Hi, I'm Wilfred.

I'm collection Laserdiscs since 3 years. It started with a PAL laserdisc of Robocop and now the collection is 700+ discs. I really enjoy Laserdiscs and I can't really explain why I love it so much. Maybe it's the really cool cover artwork, the excellent boxes or maybe because the collectors are really devoted to the format (or like someone said here on the forum: when you own an LD you have the feeling you own a real movie)

It's hard here in The Netherlands to find interesting Laserdiscs. There is a classified advertising site (Marktplaats.nl - sort of craigslist), but people sell the usual stuff (Waterworld, Speed, Speed 2 etc.) and there are no shops anymore (I think) who sell Laserdiscs.

I like this forum, finally I'm not feeling alone anymore - a forum with Laserdiscs fans Joy!! You don't have to explain that you're enthusiastic about the fact that you're Star Wars box contains the 7sec missing from some pressings

Hi Wilfred, welcome.

Perhaps its not really a shop but isn't it so that one laserdisc fan around rotterdam bought all the stock of the closed down business Ro-Disc ?
Someone once told me that there still is a warehouse where fans, upon appointment, can still browse trough thousands of discs, new and second hand...
Or is this an urban legend ?

Does this sort of shop doesn't have an online shop on lddb also ?

Perhaps people from holland can clarify, and why not, lets do a mini LDDB meeting in holland over there, it would be great to do that.

Here-Here !
What a wonderful idea !!
I would sign on for a LDDB conference in Rotterdam !
Amsterdam being way too commercial !!!
How about it LD people !?!

Forgot my Manners !
Welcome Wilfred !
Thanks for joining up and sharing your story !!!

Oh where are the good days from Ro-Disc in Rotterdam, I liked the store very much & still miss it

Unfortunatly the shop went bankrupt (not going into detail as it is not important), but the inventory was initially split into two parts:

1) the part within the bankrupty, curator sold it to one person who buys big lots of LP/CD's
2) the part kept by the owner.

So far the first part of the story, the big lot (more than 10.000 LDs) was fun to go though, especially when you were the first person to browse through, but you have to know that all was stacked in boxes, so you had to open them yourselfs.
Imagine yourself 10.000 LDs boxed ... Yes indeed almost 7 meters x 5 meters and 3 boxes stacked, not easy to select,
and a good fitness excersise considering the weight of each box.
During my first visit I spent a whole day in a big warehouse & bought nice discs at a very low price.
In this stock constisted out of European, US & Japan discs (Japanese limited though), but from some titles you could find hundreds of the same (I still remember Gloria Estefan Concert, where there were more than 250 of the same title ....)
Anyhow more than enough to select from =;^)

A month or so later I visited the same warehouse again, at that time all music discs and the best movies were gone (yes also the titles with more than hundred of the same =;^), at that time the discs were so cheap, in fact you could start to cry knowing the money I payed for Titanic when it just came out and here you could find them still sealed and more than 50 pieces to pick from and that for 1 euro.

Also had a talk with the owner, he was eager to get rid of the discs, when he buys a lot he keeps it maximum 3 months,
than he sells off to a recycle company that recycles the aluminium from CDs etc.
My personal guess looking at what was left, roughly 3000 discs were sold, so the remainder was sold to be distroyed,
In fact the biggest lot (more than 2000) was sold to 1 person.

That same person also bought the remainder of the inventory directly from the owner of Ro-Disc.

So the twist of the story ...

Some persons did cherry picking
One person bought a big lot
Majority been destroyed (really titles not interesting though, but a sin for a true LD fan =;^)

I assume the Dutch and Belgian all remember their "famous" specialized shops

Ro-Disc in Rotterdam
Original Version in Baarle Nassau
No1 in Amstelveen (aquired by Ro-Disc)
Elvic in Huizen

Laserview in Antwerp
Hometheatre in Antwerp

Those were the days ... unfortunately they ll never return.
Of caurse nothing compared to the nice shops in Akihabara .....

