What's happened to all the video stores?

[Big Disney Fan]

It seems like many video stores across the country are going the way of the dodo? Why is that? I think I know why, in just two simple words: Wal-Mart, the evil monopolist. It and the Internet are taking over everything. What is going on? Why can't we have any competition? I thought monopolies were outlawed long ago.

[DaddyB]

Try blaming "Netflix" and "Redbox" as the demise, not Walmart. It's just that there is a new delivery method for rentals now which is much more convenient, or much much cheaper. There's another "rent from the box" company out there like "red box", but I've forgotten it's name. But even blockbuster has a mail delivery program now.

Also, direct delivery of movies to your TV is gaining popularity. Don't forget illegal downloading/watching of movies on the internet having the effect as well.

So I personally would not pin it on a "monopoly." There are many things contributing to the demise of not only the mom-and-pop video stores, but the big chain stores as well (Hollywood Video going out of business and Blockbuster severely cutting back).

I have little doubt in my mind that Walmart is evil, though. I just don't want to take this Off Topic.

BTW, Walmart is one word, not two words. No Hyphen. Just one word...

[Disney_Guy]

Yeah, DaddyB is right. Wal-Mart is not even close to being the one to blame.
Ever since Netflix first launched years ago, it started out as a rather small company - and it only continued to grow bigger and bigger in popularity as video stores grew smaller and smaller.
Innovations often push out the old ideas, and that's the case with movie renting. More people now rather have their films and video games at cheaper prices and no late fees mailed to their house than going out to a store to rent them.

[Aurorasmiles]

I have to agree "Netflix" and "Red Box" are happening right now!

[Big Disney Fan]

Originally Posted by Aurorasmiles

I have to agree "Netflix" and "Red Box" are happening right now!

I have an account with Netflix myself, but it's a shame to see the old ways of renting movies suffering like this, at the hands of renting movies without ever having to go outside the house, or at least beyond their neighborhood, to rent movies. It's just not the same anymore.

And you know something else? There is this one episode of "Handy Manny" where Manny and the tools go to a video store to rent videos. When I saw that, I thought to myself, "Isn't something like that kind of an anachronism in this day and age?"

[Piglet]

Personally, I love Blockbuster online! We get our movies in the mail, but when we are done watching them, we can return them to the video store and get 2 free rentals--usually movies my son likes. It seems like the best of both worlds--and it is very affordable, too!

[Big Disney Fan]

Another thing that particularly galls me is how a lot of old video stores where you buy movies is even worse off. One of them was an old stalwart of many shopping malls across the country called Suncoast Motion Picture Company. But they've severely cut back on the amount of stores around the country. Some are even nonexistent completely now in entire states! The only video store left in actual shopping malls now is F.Y.E. (or "For Your Entertainment"). Now, mind you, that one is a bit plentiful still, but it's not the same thing. I've always liked to visit Suncoast.

[Wedbliss]

The days of the video store were always numbered. It was always only a matter of time before technology and new delivery systems made the video store obsolete.

Most of what I watch is rented. I use Netflix which has the added benefit of having 12,000 or so movies which are available for instant streaming either over a computer or through a Netflix enable device. The device is fairly inexpensive and many new blu-ray players come Netflix enabled. I just watched the first 4 seaons of Lost in Hi-Def and all I had to do was push a few buttons. Netflix streaming is unlimited and is included in the monthly price for rentals. I think this is a major portent for where home video is heading.

I don't think Walmart is much of a factor in all this. Best Buy seems to be a much better place to purchase discs anyway. Will DVD's and Blu-rays eventually become obsolete as well? I think the chances are that they will. It is just far more efficient to deliver movies digitally that it is to produce physical discs. I hope that doesn't happen for a while because it's pretty fun to hunt for good movies on the shelves of an actual brick and mortar store.

The best thing for me about Blockbuster Video stores is that they have used DVDs and Blu-rays at cheap prices. I haven't rented a movie from a store in years, but I do like to pick up used movies at bargain prices. I just wonder if I will be able to do that in 5 years or so.

[Aurorasmiles]

Originally Posted by Big Disney Fan

Another thing that particularly galls me is how a lot of old video stores where you buy movies is even worse off. One of them was an old stalwart of many shopping malls across the country called Suncoast Motion Picture Company. But they've severely cut back on the amount of stores around the country. Some are even nonexistent completely now in entire states! The only video store left in actual shopping malls now is F.Y.E. (or "For Your Entertainment"). Now, mind you, that one is a bit plentiful still, but it's not the same thing. I've always liked to visit Suncoast.

I love Suncoast. I was always able to pick up titles(rare or older) that I couldn't find at say "Best Buy". I recently went to the mall where the Suncoast I used to patronize was located and it was no longer there. You have no idea how disappointed I was.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Wedbliss

I just watched the first 4 seaons of Lost in Hi-Def and all I had to do was push a few buttons.

Not to go off-topic again, but I also disovered LOST on Netflix. You can watch the first 9 episodes of Season 5 on HULU right now, too.

-Chris

[chelsealela]

Blame technology and the internet...but I do miss the days when we went to the video store to hand pick "videos" not DVDs.

As a kid I'd get so excited to rent the movie I wanted. haha. Those were the days.

[austen]

I rent movies off the On Demand channel.

BUT

Most of the time, if its somewhat older, they don't have it.

So then I go to Video Gallery or Blockbuster.

[Big Disney Fan]

What about buying movies? As in, wanting to own that movie for the rest of your life?

[ryguy222]

^I agree with you, but you've got a flaw there.
I'm not a pirate or anything like that, but I think that if we pay 25 bucks for a DVD that is very fragile, we should be able to back it up somewhere, because DVD's usually end up lost, broken or scratched at my house. Same deal with blu-ray disks and those cost even more.

Plus the darn format is going to continually change! Japan has been developing an Ultra HD format, that has a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 right now HD is 1920 x 1080.

And I can imagine ultra HD would have even larger file sizes, probably a few hundred gigabytes for one movie. And if holographic versatile disks ever show up, then that's yet another transformation.

Hence why a digital format (such as an amazon movie download, rental from iTunes, rental from zune, or watch instantly on netflix of blockbuster) is the optimum choice at this time. Because of all the different formats.

[crystaltink]

Who wants to go out and rent movies when you have a luxury like Comcast On Demand? Same price as what you pay for a rental and no late fee. I've only used Red Box on two occasions and let it go after that, I'm not so good with remembering to return movies right away. And I don't rent enough to use Net Flix although I hear of many people I know that use and love it. I don't know about anyone else but a trip to get a movie rental never did exactly thrill me.