But the company is in decline. Judging from New York, I’d estimate they’ve closed about half the locations they had just a couple of years ago.
I think we need to fix the licensing and all the other legaese stuff, rather than revert back to an antiquated system.
By way of verification I looked for older articles about the company. One said “roughly 770 stores” in November 2013, another said 759 stores in February 2017, while the company store locations page today says 676 stores. So, yes, the chain is shrinking, if not quite half the locations. No surprise, though.
What do you do for fun, push a hoop with a stick?
My memories of B&M rentals are overpriced movies on a short turnaround, scratched or broken DVDs or tapes (that necessitated yet another trip to the store), and fighting rude people over the meager selections. Absolutely no ‘tail’ offerings. Yuck. You can have it!
Be kind, rewind.
I still have two working VCR’s.
Then again, I also have a turntable for my vinvyl.
I like old stuff.
But do you still have two working Betamaxes?
Data for 2018:
Vinyl sales up 12%
Cassette sales up 19%
CD sales down 18.5%
I get the vinyl comeback, but I don’t see why cassettes are coming back.
This “antiquated system” is thriving in the form of specialty stores, such as comic book stores, gaming shops, and used and specialty book stores. I think there’s lots of room for video in that mix.
There’s definitely room for video sales in that mix - and I’m sure that’s already happening. I’m not so sure there’s room for video rentals.
That doesn’t tell the whole story.
First total sales of CDs last year was around 37 million compared to cassettes at 118,000. The 19% jump translates into relatively low numbers.
And over 50% of cassette sales are old music; Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, etc.
Additionally, most of the major hip-hop artists (by far the largest segment of popular music) refuse to release in CD format (or are at least having major delays in releasing, prompting download sales). 21 Pilots is championing cassettes further boosting sales.
Finally major outlets like Best Buy are now refusing to stock CDs.
There are many reasons CD sales are down (and cassettes sales are up) but customer preference isn’t one of them.
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Overexpansion, I’d guess. A few years ago, the sign by our local store said they needed a bunch of new managers/employees for new locations all over. Probably opened a number of ill planned stores plus that would have been around the time Netflix started really pumping out the big name original shows.
I sure don’t miss going to the video store! It was a pain. It was usually a Friday or Saturday activity…along with everyone else in town. Being able to rent what you were actually looking for was hit or miss - usually miss. Then there was the dreaded return trip…along with everyone else in town. At one point the Blockbuster had a drop box outside. So I thought, “perfect, now I can just drop the movies off on my way to work”. I’d forget to grab the movies as I headed out the door most of the time - and then have to make a special trip to bring them back so I wouldn’t be charged the dreaded late fee. UGH!!
No thanks.
No one will ever be able to satisfactorily explain why a rights holder would sit on a property and generate no income rather than license it at a rate they deem insufficient.
Isn’t this the very definition of cutting off your nose to spite your face?
Yes, the website says that they have 676 stores. Now go through the list and count them. I counted 103 locations.
I don’t think it’s quite as bad as that. I know of at least three locations (Chili, Elmira, and Fulton) that are still in business but aren’t listed on their website. But I’m guessing the actual total is closer to 103 than 676.
Is it so wrong to want a video streaming service whereby I can watch anything I want any time I want?
I wouldn’t mind a service where I paid an extra fee for premium titles. But we’re moving in the wrong direction.
I wouldn’t say it’s wrong to want it- but I do think it’s unrealistic. I don’t see how it could work - would there only be a single streaming service , would you somehow force content providers to license their content to every streaming service. If there’s only a single streaming service , how do you keep that monopoly from running into the same issues as cable and if you force all content providers to license their content to every service , why would Netflix or HBO or Showtime even create original content that they would be forced to license to their competitors?
I can’t think of anything, (not even physical objects) where I can get anything I want in one place when I want it. Sure, I can get any Kindle book whenever I want it at Amazon - but that’s not the same thing as getting *any *book whenever I want it at Amazon. It’s not even the same thing as getting any ebook whenever I want it at Amazon, as some ebooks are not released in Kindle format. Either I’m going to have to limit my choices to what’s available as a Kindle edition at Amazon or I’m going to have wait for a physical book to be shipped or I am going to have to use more than one source. And still there are going to be out-of-print books that i can’t find anywhere.
You may be right that they’re overstating the number of stores. If it was a public company, they would have to give real numbers in the SEC filings but it’s privately owned. I find it hard to believe that they would or could overstate the number of stores by that much.
Alas… I have never owned a Betamax. 
Portability. Old tech to rip a new mix.
I also still own a Walkman in working condition.
In the case of streaming movies and television shows leaving Netflix and Hulu, it’s not a matter of rights holders “sitting on a property.” They believe that they can make more money either through their own exclusive streaming services, or through individual rentals and sales (e.g., iTunes, Amazon, etc.), rather than through a blanket streaming service.
And they’re probably right. Blanket streaming services like Spotify do everything they can to push licensing fees lower and lower and lower. And every single time you have a business (like Amazon for online shopping) that has a hugely dominant market share, that dominant player tends to take action that hurts both suppliers and consumers.
Same. Even if a movie I really like is available on streaming, if I’m at a pawn shop or used DVD shop (which have DVDs for $1) and find a movie I really enjoy watching I will buy it. Just because it is streaming now doesn’t mean it’ll be streaming next month.
Don’t you guys have phones?