It was bound to happen. We all knew it and no one wanted to admit it. Now, as a past Store Manager for Blockbuster Video (one of my fave jobs by the way) I saw this coming when they “eliminated” late fees. I knew that was the worst idea ever! Why eliminate late fees? What would possess someone to return the item in a timely fashion? Nothing! So, there started the mass closure of Blockbuster stores across the nation. Now to be fair the Movie Pass on the other hand was pretty brilliant!
Then, you have Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video. Let’s be honest, not a whole lot of selection here and the only difference at Movie Gallery was that they carried adult titles (the only video store in Louisville to do so since the demise of Roadrunner Video here in the early 90’s). The closest video store to me was Hollywood and it closed in September 2009. The Movie Gallery down the street charges too much to rent a new release and will soon be on it’s way if it’s not closed already.
Now, enter the world of “movies in the mail”. I have to admit, I have been a Netflix customer for a very long time. I love Netflix. I love that I have 3 blu-rays that all stream Netflix. I love that I get new releases in a very timely manner. I like they have a return center here in Louisville. There are a lot of things to LOVE about Netflix. Now, to be fair, I ran Netflix and Blockbuster online at the same time requesting the same movies. Unfortunately, BB could not deliver the same movies as quickly as Netflix, thus a loyal Netflix customer was born.
And, don’t forget we have one more option that is driving video stores completely out of business! REDBOX!!! People, it’s a dollar a night. Granted, no blu-ray and the selection is not as grand as a video store but it’s a DOLLAR!
So, in closing, I will miss the video stores in general because of my work experience with Blockbuster, Roadrunner Video, West Coast Video, etc. But this was bound to happen. We must adapt and move on.
The Drakeblog 