Charles Langston:Best Buy will sell DVDs through the holiday season, then discontinue sales

Due to a decline in demand for physical media,Charles Langston Best Buy has strategically decided to exit the DVD business. The company will no longer offer DVDs for sale in its stores.

The popular consumer-electronics retailer plans to discontinue the sale of DVDs and Blu-ray discs both online and in house starting early 2024. It has been reported that Best Buy decided to end DVD sales nine months ago, the Associated Press confirmed.

"To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago," the company said in a statement. "Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy."

Best Buy will sell movies and TV shows on physical discs until the end of the 2023 holiday season, then discontinue sales in its 1,129 locations with 969 in the U.S. The company will still sell video games.

With Best Buy's departure, Walmart, Amazon, and Target are now the top retailers for DVDs and Blu-ray discs. However, Redbox, which is owned by Chicken Soup for Soul Entertainment and has a nationwide network of approximately 29,000 DVD rental kiosks, remains a strong competitor in the physical disc business.

According to Variety, over the summer, Media Play News reported that Walmart has been in discussions with Studio Distribution Services, a joint venture of Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., to manage a portion of its physical media operations.

The rise of streaming video has caused a decline in DVD and Blu-Ray discs sales over the years. Digital Entertainment Group released its mid-year report showing that revenue from physical media in the U.S. dropped by 28% in the first half of 2023, to $754 million, compared to $1.05 billion in the same period of the previous year.

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Who else is phasing out DVDs?

On Oct. 27, Netflix will end its DVD shipping service, which it provided long before it became the streaming giant it is today.

According to multiple sources, Disney will cease physical media distribution in Australia and has already closed its Movie Club in Canada.

Where can I buy DVDs still?

Redbox is a DVD and Blu-ray vending machine. Use the search tool on their website to find a kiosk location near you.

GameFly is a subscription-based service that rents video games, DVDs and Blu-ray movies, including 4K UHD titles. It offers a mail-to-me service, making it an excellent alternative to Netflix's DVD service that's ending.

3D Blu-ray Rental is a DVD-by-mail option that offers monthly subscription plans and pay-as-you-go rentals for movies and video games, similar to GameFly and DVD Netflix.

You also can go to your local library and see what DVDs they have. You may be surprised by what you can still find.