Last year all but one Blockbuster store in my area closed. That one is now shutting down next month. I am in a large urban city and at one time there were at least four Blockbusters, plus another half dozen Mom and Pop video stores within easy driving distance. There won't be one store of any kind left to rent DVDs after it closes.

I would like to know if this is the case all over? Has everyone now gone to Netflicks or streaming video? Does anyone keep their own DVDs, or is it all just saved in cyber space?

I know that I am old fashioned and habits are hard to break, but as big as video rentals once were, it seems to me that there should be a market for it somewhere. Instead these businesses and the jobs they brought are just terminated entirely.

I still would rather pick up and drop off a movie than wait for a mailman. I still would rather browse a store than look at a schedule. But it appears that I have no choice anymore and that's what I don't like about progress. People are forced to move on to the next "improvement", even the ones who don't need it.

I rent dvds through an online service called Lovefilm.

Don't think Lovefilm operate in the US but Blockbuster do physical rentals through the mail as far as I know.

I don't think the stores can compete because there isn't the demand. At least though you do have the online option, even if you'd prefer a store.

Have you tried your Library service?

quote:

Originally posted by WarriorBabe:
I rent dvds through an online service called Lovefilm.

Don't think Lovefilm operate in the US but Blockbuster do physical rentals through the mail as far as I know.

I don't think the stores can compete because there isn't the demand. At least though you do have the online option, even if you'd prefer a store.

Have you tried your Library service?

Yes, Blockbuster is still trying to compete with Netflicks through the mail as far as I know. They have decided to close all their retail stores now I guess. Only a few were still active in the last year.

Good point about the library, they do borrow out DVDs as well as books. I don't know how extensive the stock is though. I'm ashamed to say that I have not been in a library in years.

You are right that it is something to consider though.

I've seen a few vending machines around that allow people to rent dvds but the days of the video store are long gone and the machines are probably just a last gasp for the rental industry since most people use video on demand or services like Netflix.

quote:

Originally posted by Obi Wan Chrisobi:
I've seen a few vending machines around that allow people to rent dvds but the days of the video store are long gone and the machines are probably just a last gasp for the rental industry since most people use video on demand or services like Netflix.

Don't know if it's a last gasp, our Wal-Mart has a Red Box rental kiosk thing and it is ALWAYS busy of an evening. So people are using it.

Might be because we are in a rural area. I cannot use Netflix because my internet will not support it. Closest thing to high speed I have available is Satellite and it's both slow and expensive.

Ed

Redbox(es) are the new Blockbuster stores. Seems like every business in town has a Redbox machine or two.

I still like my discs but they will be a dead media for others soon.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask here as i still buy, watch and collect VHS and have way over a thousand films.

I do however buy, watch and collect dvd and have a few hundred of those now.

I also watch films that appear ( still to my total astonishment ) on you tube, i can watch these on my laptop but cannot understand how people can put them on there, surely somebody owns the rights to these.

I do not take part in any form of subscription to films or film channels and have never rented a film in my life.

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:

Don't know if it's a last gasp, our Wal-Mart has a Red Box rental kiosk thing and it is ALWAYS busy of an evening. So people are using it.

Ed

See that's what I'm thinking Ed, enough people are still interested in DVD rentals as to make it a profitable business.

I totally forgot about the Red Box machines. We do have them in some supermarkets here. Walmart has been pretty much kept out of NYC so far, a few stores have been allowed to open on Long Island. I think I'm going to have to look into that as the alternative, thanks.

Another thing I will miss without a Blockbuster retail store is buying all those cheap, used DVDs. Maybe that's a good thing, I have many I never watched twice.

And for wolfie, I too have hundreds of VHS tapes scattered around. My spare players keep breaking, so one day I'm afraid I will have to start spinning them on my fingers.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

I live in a rural area maybe 2000 people. We have one grocery store and it has a red box. We also have one mom and pop movie rental store as well.

I watch everything online. I hardly ever purchase dvds. Due to the fact that I never rewatch a movie. Dr Who and Star Trek are the only excpetions. I can rewatch them everyday.


We have netflix. We have had in the past hulu and blockbuster but Hulu streamed slow and blockbuster took forever to get the movies in the mail.

I still collect and keep DVDs. A great thing now going on is that people are selling their collections at an amazingly low price to Pawnshops, on Craigslist, yard/boot sales etcetera. Most pawn shops in my area are selling 20 DVDs for $14 or somewhere in the immediate area. Great way to fill a collection and get some harder to find movies for little to nothing. The quality cannot be improved on much (or can it?). I am not buying these over again when the next system comes out. Having close to 4000 DVDs is way too much to replace.

