May 12, 2025 • 23 mins
Enjoy this conversation with Travis Foley of Odyssey Movies!
Travis sought to fulfill a dream and just a couple month slater, the day is here!
Shop now at https://odysseymovies.com/
-
To celebrate the launch, Odyssey is offering:
SAVE 10% OFF SITEWIDE UNTIL JUNE 1ITH
SIGN UP FOR REWARDS AND GET A $5 REWARD WHEN YOU SPEND YOUR FIRST $50
FREE MEDIA MAIL SHIPPING WHEN YOU BUY 3 OR MORE MOVIES!
-
Follow Odyssey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/odysseymoviestore/
Follow Odyssey on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/odysseymoviestore
-
Buy The Physical Media Advocate (zine) on Amazon:
https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1utJN
-
Become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/DiscConnected
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Disc-Connected: https://linktr.ee/discconnected
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Someone's Favorite Productions: https://linktr.ee/someonesfavoriteproductions
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Shelf Shock Rewind: https://linktr.ee/shelfshockrewind
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Email: DiscConnectedMedia@gmail.com
--
Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-disc-connected
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Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-disc-connected
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If you happen to be shopping on Amazon for something and would like to share some of Lord Bezos' profits with my channel at no additional cost to you, please consider shopping through my link: https://amzn.to/39mcX1t
-
Tip Jar: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=TDEVSPJZ9EFCW
or
paypal.me/RVinls (friends and family only)
or
Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/20CR2ZN456P1B?ref_=wl_share
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Music is by Michael J. LeRose- michaelxcreates@gmail.com.
Outro is K(NO)W by Crusoe via a Creative Commons Attribution License and verbal/written permission from the artist.
-
Links above may be affiliate/promotional links that provide me a tiny commission to support the site and do not charge the consumer anything extra.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-disc-connected--6024210/support.
Travis sought to fulfill a dream and just a couple month slater, the day is here!
Shop now at https://odysseymovies.com/
-
To celebrate the launch, Odyssey is offering:
SAVE 10% OFF SITEWIDE UNTIL JUNE 1ITH
SIGN UP FOR REWARDS AND GET A $5 REWARD WHEN YOU SPEND YOUR FIRST $50
FREE MEDIA MAIL SHIPPING WHEN YOU BUY 3 OR MORE MOVIES!
-
Follow Odyssey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/odysseymoviestore/
Follow Odyssey on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/odysseymoviestore
-
Buy The Physical Media Advocate (zine) on Amazon:
https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1utJN
-
Become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/DiscConnected
-
Disc-Connected: https://linktr.ee/discconnected
-
Someone's Favorite Productions: https://linktr.ee/someonesfavoriteproductions
-
Shelf Shock Rewind: https://linktr.ee/shelfshockrewind
-
Email: DiscConnectedMedia@gmail.com
--
Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-disc-connected
-
Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-disc-connected
-
If you happen to be shopping on Amazon for something and would like to share some of Lord Bezos' profits with my channel at no additional cost to you, please consider shopping through my link: https://amzn.to/39mcX1t
-
Tip Jar: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=TDEVSPJZ9EFCW
or
paypal.me/RVinls (friends and family only)
or
Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/20CR2ZN456P1B?ref_=wl_share
-
Music is by Michael J. LeRose- michaelxcreates@gmail.com.
Outro is K(NO)W by Crusoe via a Creative Commons Attribution License and verbal/written permission from the artist.
-
Links above may be affiliate/promotional links that provide me a tiny commission to support the site and do not charge the consumer anything extra.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-disc-connected--6024210/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello there, and welcome back to the Discconnected. Been a
while since a new interview has been done, but I'm
excited to be here with a friend of mine, mister
Travis Foley, to speak to you about a new endeavor
that hopefully a lot of you will be hearing about
in the near future. Travis, thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Oh Lah, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We are we're gonna be spending a lot of time
talking about Odyssey today. We're gonna hear about that in
just a few minutes. But first of all, tell the
people about yourself. Who are you and what is going
on in your life.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
So my names Travis Foley. Originally from Long Island, New York.
I moved to Richmond, Virginia about two and a half
years ago. And yeah, I mean I've been in love
with movies really for the past few years. I really
got into it, you know, growing up like people of
(01:09):
our generation, our age, I think movies.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Were a lot bigger thing.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
I went to the movie theater all the time with
my mom and my dad, and in my teens I
remember even like sneaking into like movie theaters with friends
when we didn't have money. I had a real reclusive
period in my teens, and I would just rent a
ton of movies from the library. I've always I've always
collected CDs growing up, action figures, things like that. And
(01:40):
I just kind of moved a lot, and I always
kind of just shed everything I had, and it kind
of fell out of it and got into this place where,
you know, more of a minimalist mindset. But as I've
kind of gotten more grounded, and really the pandemic that
got me back into collecting, I was just I would
go into thrift stores, but I wasn't working. I'm still
(02:02):
getting those checks though, and I was just collecting just
massive amounts of DVDs anything I thought that looked interesting,
and you know, it just got to a point where
I was surrounded by this stuff. I was like, I
don't I don't know that I'm ever gonna watch these.
