Movie Discs Get Thanksgiving Trimming

28 Nov, 2013 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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While much of America feasted on turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, employees at Target readied displays filled with heavily discounted new and catalog DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies for a special 8 p.m. pre-Black Friday (Nov. 29) retail opening — an hour earlier than last year.

With recent releases and catalog fare priced from $4 a disc (including Blu-ray), Target took the unusual step of positioning point-of-purchase packaged media displays away from the entertainment department and upfront near the entrance and the high-traffic main aisle targeting impulse buyers and shoppers entering and leaving the store.

“Everybody loves DVDs on Black Friday,” said an employee at a Target in Flowery Branch, Ga., as he and a co-worker unpacked displays filled with discs ranging from Pacific Rim, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty, to Hotel Transylvania, Flight, The Great Gatsby and This Is 40, among others.

Target, like Walmart, Best Buy and others, position Thanksgiving evening as a key retail catalyst to a holiday season that is nearly a week shorter than 2012.

While most discount shoppers will still hit the stores and online on Black Friday, according to the National Retail Federation, about 14% surveyed said they planned to go shopping after eating turkey.

When asked what movie he coveted during the sale, the employee pulled a disc from the display, “The Croods is all you need to know,” he said.

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