If you are doing a conference you should do it in Utrecht together with the record/toys/scfi/antique fair. Sometimes there have been a few seller that sells lds there and it seems to have been some interest for them. Mayby you could talk with the event owner about having a corner in the scifi/toys section

btw, this have to be the guy that got the big lot:
http://www.lddb.com/shops.php?owner=bram.kalkman&search=gloria

It's a shame that I never had the pleasure to visit these shops. Ro-Disc was a shop specialised in Laserdiscs?

Correct me if i'm wrong, but Ro-Disc became big in the LD era, but later on they also were known for their DVD US and UK import section.
I had the privilege to be there a couple of times, when they still had laserdiscs in the store. (i guess in 2000 it was)

They also had a hardware shop right next to the software shop. The hardware shop was the place to be for laserdisc lovers and home cinema fans in the Benelux. Of course they also did hardware mods like AC-3 RF output...

does anyone still have pics of the interior ?

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum

Ro-disc had it all...
Sadly , as with all LD shops around they fell victim to the uprising of dvd's
I went twice to Rotterdam visiting the shop and was blown away by their huge stock of laserdiscs.
In Antwerp there was a similar shop called Laservieuw with most of of US titles available similar to Ro-Disc
Anyway, those days are gone....


Quantity isn't everything however! I actually buy laserdisc collections all over to obtain that one disc and find that most titles are only the ordinary releases...
We have to face it, a lot of movies are not that great on picture and audio quality. Me, I'm not interested in collecting all discs just because they are LD's
The true collectible releases for me are 1998-2001 discs.
The true collectibles are well known to every collector out there.
Luckily everyone has their wishlist so what's rubbish for one would be the holy grail for someone else.
That's the true pleasure in collecting Ld's I think

Sold my first collection years ago to minimize "old" releases.
These days I find myself buying Japanese discs and a few last USA pressings.
Wishlist is getting very short!!

Anyway, that's how I feel about collecting these days

http://web.archive.org/web/19980614000755/http://www.rodisc.nl/shop.htm

Kris,

you are fully right, most shops tried to survive with DVDs but were "killed" by the big shops like MediaMarkt & FNAC due to much lower pricing and quantity, those single-person shops could simply not cope with these big companies, they earned good money in the LD time also as possiblity of buying through the internet was not up to today's level.
Not only in the Netherlands and Belgium, but also in the US, still remember the big shop of Ken Crane LaserDisc superstore in SF.

From all these stores I only know what happened with the inventory from Ro-Disc, No1(went to RoDisc), Original Version.
No info what happened to the inventory of both Antwerp shops (LaserView went bankrupt, still in the LD days, heard some was sold to the other Antwerp shops, but can not be all as LaserView had a big inventory)

Looking for nice Japanese Music discs there was not so much choice, you had to go to Rotterdam or Baarle Nassau ....
The US discs were available at all stores

In fact it great to see what we all payed ... (all in dutch Guilders => Hfl100 = 45Euro)

Just a sample of the NTSC Top30:

