, but it happens more often and in more places than you think.

You are probably not a racist. But your post is.

No, it's not. Look, i'm Black, and have been Black all my life! I am cognizant of these things. Maybe you aren't. Maybe you believe that everyone in the world's experiences are exactly the same. And, you know that can't be true.