I don't buy as many DVDs as I used to but I do still buy some. Since they are compatible with Blu-ray players I see no need to replace them. Right now I don't have anything but my desktop I can stream with so I rent most movies through Netflix.

We actually have one of those Redbox machines in the lobby of the store I work in. It's been there for months and while a lot of people look at it, the machine hasn't been used once. My manager wants to get rid of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Obi Wan Chrisobi:
We actually have one of those Redbox machines in the lobby of the store I work in. It's been there for months and while a lot of people look at it, the machine hasn't been used once. My manager wants to get rid of it.

I am surprised to hear that the Redbox Machine doesn't get any business where you live.

When I lived in NY, Blockbuster was all the rage, It was the place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. Blockbuster killed all the Mom & Pop video stores but then netflix came in and it was cheaper to rent DVDs through the mail then going to Blockbuster.

Then Redbox came in and for $1.00 you can rent a new released movie. Bye Bye Blockbuster.

Redbox is great and every Redbox was always being used. I haven't tried Netflix yet because I have a Hi Def TV but I don't have a Blue Ray Player to receive Hi Def movies from Netflix. I am not interested in receiving the standard quality movies to watch on my Hi Def TV.

When i moved to Illinois I have found they still have Blockbusters around, but 3 have closed within the past year. And Redbox is even busier here than in NY. if you want to rent a movie the best way is to reserve online or through the Redbox App.

We have had friends who have spent thousands of dollars buying thousands of VHS and DVD movies. They thought they would be worth tons of money in the future. Only to find they are practically worthless as technology moves on.

Over the years we have bought about 100 DVDs. Mostly because of the Kids. As they have grown, I have given most of the Disney DVDs to friends with new kids, but all the rest of the DVDs we have donated to Goodwill. Getting a Tax write-off is better than nothing.

Sorry UK person here. Can someone explain what a Redbox is?

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Sorry UK person here. Can someone explain what a Redbox is?

I took this straight from Wikipedia:

Redbox is a subsidiary of Coinstar that specializes in the rental of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and video games via automated retail kiosks. As of the end of November 2012, Redbox had over 42,000 kiosks at more than 34,000 locations.

Kiosks feature the company's signature red color and are located at grocery stores, pharmacies, mass retailers, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants. The company announced in February 2012 it will set up a few hundred kiosks in Canada in the coming months to test the Canadian market.

Redbox had 34.5% market share of discs rented, as of Q2 2011, as stated by the NPD Group.

Checkout Widipedia, they also have pictures so you can see what it looks like.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Sorry UK person here. Can someone explain what a Redbox is?

I've never used one so I don't know exactly how they work but they are essentially a vending machine that you can rent movies from. They are usually in Walmarts and grocery stories. The Redboxes near me almost always have a line waiting to use them.

Thank you both for that. Just read the wikipedia thingy. Very intresting, i'm surprised they have not tried to expand this into the UK.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wolfie,

As a teen of the mid-1980s, I remember Mom & Pop video rental stores popping up all over the small city in NJ that I used to live in, from about 1986 onwards. Even the supermarkets used to rent VHS tapes. In the late 80s, we then had the first big box store, Palmer Video, and then Blockbuster opened around 1990 or so.

Blockbsuter closed in our city in 2012, after struggling for many years. The last two Mom & Pop stores also closed within the past 3-5 years. Now, the city of 60,000 people has only the Redboxes at the supermarkets to rent DVDs

Out in the suburbs where I've lived for the past 7 years, the last two video stores (also Blockbusters) closed in the past 2-4 years. I literally cannot think of ANY video/DVD rental places left ANYWHERE in the part of NJ where I now live. Like people have said, all that's left are the boxes at the supermarkets. Most of them seem to have these.

Quite a far cry from the 1980s, when my former city probably had a DOZEN places you could rent VHS tapes from ! Now, all are long gone.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Thank you both for that. Just read the wikipedia thingy. Very intresting, i'm surprised they have not tried to expand this into the UK.

They have and there are ones about

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Thank you both for that. Just read the wikipedia thingy. Very intresting, i'm surprised they have not tried to expand this into the UK.

They have and there are ones about

Oh right, that's good, they actually sound like a very good idea.