Uh And you know, once again, I shed that and
I moved out.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Here, and uh, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I gradually got more selective about what I was getting,
and I guess listening to podcasts at work like really
got me back into it and really interested in movies.
There's a podcast blank Check. They discussed like filmographies of
all different directors, and it got me really interested in
(02:48):
filming a way that I hadn't been before. And then
I was, you know, buying more and came across your
podcast one.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Day and and it all went down.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
I mean, it's it's been incredible for me. You have
no idea what it does for me. I work a
four hour long podcast, seriously, I mean it's when you know,
when I realized I'm only like halfway through.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
It's just it's great.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
It gets me through today and and just like you know,
getting into the Discord and stuff, You've made this You've
made this space really accessible and yeah, I've learned so
much through the podcast and and.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, like through the Discord.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I mean it's like my my my second that's my
social life really like outside of my real life.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We're here to we're here to sort of advertise for you,
and I love that. I just got the plug there.
But yeah, I mean I'll throw it out there if
anybody loves the sound of that. Check out the link
for the patre on the description below. People like Travis
are going to be covering a lot of really cool
things in the discord over the future months. I mean,
we've got people from multiple labels in there. We've got
people that are working at physical media retail stores, people
(04:02):
that are doing special features, people that run other film podcasts.
There's so much just enrichment in the discussion in there
that I adore. So today we're talking about Odyssey Movies.
So after after collecting for for multiple generations of physical
media for yourself, how did we land on Odissey Movies?
(04:23):
And first of all, what is it? Let's get into
what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Well, so Odyssey Movies is a boutique Blu ray store,
you know, another movie formats it's launching, you know as
as this episode releases today, Mother's Day online Odyssey Moovies
dot com.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Uh how I got here? You know, I've always wanted to.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I was.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I grew up like on music before movies and always
had this like dream of starting.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
A record label and they like the same.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, I would like write down, like what bands do
I know that I could get to maybe get involved
in like curate curate like a record label on paper,
but never really had the means of doing it. Was
it was it was these fleeting kind of like fantasies.
And I've always wanted to have my own business and
and just be surrounded by like the stuff that I'm
(05:16):
interested in. I spent so much time you know, at work.
I do blue collar work. I've been doing that for
the last ten plus years. And I've just been in
a really good place in my life the past like
two and a half years, and I've been talking about
starting a movie store, and you know, the lack thereof
in the in the community like where I'm in in Richmond,
and you know, many places there aren't movie stores anymore.
(05:38):
You know, Best Buy got rid of everything, Targets getting
rid of everything. And even then that wasn't you know,
it wasn't really like a moot, like a a cinephile
kind of like experience.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
It wasn't curated either in any.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Way exactly like Bordered Books back in the day was
something that was closer to that.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I mean, I'd spent hours at Border Books.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
So yeah, like I mean, there's a few places out
here that sell like other forms of media, video games, whatever.
I'll pop in there for fifteen twenty minutes, look at
everything they got, and it's you know they're not on
the pulse of what's going on with boutique like media.
I became like kind of convicted to I had this
conviction to do it myself and I would talk about
it and I never knew when it would when I'd
(06:20):
be able to. And I was talking to a friend
who has a business, and you know, I had some money,
and you know, I was like, I need maybe to
get some credit and everything. He's like, just incorporate file
an LLC. They'll start getting offers. Sure enough, I did,
and I think before I even got the offers, I
reached out to my first first label just I just
(06:41):
really just like.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Got the ball rolling and I never looked back, Like I.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Was talking to someone earlier this year about it, and
then February I incorporated, and then like I built an
office and just kept reaching out for people. I reach
out to you for some insight. But that first one,
the first label I spoke to, was Terror Vision and
they have been awesome. They're they're probably my favorite people
(07:05):
to work with at this point. Just real grassroots kind
of vibes, very punk like in their ethos, so approachable too.
Like I was a subscriber and I you know, as
a subscriber, you get like discount prices and you get
a portal to that. And I just reached out and
I was like, is this like because they call it wholesale.
I'm like, is this wholesale like the literal sense or
(07:26):
is that just how y'all are calling it.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
I'm like looking at.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
The Star Business and and they were just so like
so friendly and accommodating and gave me like a like
a form for their distro. And you know what I
really like about them too, is you know a lot
of distributors sell to like the big big box like
warehouses and stuff like that, and those those guys just
(07:49):
they don't obviously care about what they're selling, but right
they'll buy it and mark it up a dollar two
dollars over you know, wholesale prices, and you know, it's
difficult to compete with that, of course, and sometimes as
you know, like Amazon, amost all things for lesson wholesale
because that's just what Yeah. But so you know, it's
(08:14):
it's been a learning experience, but it's been it's been
a blast getting in touch with some of these people.
