Movie Store Experiences

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Charles
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:06 pm

Movie Store Experiences

#1 Post by Charles » Fri Nov 21, 2014 1:16 am

WTF store opens copies for display?

Is this a UK thing?

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#2 Post by TMDaines » Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:09 am

Charles wrote:WTF store opens copies for display?

Is this a UK thing?
No idea. GAME used to do it for computer games back in the 90s and 2000s. There's virtually no DVD shops left and those that are don't do this from my observations.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#3 Post by tenia » Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:10 am

By me work place, there is a supermarket which shows a couple of movies on their TV displays (usually, the latest big release).
They used to show BDs, but now only show DVDs. I understood this is because they do take a retail copy, open it, and put the disc on display, and that’s cheaper when you do it with a DVD copy instead of a BD one.

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
Location: Hants, UK

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#4 Post by rapta » Fri Nov 21, 2014 10:21 am

Actually I think what they mean is the cases are put out on display, but the discs are kept behind the counter - a feeble attempt at preventing shoplifters. They do this at the Fopp I go to with select titles, particularly new release titles and steelbooks, and do it in some HMV stores I've visited too - I used to work at HMV and our store tried not to unseal anything ever if we could help it...only for pre-awareness generally (in which case we'd usually 'gut' a DVD, and put out a placeholder for the blu-ray). If we were worried about certain steelbooks getting shoplifted, we'd keep them sealed behind the counter, and would never 'gut' an amaray unless it was the only solution.

It's more common practice with games than blu-rays, but some stores do it to cover their backs - I personally ask if they have any sealed copies if I'm getting something in Fopp, but I generally don't buy their new releases anyway. It's off-putting to the customer as sometimes they want to return things, give them to people as gifts, sell them on or unseal them themselves but they can't if they're unsealed. I guess it's done to cover the store's back; nobody's gonna steal an empty case. We would keep any discs sealed in a plastic drop bag though, as to prevent any damage.

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tenia
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Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#5 Post by tenia » Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:23 pm

That's something which really seems to be British, because I haven't seen anything remotely similar either in France or in the US.

If you keep your copies sealed, the shoplifter would have to unseal it, and then would be able to take the inside content.
I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but looking at the state of it in the shops, I think this isn't a real concern, being for movies or games.

However, I find abysmal the idea to unseal a copy to put the discs safe behind the counter. I also find the safety tape-stuff UK is using laudable and reminds me of the huge anti-theft apparatus you can find on clothes.

When you get to your home and find out the cashier forgot to remove it, you're good for a trip back to get rid of it...

jbaart
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:16 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#6 Post by jbaart » Sat Nov 22, 2014 7:17 am

tenia wrote:That's something which really seems to be British, because I haven't seen anything remotely similar either in France or in the US.
It rarely happens in Germany but it is the standard practice in the Netherlands and in some international chains like GameStop.

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
Location: Hants, UK

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#7 Post by rapta » Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:33 am

Again, I stress it's not done to the protect the discs but is rather done to deter thieves from stealing the film in the first place - nobody is gonna steal a plastic box with no disc inside.

Unfortunately the HMV I worked at got thieves fairly regularly, often for steelbooks and boxsets (or other high-value items). This increased when a CeX store (an entertainment-inclined cash converter chain) opened nearby because they then had somewhere they could sell their stolen goods for cash. Of course, we red-tagged and alarm tagged if necessary but they often find a way around it. That's probably why in some supermarkets (like Sainsbury's) the whole item is in one of those hardbody plastic security cases, so they don't have to worry about potential thieves - of course, at a chain like HMV that would take up way too much room for the volume of desirables on the shelf!

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HJackson
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:27 pm

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#8 Post by HJackson » Wed Nov 26, 2014 12:22 pm

rapta wrote:That's probably why in some supermarkets (like Sainsbury's) the whole item is in one of those hardbody plastic security cases, so they don't have to worry about potential thieves - of course, at a chain like HMV that would take up way too much room for the volume of desirables on the shelf!
Thinking back, didn't MVC used to do that?

Hail_Cesar
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:20 pm

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#9 Post by Hail_Cesar » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:37 pm

rapta wrote:nobody is gonna steal a plastic box with no disc inside.
Oh yes, a lot of stupid people do...

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
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Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#10 Post by rapta » Wed Nov 26, 2014 11:31 pm

HJackson wrote:
rapta wrote:That's probably why in some supermarkets (like Sainsbury's) the whole item is in one of those hardbody plastic security cases, so they don't have to worry about potential thieves - of course, at a chain like HMV that would take up way too much room for the volume of desirables on the shelf!
Thinking back, didn't MVC used to do that?
I think so. Virgin Megastore too, and the short-lived Zavvi chain.

Jonathan S
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:31 am
Location: Somerset, England

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#11 Post by Jonathan S » Thu Nov 27, 2014 3:30 am

Hail_Cesar wrote:
rapta wrote:nobody is gonna steal a plastic box with no disc inside.
Oh yes, a lot of stupid people do...
Indeed. Even in the classical CD/DVD shop where I worked for eight years, empty cases were regularly stolen and sometimes found dumped in the car park behind the shop. We also had "customers" trying to con us by presenting an empty case - we'd allegedly supplied it with no disc inside and they claimed to have lost the receipt!

Conversely, when I worked in a public library using the same system, the entire stock of discs (all with library stickers or stamps) was stolen one night by organised thieves, who did not however bother to take any of the displayed cases. So all those had to be trashed - at least I picked up some nice opera libretti...

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#12 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:06 pm

This is to do with the general conversation more than anything MoC related but this reminds me that I used to get pretty frustrated with that practice of removing the shrinkwrap from DVDs, taking the discs from the cases and keeping them behind the counter and remember regularly having trouble in the late 90s and early 2000s around this. Putting aside the issues of DVDs being stored and handled out of their cases for long periods until they were sold, there is also the issue of bringing the disc back together with its case, which could be trickier than it seemed! I'll always remember trying to buy a copy of Darren Aronofsky's ∏ and utterly baffling the shop assistant trying to find the disc behind the counter! After a couple of minutes of searching I still recall her frustratedly saying to a colleague who'd come over to help that: "It's not even a real word!".

And there was the problem with forcing counter staff, usually busy with other tasks (especially if it wasn't a dedicated DVD store, but just a general store with a DVD section) to have to know enough about films, or multiple editions of releases of films, to put the correct disc in the correct box. I had two "Disc 1s" of a two disc set put into a case before, and I particularly remember buying a copy of the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair only to find out that a DVD for the 1968 film had been put in there by mistake! It was never a problem to get it sorted out but after a couple of those mix ups I made certain to thoroughly check the case before leaving the store! (This was one of the reasons that I used to gravitate towards Woolworths before it went into administration in the late 2000s, as you could be reasonably certain that you'd get a shrinkwrapped and so minimally touched copy of a DVD)

It doesn't seem to be as much of an issue now (although that might be because places like WHSmiths barely sell DVDs any more, and those they do are left in the shrinkwrap now), but I'm thankful in this era of everything being a remake of something that I don't have to worry about these things so much!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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domino harvey
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Re: Dear MoC, we love you but...

#13 Post by domino harvey » Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:08 pm

Bizarrely I remember Hollywood Video used to do the "Come claim your copy behind the counter" empty cases for used VHS copies of films

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