The end of an era: Best Buy will stop selling physical DVDs

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Being able to walk through the Best Buy DVD aisles will soon be a thing of the past. Starting in 2024, Best Buy will be ditching the sale of physical DVDs both in-store and online, as streaming services have rendered physical media more and more obsolete. 

The new sales strategy was first reported on by The Digital Bits and then confirmed by Best Buy in statements to different media outlets. 

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“Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy,” a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg. 

In a statement to the Associated Press, the company pointed to the changing times and the difference in how people consume video content as the reasons for ending DVD sales. 

“To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago,” Best Buy said in a statement to the Associated Press. 

Back in the day, you would eagerly anticipate the release of a movie that was in theaters to release on DVD so that you could watch it at home, whether you missed it in theaters or just wanted to watch it again. 

Also: 5 reasons why DVDs still have their place, especially for serious movie buffs

As a little kid, I personally remember taking trips with my mom to our local DVD store every time a new Barbie movie came out on DVD. 

However, the rise of video streaming eliminated the need to get a physical copy, or even own a DVD player altogether since the content you want is available on your screen with the tap of a button. 

Video streaming services made accessing content quicker, cheaper, and more practical compared to having to go to the store and purchase one disc for more than the price of a monthly subscription to most streaming services. 

As a result, DVD sales, which once made up 64% of the US home video market, have declined by over 86% from 2008 to 2018, according to CNBC data. 

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For that reason, Netflix, which started its business as a DVD service, shut down its DVD-by-mail service in September, to focus entirely on streaming content online to its 238.9 million paid subscribers. 

The shift for Best Buy was long-anticipated, with some customers reporting the removal of DVDs from their stores as long as two years ago.