Best Buy has confirmed that it will begin to phase out selling DVDs and Blu-rays in the near future.
On October 12, 2023, The Digital Bits reported that Best Buy plans to phase out sales of DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4K Ultra HD both in stores and online in early 2024.
Variety confirmed the news on October 13, 2023, and noted the company made the decision to quit selling DVDs up to nine months ago, according to one of the publisher’s sources.
“To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago,” a spokesperson for Best Buy said. “Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover, and enjoy.”
Breaking down the history of Best Buy
Originally founded in 1966 as a store called Sound of Music, Best Buy rebranded under its current name in 1983. Along with DVDs and Blu-rays, the company offers consumers a number of technology-based products, including televisions, computers, and more.
In 2018, Billboard reported that Best Buy was pulling all of its CDs from stores due to a decline in sales. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2022 that the company was cutting “hundreds” of jobs across the country after the company continued to see its sales trend downward.
According to Variety, Best Buy still had a total of 1,129 store locations in mid-2023, 969 of which are located in the United States.
The news of Best Buy’s decision to stop selling physical media comes just weeks after Netflix mailed out its final DVDs to customers, giving them the option to keep the discs if they so choose to do so. The final Netflix red envelopes went out on September 29, 2023, with the final movie that was sent out in the mail being 2010’s True Grit.