UPDATED, 8 June 1998
1 Starship Troopers (WS) AC-3 - Paul Verhoeven - [1.85] 1997 129.95
2 007-Tomorrow Never Dies (WS)AC-3 Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Yeoh [2.35] 1997 109.95
3 Alien Resurrection (WS) THX,AC-3 Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder [2.35] 1997 109.95
4 Jackal, the (WS) AC-3 Sign.Coll. Bruce Willis, Richard Gere [1.85] 1997 109.95
5 Red Corner (WS) AC-3 Richard Gere, Bai Ling [1.85] 1997 109.95
6 As Good As It Gets (WS) AC-3 Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt [1.85] 1997 109.95
7 Seven Years In Tibet (WS) AC-3 Brad Pitt, David Thewliss [2.35] 1997 99.95
8 Rainmaker, the (WS) AC-3 Matt Damon, Claire Danes 1997 109.95
9 Gattaca (WS) AC-3 Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman [2.35] 1997 99.95
10 Life Less Ordinary (WS) Cameron Diaz, Ewan McGregor [1.85] 1997 109.95
11 Edge, the (WS) AC-3 Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin [2.35] 1997 109.95
12 L.A. Confidential (WS) AC-3 Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger [2.35] 1997 109.95
13 Desperate Measures (WS) AC-3 Michael Keaton, Andy Garcia [1.85] 1998 99.95
14 Mortal Kombat 2 (WS) AC-3 Robin Shou, Talisa Soto [1.85] 1997 79.95
15 Face Off (WS) THX AC-3 John Travolta, Nicholas Cage [2.35] 1997 109.95
16 Kiss The Girls (WS) AC-3 Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd [2.35] 1997 109.95
17 Devil's Advocate (WS) AC-3 Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves [2.35] 1997 109.95
18 Star Wars Trilogy Sp.Ed.THX AC-3 (WS) Mark Hammill, Carrie Fisher [2.35] 1997 330.00
19 Fifth Element, the (WS) AC-3 Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich [2.35] 1997 109.95
20 007-Tomorrow Never Dies (WS) DTS Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Yeoh [2.35] 1997 109.95
21 X-Files - Pusher/Jose Chung's... David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson 1996 79.95
22 Mission Impossible (WS) THX AC-3 - Brian De Palma -, Tom Cruise [2.35] 1996 60.00
23 Event Horizon (WS) AC-3 Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan [2.35] 1997 109.95
24 007 - Moonraker (WS) THX AC-3 Roger Moore, Lois Chiles [2.35] 1979 109.95
25 X-Files - Piper Maru / Apocrypha David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson 1996 79.95
26 Rock, the (WS) THX AC-3 CAV CRIT Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery [2.35] 1996 175.00
27 Stargate SG-1 (Pilot) Richard Dean Anderson 1997 109.95
28 M.I.B.Men In Black (WS) THX AC-3 Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith [1.85] 1997 99.95
29 Star Trek Next Generation 133/34 Rascals / Fistful Of Datas 1992 89.95
30 Neil Diamond - Tennessee Moon Live 1996 79.95

not to forget the PAL Top30:

UPDATED, 8 June 1998
1 King Solomons Mine TBA
2 Wayne's World (WS) TXT Mike Myers, Dana Carvey 39.95
3 Star Trek Voyager - Basics I/II Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo 69.95
4 Thing, the (WS) - John Carpenter -, Kurt Russell [2.35] 1982 45.00
5 Dante's Peak (WS) Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton [2.35] 1996 79.95
6 Escape From New York (WS) Kurt Russell, Doanld Pleasance [2.35] 1981 69.95
7 Raiders Of The Lost Ark Dutch Subtitled, Harrison Ford 1981 25.00
8 Saturday Night Fever Dutch Subtitled, John Travolta 1978 15.00
9 Scarface Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer 1983 15.00
10 Lost World, the (WS) Jeff Goldblum [1.85] 1997 99.95
11 Genesis - The Way We Walk Live + 4 Clips 65.00
12 Knebworth 1990 - Vol. 2 E.Clapton, Dire Straits, E.John 35.00
13 Rolling Stones - 25 x 5 Continuing Adv., 130 min. 25.00
14 Gloria Estefan - Homecoming Conc 25.00
15 Diana Ross - Video Collection One Woman - 22 Videoclips 25.00
16 Avontuur Met Een Staartje 1 Animatie , - Don Bluth - 1986 15.00
17 Amazing Stories Dutch Subtitled 1985 15.00
18 Beverly Hills Cop Dutch Subtitled, Eddie Murphy 1984 15.00
19 Big Man On Campus Dutch Subtitled 1989 10.00
20 Dirty Dancing Dutch Subtitled, Patrick Swayze 1988 10.00
21 Nat. Geographic - Titanic 10.00
22 Star Trek BOX-SET (WS) The Screen Voyages I to VI 449.95
23 Aliens (WS) Special Edition Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton [1.85] 1986 149.95
24 Mussorgsky - Khovanshchina TXT Kirov Opera - Valery Gergiev 1992 129.95
25 Riverdance - The New Show Live In New York 1996 99.95
26 Pink Floyd - Pulse Filmed at London, 24-10-94 99.95
27 Predator (WS) Arnold Schwarzenegger [1.85] 1987 89.95
28 Dragonheart (WS) Dennis Quaid [2.35] 1996 79.95
29 Schindler's List (WS) Dutch Subtitled 1993 79.95
30 Alien (WS) Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt [2.35] 1979 79.95

