The Death of Video Rental Stores

I know this has been going on for some time, but I found this story really sad and sobering:

http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/10/12/my-store-just-died/read/who-we-were/

It details the recent closing of Rocket Video, a very fine DVD rental store in LA, one of the very last independent stores in town that catered to film buffs. They stocked a lot of rare, out-of-print movies, and the staff were courteous, extremely knowledgeable about even the most obscure films, and were really dedicated fans.

The manager who wrote the piece, Jeffrey Miller, makes a very good point that life is starting to go back to the way it was decades ago, when certain movies suddenly became impossible to find at any price. Granted, some of these show up on eBay or Amazon once in awhile, but others just kind of fall through the cracks and disappear. Video-on-demand and downloads can't replace a physical media store like this -- not yet, not to me.

I found his last paragraph particularly touching:

Hollywood is a tough place. Landmarks get demolished. The Brown Derby is gone. The Tail o’ the Pup hot dog stand is in some warehouse in Torrance. In traffic, drivers swerve manically and cut you off, as if to signal they have to get there before you. In a culture so inward-looking and self-centered, focused only on the next big thing, we easily forget the paths and paving stones that led us to where we are. Film history is important to Los Angeles. A sense of community is scarce. Rocket Video offered both those things. I don’t know if Angelenos will miss a place like Rocket right away, but I think they will eventually. I know I already do.

 

I know I'm getting old now but damn I miss record stores and those wonderful mom and pop video stores.

 

Thank God we've still got Scarecrow Video here in Seattle, but I notice that the crowds are much less than they were 10 years ago and wonder how long they can hold on...

Unfortunately, a great many films will never be digitized and made available online.

 

Video Rental (dvd's, ps2, ps3, xbox360) stores still do well down here.

 

If you are willing to pay the price...
Warner Archives has many hard to find movies on DVDR for outrageous prices...the wave of the future? twenty-five clams for a lousy DVDR...fifteen for a download! nice...they suck!

 

That is a total bummer... Contrary to what is happening in big cities elsewhere, independent video stores are doing okay in my small city. The major vid-stores have all gone belly-up & left the market to the independents. I still rent & will continue to do so.

 

"Life is going back to the way it was decades ago"...and all this fairly new "streaming" video with losing signals and reloading and weak signals etc., reminds me of the old antennae tv days a bit sometimes.

 

My area has no video stores left, except for some "tiny" family owned ones that have very little selection. Most of the big chains, priced themselves out of business with 4-6 dollar a day rentals, when netflix was renting through the mail at the price of maybe a buck or so a title when factoring in the monthly unlimited access fees.


It almost seemed like something else caused the stores to go under though. I cant totally believe that "on-demand" and netflix completely sank all the huge video chains, as most seemed to still have a good bit of customers even right before they closed down.

 

I live in a small town, and the local video rental store has been selling off its stuff. The other half of the business, still open, is a pizza parlour. Guess that can't be downloaded.

 

...yet. Just wait for food replicators like on Star Trek.

 

Where I live the closest video rental store is about a 30 minute drive one way. All of the ones that were within a 5-10 minute drive from me have closed. This includes Blockbuster and the mom and pop stores.

 

I'm lucky in that Scarecrow Video carries the Warner Archive releases, so they can be rented for much less than buying them - I've probably rented at least 100!

Unfortunately, with the disappearance of rental stores, many customers will have to either buy the films they want to see or hope that one of the online services has an agreement with the studio to stream it. Unlike with physical media, if the agreement expires, the film will no longer be available in any form.

 

A number of video rental stores in San Francisco have closed over the past five years. Quite honestly I think the principal reason one of the larger ones is still going strong is the porn selection.

 

2000 : Got cable for the first time, inc. Premium channels. Stopped going to the video rental immediately.

2008 : The whole thing just got old, and my breaking point was when a Howard Stern staff member squatted, and defecated on screen, in the studio, exactly as a dog would ? I was paying extra for THIS ???. Had all the Premium channels turned off, began watching about 75% less TV, began collecting DVDs in earnest.

2009: Added Blu Rays to my entertainment.

Present : Switching back and forth between DVDs of Frasier and M*A*S*H.

Don't even think of video rental stores until a thread like this comes up. Funny, I frequented them as I did record stores, but they obviously left no lasting impression on me, where I STILL miss the two Tower Records stores here, plus other record retailers.

 

I've only got a Blockbuster left in my area. Haven't stepped in there since 2000. The loss of Hollywood Video in 2008 was a much bigger loss.

 

Ditto for my small town with a countywide population in the 60,000 range

 

Where I live in North Central Calgary, the two video stores that were nearest to us, Blockbuster and Rogers have closed down within the past 2 years. There's no where to rent DVD and Blu-ray titles unless you go to the local Safeway and rent a DVD from a machine. The selection is usually crappy new titles.

I'm looking for TV shows from early seasons such as Fringe. They are nowhere to be found now, unless I buy them from Best Buy or Future Shop.

 

What I have noticed is that many film school grads that intern at my office do not go out of their way to track down older titles. They somehow manage to graduate without seeing major motion pictures that should be screened. They only own a laptop and "stream" whatever it is they are after. They all have technical chops but cannot have a dialog about Billy Wilder.

They all listen to iPods and do not own cds or stereo systems. We're dealing with a different generation. 21 year olds don't have the time, resources or the desire to track down a rare DVD. I know I'm generalizing, but it's what I see each semester. These kids are not going out and renting DVDs each weekend like I rented VHS in my day. Video stores, no matter how fantastic, will all vanish.

This summer I met a recent film school grad who never saw Goodfellas....

 

That's just wrong.

 

This is all we had (sometimes, sometimes nothing at all) when I moved to my small town 15 years ago. Later they added a Blockbuster, but by then I discovered I really didn't miss renting movies and I never joined. They went under last year, though Ingles still rents and there are a couple redboxes and Blockbuster machines around, but I've not used them.

Still, as someone who is passionate about music, I can empathise with those who are similarly passionate about film, and regret the stores passing.

 

that's great...some wonderful movies.

 

It does seem sad that a film school grad wouldn't have at least seen all of the classics, but I'm not sure that I'd put Goodfellas in the category of "must see" films. At this point there are several decades of films to be watched, and I don't think it's reasonable to assume that a 21 year old will have seen every highly rated film of every decade.

 

Don't get me started. I have a ton of stories like that. You'd think I was making them all up for the sake of this forum.

 

Must be seen, following The Godfather, and II.