Which stores did you buy SACDs/DVD-As from in the "good old days" ?

[Bill B]

I miss the days before the internet and Amazon when I would drive to record stores around the metro area looking for hard to find import cds and lesser known bands that the chain stores wouldn't carry. The sense of accomplishment when you finally find it has been lost. Still, I wouldn't trade the current ease of being able to find anything, anytime with the stroke of a few keys for those days (except for the being younger part).

Circuit City (first place I ever saw an sacd display)
Best Buy
FYE (For Your Entertainment)
Record and Tape Traders (independent Baltimore metro chain.. now extinct)
But the majority, without a doubt, Amazon

You know, I don't even know if there is a B&M store in my area that sells anything but major releases from established artists anymore.

 

[The Rang]

I miss the days before the internet and Amazon when I would drive to record stores around the metro area looking for hard to find import cds and lesser known bands that the chain stores wouldn't carry. The sense of accomplishment when you finally find it has been lost.

Exactly

 

[4_everyman]

Still, I wouldn't trade the current ease of being able to find anything, anytime with the stroke of a few keys for those days (except for the being younger part).

I get what you're saying. I, too, miss visiting brick-and-mortar stores, but now I can shop for music without even bothering to put on pants!

 

[The56Kid]

Started my journey in 2002 or so and it was essentially Best Buy and Circuit City for me. Both had decent sized and varied DVD-A and SACD selections.

 

[Strilo]

Best Buy.

 

[JonUrban]

Best Buy - At their peak they had large aisle displays with sections for both SACD and DVD-A. (When SACD started, they had them all in the back in a little section with a player that was never playing)

The problem with Best Buy was that they would actually get new release DVD-A's and SACD's in on release day, but they'd only order one or two of each title. These were usually sold quickly then never restocked, resulting in these bins ending up filled with dreck like Silverline stuff and titles no one really wanted. Trying to find a "Rumours" or "Hotel California" was difficult. This did not help.

Another big store here in CT was "Media Play". They had a big store on the Berlin Turnpike that had a lot of DVD-A's and SACD's.

Around here the "Circuit City's" had end of aisle DVD-A displays, but those went away fairly quickly, as did their stock. They never seemed to give a crap about these discs at all. People that worked there thought they were odd.

 

[GOS]

Best Buy - At their peak they had large aisle displays with sections for both SACD and DVD-A. (When SACD started, they had them all in the back in a little section with a player that was never playing)

The problem with Best Buy was that they would actually get new release DVD-A's and SACD's in on release day, but they'd only order one or two of each title. These were usually sold quickly then never restocked, resulting in these bins ending up filled with dreck like Silverline stuff and titles no one really wanted. Trying to find a "Rumours" or "Hotel California" was difficult. This did not help.

Another big store here in CT was "Media Play". They had a big store on the Berlin Turnpike that had a lot of DVD-A's and SACD's.

Around here the "Circuit City's" had end of aisle DVD-A displays, but those went away fairly quickly, as did their stock. They never seemed to give a crap about these discs at all. People that worked there thought they were odd.

Yep, correct on Best Buy. I was an early adopter of DVD-Audio discs, and as a result, I would go to BB weekly and go directly to the small section where they kept them seperate from CD's and such. I cannot remember 1 time, when I went browsing and saw another customer in that section. If they were there, they were lost. haha

 

[EricKalet]

Laserland - Syosset, NY. The best selection of laserdiscs, and the owner kept that store state of the art! When DTS music came out, they had a tremendous selection. DVD-A, SACD was also there but once laserdisc finally sunset Laserland kinda went to a downhill slide too.

Best Buy, Virgin Megastore, Tower Records, Suncoast, FYE, Ken Cranes.

Absolutely REFUSED to spend one cent in Circuit City when they chose to back that nasty DIVX dvd rental format. Plus Best Buy always had better prices than CC.

 

[kcrimson]

Media Play in Westminster CO has an independent section of DVD-As and SACDs for a couple of years before going out of business. I bought many of the original discs at that location for decent prices. In hindsight, I should have bought at least one of every disc that I did not already have, to support the format and for future collectability. I do remember the local Best Buy also having DVD-As/SACDs, I was able to get entire set of Rolling Stones SACDs and Bob Dylan SACDs at BB at that time (if only the Stones SACDs were multichannel). I don't remember the independent local stores carrying the new formats expect for occasional used discs. Amoeba on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles had a dedicated section long past the other stores being out of the market. With COVID, I have not been in LA in a while, and hear that it has moved to new location.

