I’m hardly an advocate for national chains and big-box stores, but I have to admit that I’m pretty bummed about the impending demise of Media Play. I learned that the book, music, and video stores are going out of business when I dropped into the West Valley City location yesterday to do a little Christmas shopping and saw big red clearance-sale posters everywhere. (FYI: if you live near a Media Play, everything in the store is currently 20-40% off, and those prices will no doubt drop even lower as the final day approaches.) I’ve spent a lot of money at these stores over the last ten or fifteen years; a sizable chunk of my extensive VHS and DVD collections came from there, and not a few of my toys and collectibles, too. In recent years, I’ve increasingly done my movie-and-music shopping online, which makes me as culpable for the chain’s failure as any other factor. However, on the occasions when I do visit a brick-and-mortar retailer, I prefer Media Play to any of the other options here in the Salt Lake Valley. Media Play’s biggest local competitor, Best Buy, may have lower prices, but their DVD selection is consistently inferior; they usually stock hundreds of copies of the hot new releases, but it’s tough to find even a single example of the older films and offbeat stuff I’m often looking for.
In addition, I don’t care for the atmosphere inside Best Buy stores. The tall alleyways in the movie section are claustrophobic, and some idiot is always volume-testing the stereos with the most annoying music he can find. These stores are very much designed for the hip, young, and attention-deficit-disordered among us, with lots of flashy, shiny things that I imagine are designed to overstimulate the senses to the point where you don’t notice your wallet flying open. Or something. I guess I’m showing my age, because I’m far more comfortable with Media Play’s lower-key approach, their bright, clean lighting, and their chest-high display bins that let you gaze out over a sea of merchandise to the other side of the store, if you wish. It’s an atmosphere that encourages browsing, and The Girlfriend and I have often enjoyed a pleasant hour of wandering in between dinner and the beginning of our movies. The clamor-and-din of Best Buy, on the other hand, makes me want to run in, grab some specific item, then get the hell out. I guess this is just one more thing for me to gripe about when I start boring the kids about all the ways that life used to be better when I was their age.
For the record, all 61 Media Play stores will be closed by late January, displacing some 2000 employees in 18 states. Happy New Year, people.
I must admit that I haven’t shopped at Media Play for about as long as I can remember. But I used to go there and wander, soaking up the atmosphere of high-tech entertainment.
I agree with the whole Best Buy thing. What bothers me most is, though, is that I’ll walk in and be asked if I need any help an average four times every ten minutes, starting with the “floor walker” who accosts you at the entrance. I finally figured out a defense, however. I now stick the cell phone against my head when I walk in whether I’m really talking to anyone or not. They leave me alone then. And no, I don’t want a free trial subscription to Sports Illustrated, but thanks for asking.
I’ll have to remember that cell-phone strategy. That’s a good idea. As for the free subscriptions, I consider it good practice at something I’ve never been very good at, which is flat-out saying, “no.” Of course, Anne will often say she already subscribes, just to throw them off.
Oh, and I always give them a fake phone number when they ask, too. How I’d love to know the Jedi Mind Trick: you don’t need to know my phone number…