It's been real difficult to reach some of them. There's
someone still struggling with but you know, I'm finding just
perseverance and persistence and sometimes a little creativity has opened
(08:34):
some doors. And you know, it's it's all part of it,
I think, and it's it's been a joy to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, you know, as somebody that has implemented just basically
like random hair ideas that I've gotten over the last
handful of years and turned it into something that people
count on. It has been genuinely inspiring to see something
that you just like flippantly messaged me about in February,
to be like, oh no, we're now opening next month.
(09:03):
Let's let's get that interview that we were talking about doing.
And it's it's so crazy to think that this was
we're going to incorporate and in ninety days, this is
going to be a real thing that people are gonna
be purchasing items from you. You've done incredible in such
a short period of time.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I mean, yeah, I mean I'm surprised myself, but I'm
you know, I'm I'm on a mission to do this
and really the well, a couple of things. My initial
desire is to open a physical brick and mortar location
somewhere right. This was just the first logical step, you know,
(09:41):
in order to get there, and I I fully intend
to do that. But secondly, I was going to say,
you know, you're talking about your how it's inspiring to you.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Wholeheartedly. If it were not for your podcast, I don't
think I'd be doing this. The the amount of things that
you know, because you've made yourself very accessible, You're a
very approachable person in the space, and I've become well
aware of the things that you've accomplished and that that
you're doing. And you're working a full time job, You've
(10:17):
got two kids, and you know, you got the you
got the magazine, you got the podcast, you got the network,
you're doing commentaries, and I know that you got there
just out of well maybe not just, but out of
a passion for this this medium. And it's you know,
(10:37):
it's truly been an inspiration.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I'm glad it's reciprocal. Then let's go through some step
by step things. First, the name, honestly, uh, why why
that name is that important to you?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
It's becoming more important, you know, It's I felt like
it was like really easy to go with something like
really kischy or like like a movie riff, like you know,
like something from Terminator like tech Noir or you know,
and there's you know, I know there is like a
video drone and all that and that that sounds cool, but.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I didn't want to be too specific.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
I also didn't want to have anything with too hard
an edge, like something like maybe more punk cleaning that
could be perceived. But I want this to be like
welcoming to all people. I want people who you know,
of all generations to be you know, to feel like
this is somewhere that they can come and look at
movies and maybe rediscover their interest in movies.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
So I don't know, honestly, just kind of came to me, and.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
I feel like it's it's uh, you know it movies
aren't in honesty, uh and you know, not to be corny,
but you know, I like, I look at all all
my movies I have here, and when when.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I look at them, I just like they're.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Just They're just worlds in all these these discs that
I can go explore.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
It's easy to spell, it's catchy, it's fine. Yeah, it's good.
Uh So you mentioned terror Vision. Who else can people
count on finding at Odyssey.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
So terror vision, deaf crocodile of course.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Got let me take a look arrow, Eureka siloscope indicator, severn.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
You know, I've got some others more.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
The store will continue to grow and more items will
be added all the time.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
But you know, I feel good about it.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I've got some you know, oh yeah, vinegar syndrome and
partner labels.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
How about imports or are people to expect imports yet?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I've got some imports that that has been a struggle
for me, and I know that is crucial for this
kind of business because you know, that's those are things
you just can't get everywhere. I do have some imports.
There's I mean, I have spoken to some of the
(13:09):
labels directly. I don't know currently, you know, I'm I'm not,
you know, too proud to be transparent about the fact that, like,
I don't know how some of them are doing it.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I will get there.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
You know, if anybody listening has any advice or knows
knows of any direction I could go in with that,
that'd be That'd be great. I'm confident though that I will.
I will get more as time goes on. And and
I have a stabed I have an established presence.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well that and you'll have more buying power once people
are starting to get stuff from you. And one of
the things that we got to talk about, you know,
there's I don't I don't know the number offhand, but
with the opening of your store, we're up to like
seven or eight sites in the US that distribute at
least like five to seven domestic labels. So there's there's
a lot of choices. So the big thing what is
(14:05):
what what is the draw to Odyssey? What is the
reason people would choose Odyssey over some of the others.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Absolutely, Uh, well, you know, being new and having a
bit of a limited inventory at the moment, while I
do have I think a pretty you know, solid selection,
you know, like I'm not going to be able to
compete initially with like Orbit and Diabolic and those guys.
They've been doing this for twenty plus years. They're established,
(14:31):
they've you know, they've made some money, and they've got connections.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
With distributors and labels.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
But what I do have is, you know, a rewards
program that I don't see many of the indie guys doing.
