laureatedvd.com

[Mark Bakker]

ok, so Weston-Super-Mare is not a big town but we have a WH Smith, Woolworth and an independent CD/Video shop. I took a trip into town yesterday (15th November) feeling sure that i would be able to buy at least one of the new boxed sets. It didn't matter which one, i intend to buy all four.
If i'm being pessimistic then i would say that the likes of WH Smith are interested in selling 'Mainstream' action movies and nothing else. Being optimistic, i was just too late and the sets had sold out before i arrived in town on Saturday afternoon.It was certainly too busy with Christmas shoppers to make enquiries about the sets.
Sure, i could order from Amazon (probably cheaper) and take delivery within a few days but, call me old fashioned,i like to go into a shop, have a look at the goods, and then buy.
I do hope that the new boxed sets are widely availble. Not for my own sake but for the sake of those people who are not aware of the release.
Next weekend will be spent in Bristol City centre Christmas shopping. Hope to have better luck there.
Mark Bakker

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Mark,

You are not the first person to encounter lack of availability of the new boxed sets. Dealer co-operation is not a subject in which I specialise but I'll certainly mention this to Universal.

It's high time dealers became aware that there are a lot more movie buffs out there they realise.

Thanks for the information and, especially, for your support. Good luck in Bristol.

Kind regards
Ken

[R. Hanlon]

I concur with Mark Bakker. Most of the high street stores who claim to be selling DVDs to the public do nothing but stock the latest over-hyped DVDs. Not all of us are into rubbish like HULK or THE MATRIX ( whether loaded, reloaded or unloaded), the FRED and GINGER is a superb set and I'm sure there are many thousands of people around the country who would not hesitate to add it to there collections. But
the fact is that nobody can buy what they can't see or what they don't know about.

I bought mine on the net. Perhaps in time the dealers will realise just how much business they are losing. Or even better maybe they'll eventually be put out of business completely by on-line sales.

I wish Mark Bakker luck in Bristol this weekend.

[Mark Bakker]

Dear Mr Hanlon,

Thank you for your comments. I couldn't agree with you more.
I have now been able to find all boxed sets with the exception of 'Marx Bothers'. HMV record store at 'The Mall' Cribbs Causeway, Bristol do have a reasonable collection of classic films on DVD. Thank you HMV!
Best Wishes,
Mark

[Don Patmore]

Speaking as someone who now has the Road, Fred & Ginger and the Cary Grant sets, I sympathise with Mark Bakker and others who have had trouble finding these sets in the main stores. I don't know what to make of our high street dealers. On the one hand, I'm sure they are confused by the huge amount of material offered to them - especially at this time of the year - and,on the other hand, they have no conception of what people actually want to buy. So they simply order in the stuff that is getting the most hype.

It's different in London. If you go into Tower, HMV or the Virgin stores you can find these new box sets quite easily. Why can't the dealers outside of London think the same way. Instead of stocking up with ten copies of rubbish like Dinnerladies why not cut that down to four and put in two each of the new Universal box sets ?

Of course, they wouldn't think that way. So maybe the real answer with the out of town stores is to have a separate category marked CLASSIC FILMS and subdivide this into musicals - adventures - thrillers - comedies,etc. And then see just how quickly the product would move.

I know that thousands of film buffs would welcome a more focused market approach to these many great films.

D.M.

[Mark Bakker]

Thank you Don. I certainly agree with your suggestion that High Street Stores should have a dedicated section for Classic Films. After all, CD's are categorised as 'Jazz', 'Easy Listening', 'Rock' etc. I'm sure if record stores stocked a wider variety of classic titles on DVD they would sell them.Let's hope that the tide is turning. Certainly in the music industry artists such as Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong etc are considered 'cool' again and their material is often to be seen in the 'chart' section.This has influenced a new generation of performers to make 'good' music again. Jamie Cullum, Michael Buble, and others are singing classic songs and writing new material in the style of the classic Ameriacn songbook.Let's hope for something similar in the DVD market, Ken Barnes is certainly doing well for us.
Incidentally, you will be pleased to know that i manage to buy both the Fred & Ginger and Cary Grant sets at 'The Mall' shopping centre, cribbs causeway, Bristol. The HMV shop also had the 'Road' set but not the Marx Brothers.
Note for Ken -
Whilst i was in HMV i picked up a new double CD of Bing Crosby called 'Forever Bing', a mix of tracks from various stages of Bing's career. I was surprised and delighted to see 'Seasons' listed as one of the tracks. Listening to the CD I was a little dissappointed in the transfer quality of some of the tracks including 'Seasons', it sounds much better on vinyl. I'm sure the planned future release of the full album on CD will be produced with much more care and attention.
Mark Bakker