Bestbuy dropping most of its anime, 50% sales starting on March 1st

[Sledgstone 8,672]

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/14359.html

Best Buy is about to dramatically change its anime strategy, eliminating most anime from nearly half its stores, according to an industry source. The change will focus Best Buy’s anime efforts on those stores that have historically done best with the category, and nearly eliminate anime in stores that have produced a disproportionate share of anime returns.

The new strategy will kick off March 1st, when 50% off anime closeout sales will begin in over 460 stores nationwide. After the sales end on March 21st, those stores will offer only around 20 core anime SKUs.

Over 500 Best Buy stores will continue to carry over 100 anime SKUs, and roughly the top 200 anime stores in the Best Buy chain will carry large scale anime assortments similar to what they’re carrying now. The move is expected to retain most of the chain’s anime sales, and perhaps even improve sales in the stores with larger assortments due to fewer stock-outs and deeper inventory.

Of national mass merchants, Best Buy carries the largest anime assortments now, and that won’t change. And Best Buy is easily the largest single seller of most anime titles not carried by Walmart, and that also won't change as a result of these moves.

For fans in those areas served by Best Buy stores that are cutting their anime assortments, there are a lot fewer alternatives than there were when Best Buy started carrying more anime a few years back. Many comic and game stores have cut their anime offerings and video stores have been closing at a rapid rate. So unless other brick and mortar retailers increase their selections in areas where Best Buy is cutting back, online retailers may be the only option for fans wanting a broader selection of anime in some areas.

This is the follow up article with the list of 460+ stores that will be having a massive anime dvd sale starting March 1st:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/14360.html

[Kuwabara 758]

Boss!!!

[CabbitGirl 4,018]

so awesome.... :D

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Just a reminder that this sale is starting tomorrow!

I didn't call the local store so I don't know if the prices will come off at the register, or if they are going to have a section about this in their sunday ad.

[Kite 3,263]

i think the main problem with anime (especially in the UK) is the way they sell it

a 24 episode series and they release 4 episodes every couple of months even though the show is fully translated, and each 4 episode release is full price like 17.99

i can buy perfect boot lets i mean perfect like they were made by sony themselves but without a distributer logo on for like 15£ for the whole series

or as most anime fans are net nerds, get them from box torrents

my advice is when they sell it, it is better to get low margin profit then a total loss, release whole series boxsets (not inc long series lke naruto) for a decent price like 20 ish £

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Just a reminder that this sale is starting tomorrow!

I didn't call the local store so I don't know if the prices will come off at the register, or if they are going to have a section about this in their sunday ad.

You might want to call ahead. Best Buy announced a day or so ago that it was only at select stores that weren't moving anime merchandise like they wanted. All stores are being cut back, thats for sure but the sale is really only applying to certain stores.

Call ahead just to be safe.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Did anyone else take advantage of the Best Buy sale? I called the store I go to on sunday and I found out it wasn't just a limited selection on sale, but all anime dvds for 50% off! I went there after work on monday and I spent most of my state return there.

I refuse to buy individual episode dvds unless they're on a huge sale. So I only looked at the boxsets at BB. So these are the boxsets I bought and for how much after 50% off:

Air Gear: $24.99

Basilisk: $17.99

Xenosaga:$17.99

Black Lagoon season 1 set: $17.99

They had a bunch of other stuff, but not everything was really worth it even with 50% off. I still wasn't going to pay $80 just for Fullmetal Alchemist. They had Claymore, the first set of Death Note, Black Cat, Desert Punk, DBZ and Inuyasha seasons and a few other noteable series for around $20 too.

I'm going to go back next monday and see if they lowered the price even more on whatever is left. If that FMA set drops to $50 I'll probably get it.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

I took advantage of it on the 19th (it took me that long to find one in the Phoenix area that was doing the sale). Sadly the two I found doing it had a shitty selection of anime to choose from.

I ended up picking up the first season of Shakugan no Shana, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, and the Collector's Edition of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). I also picked up the Collector's Edition of Serenity (only reason I mention it is I don't know what I got each for). All that together was roughly $87.

What really pissed me off was I was hoping to pick up for Red Garden collections but neither store had them (and thats what I was really hoping for). All in all though I'm happy with my purchases and I can now clean up some room on Himeko-chan (my anime external).

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Good deal.

[slippers 3,168]

I think I missed out. I was looking for DBZ boxsets last week which was around $20 about last year is now jumped to $34+ X_x I didn't bother to check other prices though because I didn't know they were doing 50% discount

[Pchan 5,162]

Are any titles available on BB?

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Best Buy still sells anime and you can still pick anime up on their website. Considering the Anime boom has died in the US BB was clearing up stock at some of their stores due to this. I know the Best Buys in my area still sell anime but the ones I went to to get the deal have shrunk their collections considerably. The only titles that will be found at those stores will be the high moving ones that sell considerably well (what those titles are I don't know).

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I think I missed out. I was looking for DBZ boxsets last week which was around $20 about last year is now jumped to $34+ X_x I didn't bother to check other prices though because I didn't know they were doing 50% discount

The 50% off sale ended a while ago. The last time I went to our BB, their anime selection was cut in half and nothing was on sale. But they did have a couple new boxsets.

[slippers 3,168]

ah okay

[Sledgstone 8,672]

btw, rightstuf.com has 40% off funimation sales a couple times a year that apply to all their boxsets.

[slippers 3,168]

cool thanks