I like rewards programs, you know, Criterion, I've I've made
a lot of money and you know, send it back
to them.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
But the way, the way.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
That's going to work is so for every one hundred
and thirty dollars spent, you'll get a five dollars credit.
Those credits don't expire, you can accumulate those, use them towards,
you know, whatever you want, new movies, use movies pre orders.
They're good for this for everything in the store. And
(15:16):
so it's basically a dollar point. So one hundred and
thirty dollars one hundred thirty points five dollars credit. But
now as we launch, if you just sign up for
the rewards, you'll automatically have eighty points. So you just
need to spend fifty dollars to get your first five
dollar credit. Additionally, for the first month that we're open
(15:36):
site wide, it's ten percent off. You don't have to
enter a code or anything. You'll just you'll see the
markdown on everything. Got a five dollars flat rate media
mail shipping option. You know, if you're if you want
to do media mail, and of course if you have
a different preference, then you can pay the difference for
your preferred method of shipping. And I am you know,
(15:59):
I am doing the three for free. So if you
order three of any item, it's free shipping, might be
you know, it's again a little more limited selection at
the moment, but you know, there's there might be three
titles that you've been putting off again that you can
pull the trigger on now and you'll get the credit
(16:21):
and we'll always be getting more stuff. So I'm trying
to make it. I'm trying to make it approachable for
everybody to get a deal.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, And I mean you're clearly covering pretty much every
base that you possibly can there, especially in this first month.
There's no reason not to at least go after those
those free points in the two percent discount. That's a
that's a huge savings.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, and I'll just reiterate you don't have to necessarily
like sign up now and spend now.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
But if you just.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Sign up for the rewards program now, you'll you'll have
that locked in for just to spend fifty You can
do that in a month, you can do it two
few months now.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
But that's there.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, I get it. Uh So with Odyssey, the plan
for this, anythings that you have like in the works
for next steps, like once this starts, to do well,
things that you want to put into place pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
I'm really just looking to to just keep expanding our
selection and I'm you know, hopeful that we'll we'll nail
down some more labels and distributors, you know, some some
other merchandise movie related merchandise that we're going to do
from some of the labels, and hopefully some custom stuff,
(17:42):
maybe some custom like artwork as well. But now, you know,
the plan is to get this thing rolling, and I
mean get that physical location, you know, in the next
couple of years. You know, it would be really cool
to do like collaborations maybe with with labels some of this.
One of the guys I'm also I'm really interested in
(18:04):
there's like, you know, three new labels that I know
that just popped up, so I'm always keeping an eye
out for that stuff. I'd like to get those things
in the store and maybe do some kind of collaboration
with some of those guys and gals.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Perfect can't wait to see how people respond to this.
It's always fun to see this happen because it means
a handful of things. It means the industry is doing
well and people are buying in a way that somebody
thinks that they can support it. The other thing is
competition is always good for stuff like this. It helps
the consumers more choices. You'll be able to compare prices
(18:43):
across different stores. It'll help, you know, breed some sort
of friendly competition if it starts to do well, so
places like Orbit can pay attention say well, yeah, we
got to still keep up with Odyssey because they're crushing
it now. So that's a good thing. I'm glad this
is happening.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I've got nothing but respect for all those guys I've
I've buy and probably still will buy from from from
all of them or in ibolic.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Uh you mentioned in that last portion, uh used movies.
How is that going to go down? And what can
people expect to see there?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So I have I have a collection of things. I'm
always you know, updating my own inventory and getting.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Rid of things.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
I have some people who've also expressed getting rid of
some things from their collection as far as like like
buying used from people that that's certainly something I'm interested
in doing. Just I just right now, it's in the
very beginning. It's not going to be the best time
(19:47):
for me to do that.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
But Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Definitely want to to have like a buyback or whatever
you want to call it kind of program.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I know where it does that too.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, if people wanted after a while to reach out
to do that, I'm sure there will be a contact
button on the website and you're gonna be approachable. You'll
be on social media keeping up with that, sharing pictures
of new stock and stuff. I'm sure it's it's gonna
be a good time.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yes, I've got a collection of VHS tapes that I'll
be on there, a small collection I'll probably I don't
know if that'll be up at the at you know today.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, launch, but expect that soon. And that's something I'm
looking to to expand onto.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
One thing that I know that collectors and film lovers
alike are gonna really care about because some of these
are expensive. How how are you planning on shipping all
of these things?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's not to be worried about. I mean, I you know,
I buy from all these guys.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Uh, you know everything's protected bubble wrapp uh, you know,
filled with ground paper and all that.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
All boxes, noah, flimsy Amazon bubble mealers.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Never And it's something I wanted to emphasize at some
point too. I forgot it.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's like, yeah, it's just I mean when you when
you are getting into the space, because you're a collector,
that's one of the first things that you go, I
have to do this the right way.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah, all.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Right, then I think that covers everything that we need
too for Odyssey. So Odyssey Movie Store, the website Odysseymovies
dot com launches two day Mother's Day twenty twenty five.
