Store purchase of DVDs

[taoistmofo]

I'm in the final planning stages of my video store and am at the point of figuring out about the cost of my inventory. In reading some of the posts I see that some video store owners are getting their movies from places like Walmart. I didn't know this was legal. I understand the need for a distributor in the fact that you get posters, upcoming movie news and pre street movies. However getting some of my inventory from say Walmart would help stave off my costs. I'm also considering online content streaming such as what Zediva.com is doing. difference is I would also be actually renting out movies physically so I'm not trying to get around any laws in doing this. Any help in this matter would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian
Dinner & A Movie

[moviecritic202]

Brian, the First Sales Doctrine allows businesses to buy product anywhere and re-sell it at a profit.  Hell, when Blockbuster had their exclusive with Weinstein Co. many of us went to either Walmart, Kmart or BB themselves to get the product.  Nobody can stop you from doing this.

[taoistmofo]

Thank you very much for that bit of information. I wondered how other stores got around that exclusive deal BB had. I appreciate your help. Would you recommend going the route of a distributor or stores to for initial inventory? Perhaps both?

Thanks,
Brian
Dinner & A Movie

[Bogart]

Best pricing I've seen on old stuff is pawn shops.  More recent titles, Walmart, Target, Best Buy etc.  Many of us get New Releases there also $4-6 cheaper per disk than distribution. 

As for Zediva, I don't know how you would do that, even if it wasn't being litigated by the super heavyweights http://paidcontent.org/article/419-mpaa-v.-zediva-is-shaping-up-to-be-quite-the-legal-showdown/

Good luck.

[taoistmofo]

Thank you for the tip as to where to find some cheap movies. I figured that since I would be an actual video store then I might be able to do that. I have a phone appointment next week with Warner Bros. digital distribution department to see about offering some of the movies online for streaming. My goal is to give my customers three options. To have the movie delivered with their food, picked up with their food or streamed online. The food would be from one of the three in house restaurants. Hopefully I can get some answers as to whether being a physical store will allow me to do something like what Zediva does.

Thanks,
Brian.

Dinner & A Movie

[edgedvd]

Brian,

There are many sources out there for used product, which you could clean up (most are perfect anyways) and then rent out.  The pawn shops around my city are selling DVDs for $2 a piece.  Some of them do 10 for $10.  I am also interested in how you plan to showcase your inventory selection for those customers you are delivering to.

Michael Knecht
michael@edgedvd.com

[taoistmofo]

Thank you Mike for places to look. My main approach is going to be online. I plan on setting up a website for my customers to do all their ordering through. I made several calls to various POS companies but none of them have been very cooperative in helping me combine a DVD POS and my Restaurant POS. So I'm making my own. I have some background in programming (getting my BS in Information Technology) and a childhood friend is a programmer by trade. This will allow me to track my DVDs by RFID as well as coordinate the rentals with the other restaurants. I can also connect my website to the POS database allowing my customers to rent videos online. So far I'm going to use Drupal for my website. We are also looking into developing apps for the droid and Iphone for easy ordering as well as third party apps that you can download onto Blu-ray players. The latter will be especially useful if I can secure online digital content for streaming.

I figured that I would keep a DVD carousel of the movies that I am going to deliver. That way I can keep two separate inventories without having to worry about an in store customer picking up a video that an online customer would like delivered. The cost will be high initially but I believe it will pay for itself with the increased volume of customers renting videos along with their dinner.

Ambitious I know but with the major corporate video stores as competitors as well as Netflix, Redbox, Youtube Movies and Hulu I need an edge. I think this is where it's at. If I can offer my customers the option to hop online and order a large pizza, beef and broccoli, General Tzo's Chicken and a bacon cheeseburger and have it delivered with Tron the Legacy and The Green Hornet then I think I have a repeat customer. No one will deliver a movie to your door along with your dinner in 45 min or less, not even Netflix. Even if you have Netflix you still have to wait for Dinner and you can't stream new releases and certain titles like Pixar.

Thanks,
Brian

Dinner & A Movie.

[taoistmofo]

Out of curiosity does the same rule apply to video games as well. Can I obtain them the same as movies?

Thanks,
Brian

Dinner & A Movie

[moviecritic202]

yes.  Do a search for the 1st Sales Doctrine and read it.  All the answers to these questions can be found in it.

[wannabevideostoreowner]

Wow, pawn shops in a smalltown are greedy. They are asking $8 for DVD's around here. 10 for $10?

[pizza-n-movie]

Hi Guys, First post on this forum. Stuck in the UK, love to be in USA.

Could help resist joining at the mention of dinner and a movie, that is exactly what I do. We have a live inventory of our dvds and you can order pizzas, sides and have it all delivered in about 30mins. See pizzaandamovie.co.uk

Still the same problems though with competitors like blockbusters plus the added headache of  dominos. Why do people buy rubbish and poor service for more money just because its a brand?

Any how, not been going to well even with free movie rentals, buy one get one free etc however we are doing a big relaunch in june to shake things up a bit. Best to keep plodding on and adapting.

[taoistmofo]

Thanks for the reply moviecritic202. I really appreciate it.  @ wannabevideostoreowner, 8 bucks for a DVD does sound a bit high, haven't really compared around much though. Pizzanmovie, thanks for replying. I'm on my way to check out your site and see how you run your operation. I was wondering if I could shoot some questions to see how you are doing some of the things you are offering?

Thanks,

Brian
Dinner & A Movie.

[pizza-n-movie]

Dinner & a movie

glad to give any help, options and ideas.