And of cause the Japanese discs:

Alien: New Coll. Boxset THX AC-3 08-05-98 First 3 films + making of fourth 329.95
X-Files - Third Season vol. 1 David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson 899.95
X-Files - Third Season vol. 2 David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson 899.95
10cc - Live In London 99.95
ABBA - More Gold 13 tracks 90.00
Bryan Adams - Reckless Run To You, Heaven etc. 99.95
Chet Baker - Live At Ronny Scots feat. E.Costello & Van Morrisson 1986 159.95
Band - Japan Tour 1983 99.95
Beatles - Concert At Budokan '66 159.95
Beatles - Live Ready Steady Go ! 69.95
David Bowie - Love You Till Tues day 89.95
David Bowie - Serious Moonlight Concert 1983, Vancouver, Canada 159.95
Cardigans - Live London 1996 139.95
Carpenters - Live At Budokan '74 119.95
Eric Clapton - Cream of... 129.95
Eric Clapton - Live At Hyde Park Prince Trust Concert, 75 min. 1996 139.95
Sheryl Crow - Live From London 1996 129.95
Culture Club - A Kiss Across The Ocean, Live December 1983 99.95
Dave Clark Five - Glad All Over Again 139.95
Miles Davis - Miles In Paris + interviews 1989 139.95
Deep Purple - Heavy Metal Pionee 89.95
Deep Purple - Machine Head Live 1972 119.95
Dr. John & Friends - New Orleans 129.95
E.L.O. - Live At Wembley 'Out Of The Blue' Tour 1978 99.95
Fleetwood Mac - Tango In Night Live in San Francisco 1987 89.95
Foreigner - Feels Like The Very First Time, 60 min. 99.95
Four Play - Evening Of.. vol. 1 99.95
Four Play - Evening Of.. vol. 2 99.95
Rory Gallagher - Live In Cork 1990 169.95
Genesis - Visible Touch 90.00
Godley and Creme - Mondo Video CAV 79.95
INXS - Living INXS 89.95
Elton John - Tantrums & Tiaras 169.95
Howard Jones - Best Of ..'83-'96 18 tracks, 79 min. 139.95
Patricia Kaas - Tour De Charme Live 93/94 90.00
King Crimson - Live In Japan Tokyo, 5-6 October 1995 139.95
Lenny Kravitz - Video Retrospec. 65.00
Huey Lewis & the News - 4 Choros & Several Years Ago, The Concert 159.95
Pat Metheny Group - We Live Here Live In Japan, October 1995 159.95
Imai Miki - Profile A Place In The Sun Tour 1994 159.95
Monkees - 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkees 119.95
Alanis Morissette - Live 10 tracks, 75 min. 109.95
Mozart - Entfuhrung Aus Dem S. 259.95
New Order - Best Of 139.95
Gary Numan - Berserker Hammersmith Odeon 1984 159.95
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Live 1993 119.95
Mike Oldfield - Elements/Best Of 10 tracks + interview 90.00
Vanessa Paradis - Tous Ses Clips Video Collection 99.95
Astor Piazolla - Montreux 1984 Live at International Jazz Fest. 119.95
Police - Greatest Hits 119.95
Police - Greatest Hits 119.95
Police - History Of The Police Live ! 139.95
Prince - 3 Chains O'Gold 95.00
Prince - Sacrifice Of Victor 119.95
Prince - The Undertaker 119.95
Pulp - Feeling Called Live Live at the Brixton Academy 139.95
R.E.M. - This Film Is On 99.95
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Funky.. Monks 99.95
Lou Reed - Magic And Loss Live 1992 159.95
Roxette - Greatest Video Hits 21 clips, 1989-1995 119.95
Todd Rundgren - Nearly Human 159.95
Todd Rundgren - TR-i In Cyberia Live, 9 tracks, 68 min. 159.95
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Budokan 11/95 With Daizaburo Harada 139.95
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Live 1996 Trio World Tour, complete + book 239.95
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Playing The.. Orchestra 1997 "f" 159.95
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Sweet Revenge Tour, Nippon Budokan 1994 159.95
Sepultura - Under Siege Live In Barcelona 25.00
Bruce Springsteen - 1978-88 Video Anthology, 18 tracks 109.95
Steps Ahead - Live Live At Tokyo in '86 99.95
Rod Stewart & Faces - Last Conc. 129.95
Sting - Summoner's Travels 129.95
Stranglers - Saturday night Sun- day Morning 139.95
Yukihiro Takahashi - Japan Tour 1986 119.95
The The - From Dusk Till Dawn 99.95
U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky Live At Red Rocks 1983 109.95
U2 - Unforgettable Fire Coll. 119.95
Yuki Uchida - Uchida's Live Show 1995 99.95
Van Halen - Video Hits vol. 1 13 tracks 119.95
Velvet Underground - In Europe A Documentary 159.95
Ventures - Wild Again Concert 1997 119.95
Roger Waters - What God Wants 1 (8") 69.95
Whitesnake - Starkers In Tokyo 10 tracks, 45 min. 129.95
Vanessa Williams - Comfort Zone 99.95
Brian Wilson - I Just Wasn't Made For These Times 139.95
Yes - Live In Philadelphia 1979 119.95
Beat Club - California Calling Various 60's 129.95
Beat-Club - Musik Laden part 1 Slade, T.Rex, Traffic, J. Rivers 75.00
Beat-Club - Musik Laden part 2 10CC, Jethro Tull, R. Newman 75.00
Deadheads Festival, 1997 Japan Tribute to Jerry Garcia 179.95
MTV Video Music Awards Coll. '86 99.95
Promo Lights Clip ! - Britpop 1 Various 90's - 8 Videoclips 129.95