Should be available all, you know, for the foreseeable future.
You've got the ten percent off of the first thirty days,
You've got sign up for the rewards program, you get
(21:34):
eighty points. You're more than halfway there to a five
dollars certificate already, free shipping if you get three items.
And I think those are the big things that people
are going to worry about right now. Yeah, incredible, Travis,
Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so
much for being confident enough to get a store going
and literally like less than one hundred and twenty days.
(21:55):
That's incredible, and just congrats again, this has got to
feel huge for you.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
It does. I'm so excited, and yeah, thank you very
much for having me here.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Ryan happily. All right, everybody will see you next time.
Have a good one, Take care. Thank you for listening
to the Disconnected podcast. There's one big thing that you
could do to help the show, and that is to
leave a rating and review on the podcast service of
your choice. Thank you, tell.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Me no Hello.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
This is Aaron West. I am the author of the
A twenty four New Wave. In this book, I look
at A twenty four's output and I make the argument
that we are in a new wave movement right now.
A twenty four plays a major role. This book has
a supplemental podcast where each episode is a brief conversation
about an A twenty four related topic, whether an actor, director,
(23:18):
or even a genre. As I continue research for the
book and conduct interviews, I expect to record podcasts episodes
with people involved with the company. You can find the
podcast at sendjourneys dot com or wherever you find podcasts.
And we are proud to be members of the Someone's
Favorite Productions Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Thank you for listening to hear more shows from the
Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network. Please select the link in
the description
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello there, and welcome back to the Discconnected. Been a
while since a new interview has been done, but I'm
excited to be here with a friend of mine, mister
Travis Foley, to speak to you about a new endeavor
that hopefully a lot of you will be hearing about
in the near future. Travis, thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Oh Lah, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We are we're gonna be spending a lot of time
talking about Odyssey today. We're gonna hear about that in
just a few minutes. But first of all, tell the
people about yourself. Who are you and what is going
on in your life.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
So my names Travis Foley. Originally from Long Island, New York.
I moved to Richmond, Virginia about two and a half
years ago. And yeah, I mean I've been in love
with movies really for the past few years. I really
got into it, you know, growing up like people of
(01:09):
our generation, our age, I think movies.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Were a lot bigger thing.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
I went to the movie theater all the time with
my mom and my dad, and in my teens I
remember even like sneaking into like movie theaters with friends
when we didn't have money. I had a real reclusive
period in my teens, and I would just rent a
ton of movies from the library. I've always I've always
collected CDs growing up, action figures, things like that. And
(01:40):
I just kind of moved a lot, and I always
kind of just shed everything I had, and it kind
of fell out of it and got into this place where,
you know, more of a minimalist mindset. But as I've
kind of gotten more grounded, and really the pandemic that
got me back into collecting, I was just I would
go into thrift stores, but I wasn't working. I'm still
(02:02):
getting those checks though, and I was just collecting just
massive amounts of DVDs anything I thought that looked interesting,
and you know, it just got to a point where
I was surrounded by this stuff. I was like, I
don't I don't know that I'm ever gonna watch these.
Uh And you know, once again, I shed that and
I moved out.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Here, and uh, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I gradually got more selective about what I was getting,
and I guess listening to podcasts at work like really
got me back into it and really interested in movies.
There's a podcast blank Check. They discussed like filmographies of
all different directors, and it got me really interested in
(02:48):
filming a way that I hadn't been before. And then
I was, you know, buying more and came across your
podcast one.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Day and and it all went down.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
I mean, it's it's been incredible for me. You have
no idea what it does for me. I work a
four hour long podcast, seriously, I mean it's when you know,
when I realized I'm only like halfway through.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
It's just it's great.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
It gets me through today and and just like you know,
getting into the Discord and stuff, You've made this You've
made this space really accessible and yeah, I've learned so
much through the podcast and and.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, like through the Discord.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I mean it's like my my my second that's my
social life really like outside of my real life.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We're here to we're here to sort of advertise for you,
and I love that. I just got the plug there.
But yeah, I mean I'll throw it out there if
anybody loves the sound of that. Check out the link
for the patre on the description below. People like Travis
are going to be covering a lot of really cool
things in the discord over the future months. I mean,
we've got people from multiple labels in there. We've got
people that are working at physical media retail stores, people
(04:02):
that are doing special features, people that run other film podcasts.
There's so much just enrichment in the discussion in there
that I adore. So today we're talking about Odyssey Movies.
So after after collecting for for multiple generations of physical
media for yourself, how did we land on Odissey Movies?
