Retailers Make More Room For Blu-ray

According to a new Video Business report, some retail chains have begun adjusting their high-def shelf space to make more room for Blu-ray discs (and less for HD DVD).

The industry trade says that Trans World Entertainment, Newbury Comics, Video Buyers Group members and Hastings Entertainment are among the retailers beginning to emphasize Blu-ray in the wake of Warner's announcement that it would abandon its support of the HD DVD format as of this coming June.

Trans World, which operates over 800 stores under several brand names (including FYE, Suncoast, Coconouts and Wherehouse), says that though it will continue to order key new releases on HD DVD, it will begin dedicating more shelf space to Blu-ray, both for new releases and catalog titles.

"As retailers, we need to simplify things for the consumers as much as we can with merchandising one format," said Trans World VP Mark Higgins. "We don’t want to be biased, but it is clearly the direction that high-def production looks to be going."

Other retailers (including Best Buy, Amazon.com, DVDEmpire.com) said they had no current plans to adjust their merchandise mix.

"Obviously, Warner’s announcement has made us a little more cautious about how many HD DVDs we bring in," DVDEmpire's Shannon Nutt told Video Business. "But that’s not going to stop us from stocking strong on what we feel will be solid HD DVD releases, like the upcoming Bee Movie. Although it looks like the writing may be on the wall, DVDEmpire will continue to push both formats equally until our customers show there is no longer any demand for one format or the other."

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