Look what I still found in my old archived emails section:
The last newsletter ever from Ro-Disc!

http://www.pustan.com/test/ro-disc.png

I used to order mostly HD-DVD and Blu-ray imports from them back in 2007 and early 2008.

How nice to hear all the above about Ro-Disc

Not everything is not exactly how things happened, but that's ok.

I have just created a facebook page about Ro-Disc. I intend to place photos and background information etc. from time to time. Not everything was mentioned in the newsletter Ro-News obviously

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ro-Disc-b ... 5321806465

Enjoy your LaserDiscs!!!

groetjes

Robert

Hi Wilfred,

Welcome to the forum! It has been fun for me to read everyones threads about the past! I am glad we are all doing our part to keep this wonderful format alive and well!

Kevin

I loved Laserviews in Antwerp. It started as a small section in a hifi shop on the "carnotstraat", moved to a dedicated laserdisc shop later and became a megastore in its final days... They even had huge plans of releasing movies on their own label for the Benelux market. I remember the owner telling me they were negotiating rights for some US movies, but finally only 2 Belgian movies got released, being "Daens" and "Ad Fundum".
Elvic in Huizen was my introduction to laserdisc. This small shop was the first Laserdisc shop I ever visited after they sended me a newsletter about Laserdisc. I still have all their newsletters which they sent out for free. It was the best source of getting all the info about PAL releases in Belgium/The Netherlands.
I discovered "Ro-disc" quite late and only went there maybe 4 or 5 times. I did order alot from Ro-disc via the internet in 2006 and 2007.
My all time favourite was the shop in Baarle. Very friendly owner and great selection of discs.
Nowadays you buy everything from Ebay, Amazon or some megastore... Really miss the old days when you could hang around in a shop, talk to other customers or the owner and go home with much more than you intended to purchase

Good day ro-disc,

Is the Ro-Disc shop in Rotterdam still in business?

I remember travelling from the UK around 2005 to the Shop and found the staff very helpful, they worked out a good price on a large LD order by myself.

I spent around £860 if not more for around 30 to 40 LD titles.

The correspondence between myself and the staff at Ro-Disc was confidently reassuring.

I shall look forward to corresponding with yourself at some stage.

All the best to you.

Regards