(04:23):
And first of all, what is it? Let's get into
what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Well, so Odyssey Movies is a boutique Blu ray store,
you know, another movie formats it's launching, you know as
as this episode releases today, Mother's Day online Odyssey Moovies
dot com.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Uh how I got here? You know, I've always wanted to.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I was.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I grew up like on music before movies and always
had this like dream of starting.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
A record label and they like the same.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, I would like write down, like what bands do
I know that I could get to maybe get involved
in like curate curate like a record label on paper,
but never really had the means of doing it. Was
it was it was these fleeting kind of like fantasies.
And I've always wanted to have my own business and
and just be surrounded by like the stuff that I'm
(05:16):
interested in. I spent so much time you know, at work.
I do blue collar work. I've been doing that for
the last ten plus years. And I've just been in
a really good place in my life the past like
two and a half years, and I've been talking about
starting a movie store, and you know, the lack thereof
in the in the community like where I'm in in Richmond,
and you know, many places there aren't movie stores anymore.
(05:38):
You know, Best Buy got rid of everything, Targets getting
rid of everything. And even then that wasn't you know,
it wasn't really like a moot, like a a cinephile
kind of like experience.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
It wasn't curated either in any.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Way exactly like Bordered Books back in the day was
something that was closer to that.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I mean, I'd spent hours at Border Books.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
So yeah, like I mean, there's a few places out
here that sell like other forms of media, video games, whatever.
I'll pop in there for fifteen twenty minutes, look at
everything they got, and it's you know they're not on
the pulse of what's going on with boutique like media.
I became like kind of convicted to I had this
conviction to do it myself and I would talk about
it and I never knew when it would when I'd
(06:20):
be able to. And I was talking to a friend
who has a business, and you know, I had some money,
and you know, I was like, I need maybe to
get some credit and everything. He's like, just incorporate file
an LLC. They'll start getting offers. Sure enough, I did,
and I think before I even got the offers, I
reached out to my first first label just I just
(06:41):
really just like.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Got the ball rolling and I never looked back, Like I.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Was talking to someone earlier this year about it, and
then February I incorporated, and then like I built an
office and just kept reaching out for people. I reach
out to you for some insight. But that first one,
the first label I spoke to, was Terror Vision and
they have been awesome. They're they're probably my favorite people
(07:05):
to work with at this point. Just real grassroots kind
of vibes, very punk like in their ethos, so approachable too.
Like I was a subscriber and I you know, as
a subscriber, you get like discount prices and you get
a portal to that. And I just reached out and
I was like, is this like because they call it wholesale.
I'm like, is this wholesale like the literal sense or
(07:26):
is that just how y'all are calling it.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
I'm like looking at.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
The Star Business and and they were just so like
so friendly and accommodating and gave me like a like
a form for their distro. And you know what I
really like about them too, is you know a lot
of distributors sell to like the big big box like
warehouses and stuff like that, and those those guys just
(07:49):
they don't obviously care about what they're selling, but right
they'll buy it and mark it up a dollar two
dollars over you know, wholesale prices, and you know, it's
difficult to compete with that, of course, and sometimes as
you know, like Amazon, amost all things for lesson wholesale
because that's just what Yeah. But so you know, it's
(08:14):
it's been a learning experience, but it's been it's been
a blast getting in touch with some of these people.
It's been real difficult to reach some of them. There's
someone still struggling with but you know, I'm finding just
perseverance and persistence and sometimes a little creativity has opened
(08:34):
some doors. And you know, it's it's all part of it,
I think, and it's it's been a joy to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, you know, as somebody that has implemented just basically
like random hair ideas that I've gotten over the last
handful of years and turned it into something that people
count on. It has been genuinely inspiring to see something
that you just like flippantly messaged me about in February,
to be like, oh no, we're now opening next month.
(09:03):
Let's let's get that interview that we were talking about doing.