For CDs, I used to go Aron's in Hollywood a lot - that was a great store also. They had a dedicated prog section, which always attracted me. The best prog store I ever visited was Tower Records in Tysons Corner VA in about 1993 or so. They must have a staff member who was into progressive rock from around the world - the import section was organized by country and they had every obscure prog band that you ever read about in the books of the day. I went back about a year or two later and the section was gone at that point

 

[5.1 4 Life]

My favorite places to buy music were J&R Music World, Tower Records, 'The Wiz', & Best Buy (when they were selling CDs).

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Another big store here in CT was "Media Play". They had a big store on the Berlin Turnpike that had a lot of DVD-A's and SACD's.

Media Play in Westminster CO has an independent section of DVD-As and SACDs for a couple of years before going out of business.

YES... Media Play. There were two in my area (Buffalo NY). When they closed down I got there relatively early in the process and bought my fill of DVD-As and SACD's for $10 each. I easily doubled my collection size in a single day.

Another local favorite was Record Theatre, and though they were much bigger and hipper (many album launch parties and personal band appearances were held there), their MCH selection was 2nd rate. They are now also closed, though that only happened a couple of years ago.

For out of town trips there was always House of Guitars in Rochester NY. (CD's only, no surround purchases that I can recall). I haven't been to HOG in many years. I assume it still exists since it was an instrument shop first and foremost.

My personal favorite, Sam the Record Man in Toronto, Canada. I believe the Sam's in Toronto is closed, at least the location I frequented. It was close to a strip club that had a sign... "20 beautiful girls, and only 2 ugly ones" .

 

[csaudvid]

South Texas
My introduction to surround music was a DTS CD I found at Wherehouse Music back in the day. 85% of everything I purchased there was open, labeled "used" in near mint condition. I purchased a huge collection of MFSL CDs there for $14.99 in the same condition. I also shopped Circuit City and our local Best Buy for any surround music I could find in any format. I remember Best Buy having a Sony SACD display separated from their regular CD section in the home audio department. I'm guessing near the players. Wonderful memories.

 

[elmer]

My office was in the same building as the Virgin Megastore in Times Square NYC. As I was just getting into surround that was an easy mecca along with Tower Lincoln Center and Downtown. As things progressed, J&R Music World - at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and just across the street from City Hall, became a steady go to . If you had the opportunity to travel around the states, there were other great sources - Tower, Amoeba Records in Hollywood, Waterloo Records in Austin, TX, and yes, as a previous poster mentioned, the amazing House of Guitars in Rochester, NY were I picked up a copy of David Sanborn's SACD, "Time Again" for a song. I miss those days so much!

 

[kfbkfb]

Musicland, also Best Buy and Circuit City.

MCH-SACDs and DVD-As from Musicland were a sort of Deja vu, back in the early to mid 1970s, I used to check the Quad record section at Musicland often.


Kirk Bayne

 

[Lute]

HMV, Tower Records, Disk Union, Ishimaru Denki, Yamano Gakki, Virgin Records, and Wave in Tokyo. Happily, I still go to Disk Union and Tower Records.

 

[GOS]

Also, in Normal Illiois back "then", we had a bong shop that was situated upstairs tucked away above some super old stores. Wow! I always felt so naughty going there. Anyway, they carried some DVD-Audios and such.....mostly vinyl though. Mother Murphy's.... Ah those days.... Illinois State University campus area...

 

[SHB]

I'm pretty sure I bought Yes Fragile DVD-A & ELP's BSS DVD-A at Best Buy in 2002. Everything from that point on was mail order. Not long ago, 2019 I believe, a nearby record store, Record Den in Mentor, Ohio gave me, at an awesome discount on Genesis' Invisible Touch CD/DVD and We Can't Dance CD/DVD. If you are ever visiting Mentor, Ohio stop in at Record Den. Great Selection of EVERYTHING!

 

[Strilo]

Oh my god I forgot about Musicland...

 

[mandrix]

Well, no record stores, Circuit City's etc here, although I could have taken an 85 mile ride to Gainesville or about 100 to Jacksonville I suppose.
The only brick and mortar purchase of a surround disc I can remember was a complete accident...I bought the SACD of DSOTM at WalMart and didn't even know it was surround until I'd had it a while! Eventually I bought a couple of Samsung refurbished players looking to get back into surround (I mean since the Quad days) ...and lo and behold I had a 5.1 disc all that time! At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. lol.
My first and only purchase of a surround disc on Ebay just occurred, paying way too much probably for an old REO DVDA.

 

[scottm18]

But regarding DVD-A there's no competitors with Best Buy. They have dedicated stall with discs labelled "Will not play on regular DVD player" (many customers just run away from there).

No question I agree. The pricing there was good at $14.99 which was the same or barely more than the CD at the time. The problem was you needed a souped-up system to be able to take advantage of it which no really had at the time. By the time Dual Discs came out for the "regular folks" it was too late.

They also had a great selection of another niche product...3D Blu-Ray movies. I picked up a bunch of them in the day as well.