Video Business is reporting that mega-retailer Best Buy will increase the floor space for DVDs substantially in fiscal 2006.  CDs will be the big loser in the rearrangement scheme, which is based on growth in comparable stores in DVD sales at the same time that CD sales have been in decline.  While Best Buy is not by any stretch of the imagination planning to eliminate CDs, the retailer is responding to sales trends and to the tremendous growth in the number of DVD releases as the market matures.  A Best Buy spokesperson told Video Business: 'We're trying to find the best way to meet demand, with DVD popularity growing so much -- and there is an expectation of Best Buy that we will have a deep selection... We've had to subdivide TV (show DVDs) into different categories, and we've got the anime and all these different categories that we need to stock.  The space has to come from somewhere.'

The continuing growth in the number of DVD releases is clearly creating a problem even for 'big box' retailers such as Best Buy, and in spite of efforts to accommodate the surging number of DVD releases, opportunities are bound to appear in the next few years for retailers who specialize in particular DVD categories and carry new titles as well as a large, but narrowly focused, backlist.