And it's it's so crazy to think that this was
we're going to incorporate and in ninety days, this is
going to be a real thing that people are gonna
be purchasing items from you. You've done incredible in such
a short period of time.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I mean, yeah, I mean I'm surprised myself, but I'm
you know, I'm I'm on a mission to do this
and really the well, a couple of things. My initial
desire is to open a physical brick and mortar location
somewhere right. This was just the first logical step, you know,
(09:41):
in order to get there, and I I fully intend
to do that. But secondly, I was going to say,
you know, you're talking about your how it's inspiring to you.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Wholeheartedly. If it were not for your podcast, I don't
think I'd be doing this. The the amount of things that
you know, because you've made yourself very accessible, You're a
very approachable person in the space, and I've become well
aware of the things that you've accomplished and that that
you're doing. And you're working a full time job, You've
(10:17):
got two kids, and you know, you got the you
got the magazine, you got the podcast, you got the network,
you're doing commentaries, and I know that you got there
just out of well maybe not just, but out of
a passion for this this medium. And it's you know,
(10:37):
it's truly been an inspiration.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I'm glad it's reciprocal. Then let's go through some step
by step things. First, the name, honestly, uh, why why
that name is that important to you?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
It's becoming more important, you know, It's I felt like
it was like really easy to go with something like
really kischy or like like a movie riff, like you know,
like something from Terminator like tech Noir or you know,
and there's you know, I know there is like a
video drone and all that and that that sounds cool, but.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I didn't want to be too specific.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
I also didn't want to have anything with too hard
an edge, like something like maybe more punk cleaning that
could be perceived. But I want this to be like
welcoming to all people. I want people who you know,
of all generations to be you know, to feel like
this is somewhere that they can come and look at
movies and maybe rediscover their interest in movies.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
So I don't know, honestly, just kind of came to me, and.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
I feel like it's it's uh, you know it movies
aren't in honesty, uh and you know, not to be corny,
but you know, I like, I look at all all
my movies I have here, and when when.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I look at them, I just like they're.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Just They're just worlds in all these these discs that
I can go explore.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
It's easy to spell, it's catchy, it's fine. Yeah, it's good.
Uh So you mentioned terror Vision. Who else can people
count on finding at Odyssey.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
So terror vision, deaf crocodile of course.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Got let me take a look arrow, Eureka siloscope indicator, severn.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
You know, I've got some others more.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
The store will continue to grow and more items will
be added all the time.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
But you know, I feel good about it.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I've got some you know, oh yeah, vinegar syndrome and
partner labels.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
How about imports or are people to expect imports yet?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I've got some imports that that has been a struggle
for me, and I know that is crucial for this
kind of business because you know, that's those are things
you just can't get everywhere. I do have some imports.
There's I mean, I have spoken to some of the
(13:09):
labels directly. I don't know currently, you know, I'm I'm not,
you know, too proud to be transparent about the fact that, like,
I don't know how some of them are doing it.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I will get there.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
You know, if anybody listening has any advice or knows
knows of any direction I could go in with that,
that'd be That'd be great. I'm confident though that I will.
I will get more as time goes on. And and
I have a stabed I have an established presence.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well that and you'll have more buying power once people
are starting to get stuff from you. And one of
the things that we got to talk about, you know,
there's I don't I don't know the number offhand, but
with the opening of your store, we're up to like
seven or eight sites in the US that distribute at
least like five to seven domestic labels. So there's there's
a lot of choices. So the big thing what is
(14:05):
what what is the draw to Odyssey? What is the
reason people would choose Odyssey over some of the others.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Absolutely, Uh, well, you know, being new and having a
bit of a limited inventory at the moment, while I
do have I think a pretty you know, solid selection,
you know, like I'm not going to be able to
compete initially with like Orbit and Diabolic and those guys.
They've been doing this for twenty plus years. They're established,
(14:31):
they've you know, they've made some money, and they've got connections.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
With distributors and labels.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
But what I do have is, you know, a rewards
program that I don't see many of the indie guys doing.
I like rewards programs, you know, Criterion, I've I've made
a lot of money and you know, send it back
to them.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
But the way, the way.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
That's going to work is so for every one hundred
and thirty dollars spent, you'll get a five dollars credit.
Those credits don't expire, you can accumulate those, use them towards,
you know, whatever you want, new movies, use movies pre orders.
They're good for this for everything in the store. And
(15:16):
so it's basically a dollar point. So one hundred and
thirty dollars one hundred thirty points five dollars credit. But
now as we launch, if you just sign up for
the rewards, you'll automatically have eighty points. So you just
need to spend fifty dollars to get your first five
dollar credit. Additionally, for the first month that we're open
(15:36):
site wide, it's ten percent off. You don't have to
enter a code or anything. You'll just you'll see the
markdown on everything. Got a five dollars flat rate media
mail shipping option. You know, if you're if you want
to do media mail, and of course if you have
a different preference, then you can pay the difference for
your preferred method of shipping. And I am you know,
(15:59):
I am doing the three for free. So if you
order three of any item, it's free shipping, might be
you know, it's again a little more limited selection at
the moment, but you know, there's there might be three
titles that you've been putting off again that you can
pull the trigger on now and you'll get the credit
(16:21):
and we'll always be getting more stuff. So I'm trying
to make it. I'm trying to make it approachable for
everybody to get a deal.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, And I mean you're clearly covering pretty much every
base that you possibly can there, especially in this first month.
