DVD and CD sales: Why the Darling Downs is bucking dying media trend

Think streaming services had killed hard media formats? Multiple Toowoomba stores are proving the opposite to be true, and have revealed why they’re still flying off the shelves.

Some may think DVDs and CDs are a thing of the past, but residents of the Garden City are bucking the trend.

Sanity, which has a store in Grand Central and Clifford Gardens, sells DVDs, CDs, TV series box sets, and games across more than 150 stores in Australia.

Grand Central store manager Christie Dodd said customers were sick of paying for hundreds of streaming services, especially those from smaller, country towns where reception can be spotty.

“Living in regional Australia, you go 10 minutes out from Toowoomba, internet and reception doesn’t tend to be great,” she said.

“It‘s the same when you’re driving, with Spotify and Apple subscriptions.”

Ms Dodd said sometimes shows or movies are also removed from streaming services, whereas when you purchase a hard copy, you could have it forever.

“There are lots of advantages to buying hard copy,” she said.

Vinyl records are also one of Sanity’s biggest sellers, and Ms Dodd said she predicted CDs and DVDs will become trendy in a similar vein.

“Everything comes around again,” she said.

Another popular place for residents to purchase as well as sell their old CDs, DVDs, games, and more is CeX in Grand Central which is a second-hand retailer.

Matt Longridge, manager of CeX in Grand Central, said some people spent around $200 to $300 on DVDs if they live “in the middle of nowhere” and had next to no internet.

“DVDs are very old. They're getting very old very quickly. I think they’re 27, 28 years old this October or something. So they are dated. But we still have a multitude of DVD categories,” he said.

Mr Longridge said some of the CeX stores in Brisbane and other city centres regularly had people who come in and sell 1000s of DVDs.

“We want everyone’s stuff. If you were buying a MacBook for instance, I’d take your money, but I want your stuff more because then I have a store to run,” he said.