"Video rental stores fading to black; Convenience, choice drawing consumers to other movie options" by Johnny Diaz, Globe Staff | February 23, 2010
On a recent weekday, Ken Moore browsed the new release wall at Hollywood Video but he couldn’t avoid the “Store Closing’’ banners that draped the inside and outside of the Quincy store.
“I’m like a dinosaur,’’ said the father of two from Milton. “People tell me ‘You’re still going to the video store?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah.’ ’’
Moore is a part of a growing minority of movie renters who shun the convenience of instantly uploading moves online or grabbing a DVD at supermarket kiosks in favor of roaming the aisles of the big-box video rental stores such as Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. At a time when mainstream video store chains are being challenged like never before by the growth of on-demand cable movie rentals and Internet-based mail delivery outlets, these cinephiles are like nomads, driving farther and farther to find another video store when their neighborhood shop closes.
Don't they care about global warming?
“The trend for video stores is, in some ways, going in the same direction as neighborhood bookstores, in that they’re closing,’’ said Gloria Boone, a media and advertising professor at Suffolk University. “Between choice and convenience, it really is dooming the local video stores. It’s their death knell.’’
No one reads books anymore, and even less read newspapers.
The shuttering of movie rental stores has become common in recent years as closings have quietly dotted city neighborhoods.... Earlier this month, Movie Gallery Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection and is closing 760 of its Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video (including five in the Bay State), and Game Crazy stores nationally, according to the company website.
One in my town; that is where we just stopped.
Blockbuster Inc., which owns Blockbuster Video, closed 300 stores last year and will shutter up to 600 this year. Movie Gallery did not return requests for comment....
Neither would I.
Meanwhile, postal-mail movie rental companies such as Netflix and the bright red Redbox kiosks in supermarkets have become growing segments of the entertainment business....
Oh, that is what that thing is when you leave.
Comcast Corp., the largest cable provider in the country, also has benefited from the demise of video store chains. In 2003, the cable giant unveiled its On Demand feature, which allows cable customers to watch whatever movie they want whenever they want with the simple click of their remote controls. On Demand also allows viewers to watch popular TV shows from broadcast networks and cable channels....
No, that is wrong.
It is not any movie we want; there are a menu of choices depending on your subscription or willingness to pay-per-view.
Whether large or small, there is always a lie in the AmeriKan MSM.
Not everyone is embracing such advances in DVD rentals. Moore, the Milton father, said he visits the Hollywood Video store in Quincy three times a week, mostly to rent classic family movies such as “Back to the Future’’ and Rodney Dangerfield comedies, movies from his childhood that he wants to share with his daughters. Moore said he does not know where he will get his movies once the store closes but he is considering visiting a small independent movie rental store in Mattapan, near his home.
“You come in and get a couple of kids’ movies and order a pizza,’’ said Moore, a financial counselor. “This was a fun family thing. Now everyone wants to download movies from their TVs.’’
Pat Foley, another Hollywood Video customer, said the store’s closing was inevitable. “I feel bad,’’ the Braintree father of four said recently as he looked for children’s movies. “The small stores were chased out by the big stores which are now being chased out by convenience.’’
As the big-box movie stores close, it is not just their visitors who are being shut out.
Shaina Moccio, 22, is one of four employees left at the Hollywood Video store in Quincy, which has downsized from eight employees since last year. Employees said they do not have an exact closing date but are selling off the inventory at hefty discounts. (Some movies and TV series DVDs can be rented for a buck or can be bought for as little as $4.99.) “I don’t know what I am going to do,’’ said Moccio, a Dorchester resident.
Hey, economy is roaring ahead; I'm sure there are plenty of jobs out there.
But like her customers, she faces another dilemma: Where to find future DVD rentals. “I was thinking about doing Netflix,’’ she said.
Yeah, don't worry about the evaporating income!!
Sigh. I'm not even angry, readers.
I'm just SAD that the newspapers feel they must put perfume on a turd and insult us as they do it.
Well, I guess you know what movie I will insert into the machine.
Oh, wait, just got a new one to watch.