There's no reason not to at least go after those
those free points in the two percent discount. That's a
that's a huge savings.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, and I'll just reiterate you don't have to necessarily
like sign up now and spend now.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
But if you just.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Sign up for the rewards program now, you'll you'll have
that locked in for just to spend fifty You can
do that in a month, you can do it two
few months now.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
But that's there.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, I get it. Uh So with Odyssey, the plan
for this, anythings that you have like in the works
for next steps, like once this starts, to do well,
things that you want to put into place pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
I'm really just looking to to just keep expanding our
selection and I'm you know, hopeful that we'll we'll nail
down some more labels and distributors, you know, some some
other merchandise movie related merchandise that we're going to do
from some of the labels, and hopefully some custom stuff,
(17:42):
maybe some custom like artwork as well. But now, you know,
the plan is to get this thing rolling, and I
mean get that physical location, you know, in the next
couple of years. You know, it would be really cool
to do like collaborations maybe with with labels some of this.
One of the guys I'm also I'm really interested in
(18:04):
there's like, you know, three new labels that I know
that just popped up, so I'm always keeping an eye
out for that stuff. I'd like to get those things
in the store and maybe do some kind of collaboration
with some of those guys and gals.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Perfect can't wait to see how people respond to this.
It's always fun to see this happen because it means
a handful of things. It means the industry is doing
well and people are buying in a way that somebody
thinks that they can support it. The other thing is
competition is always good for stuff like this. It helps
the consumers more choices. You'll be able to compare prices
(18:43):
across different stores. It'll help, you know, breed some sort
of friendly competition if it starts to do well, so
places like Orbit can pay attention say well, yeah, we
got to still keep up with Odyssey because they're crushing
it now. So that's a good thing. I'm glad this
is happening.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I've got nothing but respect for all those guys I've
I've buy and probably still will buy from from from
all of them or in ibolic.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Uh you mentioned in that last portion, uh used movies.
How is that going to go down? And what can
people expect to see there?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So I have I have a collection of things. I'm
always you know, updating my own inventory and getting.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Rid of things.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
I have some people who've also expressed getting rid of
some things from their collection as far as like like
buying used from people that that's certainly something I'm interested
in doing. Just I just right now, it's in the
very beginning. It's not going to be the best time
(19:47):
for me to do that.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
But Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Definitely want to to have like a buyback or whatever
you want to call it kind of program.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I know where it does that too.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, if people wanted after a while to reach out
to do that, I'm sure there will be a contact
button on the website and you're gonna be approachable. You'll
be on social media keeping up with that, sharing pictures
of new stock and stuff. I'm sure it's it's gonna
be a good time.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yes, I've got a collection of VHS tapes that I'll
be on there, a small collection I'll probably I don't
know if that'll be up at the at you know today.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, launch, but expect that soon. And that's something I'm
looking to to expand onto.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
One thing that I know that collectors and film lovers
alike are gonna really care about because some of these
are expensive. How how are you planning on shipping all
of these things?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's not to be worried about. I mean, I you know,
I buy from all these guys.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Uh, you know everything's protected bubble wrapp uh, you know,
filled with ground paper and all that.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
All boxes, noah, flimsy Amazon bubble mealers.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Never And it's something I wanted to emphasize at some
point too. I forgot it.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's like, yeah, it's just I mean when you when
you are getting into the space, because you're a collector,
that's one of the first things that you go, I
have to do this the right way.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah, all.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Right, then I think that covers everything that we need
too for Odyssey. So Odyssey Movie Store, the website Odysseymovies
dot com launches two day Mother's Day twenty twenty five.
Should be available all, you know, for the foreseeable future.
You've got the ten percent off of the first thirty days,
You've got sign up for the rewards program, you get
(21:34):
eighty points. You're more than halfway there to a five
dollars certificate already, free shipping if you get three items.
And I think those are the big things that people
are going to worry about right now. Yeah, incredible, Travis,
Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so
much for being confident enough to get a store going
and literally like less than one hundred and twenty days.
(21:55):
That's incredible, and just congrats again, this has got to
feel huge for you.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
It does. I'm so excited, and yeah, thank you very
much for having me here.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Ryan happily. All right, everybody will see you next time.
Have a good one, Take care. Thank you for listening
to the Disconnected podcast. There's one big thing that you
could do to help the show, and that is to
leave a rating and review on the podcast service of
your choice. Thank you, tell.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Me no Hello.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
This is Aaron West. I am the author of the
A twenty four New Wave. In this book, I look
at A twenty four's output and I make the argument
that we are in a new wave movement right now.
A twenty four plays a major role. This book has
a supplemental podcast where each episode is a brief conversation
about an A twenty four related topic, whether an actor, director,
(23:18):
or even a genre. As I continue research for the
book and conduct interviews, I expect to record podcasts episodes
with people involved with the company. You can find the
podcast at sendjourneys dot com or wherever you find podcasts.
And we are proud to be members of the Someone's
Favorite Productions Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Thank you for listening to hear more shows from the
Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network. Please select the link in
the description
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