Electronics retailer Best Buy is finally phasing out the sale of physical media. The store will cease sales of DVD and Blu-ray discs in-store and online, following the 2023 holiday season. The decision to end the sale of physical media is reportedly due to how media is consumed.
“To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago,” a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.”
The retailer will continue to sell physical discs of movies and TV shows through the 2023 holiday shopping season. Once early 2024 comes, the only physical media available for purchase in-store and online will be video games. And that will be across all 1,129 store location, 969 being in the U.S. alone.
News of Best Buy’s plan was first announced by the home-entertainment blog The Digital Bits. This comes after Netflix‘s decision to end shipping DVDs, 25 years after launching this pioneering service. Though Best Buy is leaving this portion of the physical media market, consumers will still have retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Even Redbox, now owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, still has 29,000 DVD rental kiosks across the nation.
With the increase of streaming, DVD and Blu-Ray discs sales have been shrinking over the years. For the first half of 2023 sales have dropped 28% to $754 million, compared to the $1.05 billion reported a year earlier. Leading DVD distributor, Ingram Entertainment has announced they will also be winding down operations after 35 years in business.
