I just came back from a vacation trip to North Miami Beach. Had a good time, weather was great. I was surprised to see that Blockbuster Video is alive and well-I saw three stores in the area-and they seemed to be busy.
Here (Boston MA area) all of the video rental chains are gonzo-Hollywood and Blockbuster packed up years ago.
What is so special about S. Florida, such that these places are surviving there?
Retired folks/snowbirds who don’t have internet access?
My neighbors are snowbirds. They’re on-line while they’re at home but they don’t bother with it while they’re in Florida.
There’s one video store in a 30 mile radius here, and it does double duty as a check cashing place and a tanning salon. It used to be video only.
ETA: They also don’t bother with cable/satellite TV, so they watch a lot of DVDs while they’re down there.
Not all video stores packed up. I believe that there’s still a Videosmith between Harvard Square and Porter Square, kept alive by students, I guess. Also, the Videosmith that closed less than two years ago in Lexington has re-opened under different management and a different name.
And there are still lots of Asian video rental places around.
Sadly, though, most of the video stores are gone. Including the beloved Video Oasis, which had the biggest video library I’d ever seen. It may have smelled like decaying chicken (owing to the Fresk Killed — Live Poultry next door), but it had an unequalled collection. Og knows where it’s gone to.
I’m not sure whether I’m more surprised that college students in Cambridge are watching actual DVDs/Blu-rays or that they’re paying money to watch movies at all.
If they are still 10 years behind the times, I’d say Shady Valley TN probably still has a couple. When I was last there in the early 2000s they had two general stores – convenience store, gas, hardware, hot food, video games, and videos – on VHS. Now they probably still have videos on DVD 
I’m in Trinidad and there is a busy blu-ray rental place here that only rents blu-ray discs, this works because of four reasons.
1.Blu-rays at retail are EXPENSIVE.
2.Internet bandwidth locally is not good enough to download 40 gig blu-ray rips from the internet. Blank blu-rays are also expensive.
3.There is no local equivalent to Netflix serving the country.
4.The pirates selling burned DVDs don’t do blu-rays due to the large size and expense of the blanks.
So at least locally renting blu-rays can still keep you in business. 
Regional chain Family Video is going strong in MI.
Family Video is all over NY State. There’s one a half mile from me, but it’s the same old same old. A hundred copies of the latest thing to be released, a kiddy cartoon section, a videogames section, some tv series collections, and an in-between mishmash of everything else (and too many no-name horror movies and alleged comedies). They seldom have anything I go in there looking for, but at least they’re cheap!
I don’t know if they’re “thriving”, but here in Austin a couple of local video rental outfits are still in operation - I Luv Video and Vulcan Video - both seem to cater to college students and both specialize in carrying a very wide selection of foreign/cult/indie/classic/obscure type stuff.
There’s a video store I frequent that seems to be doing OK, but they’ve gotten pretty heavily into buying/selling used DVDs and games. They used to carry a lot of more obscure movies but now I think they aren’t replacing those as the disappear or wear out. They have raised the rental for new releases and movies now remain “new releases” for a loooong time. A whole season of a good series like Mad Men or Game Of Thrones is like 7.99 for 5 nights so you have to get busy watchin’ to get them done in 5 days. When they are “old” they go down to 4.99 for 7 nights.
The last survivor in my Atlanta neighborhood is Videodrome, but it seems to do pretty good business.
1993
Actually, video stores in vacation areas makes sense. If you want a movie on vacation, it’s the easiest way of getting one for obvious reasons.
I’m not sure it’s “thriving” but there are a couple of Family Videos still open in Columbus.
Here in Korea, teenaged couples go to video bongs (private video rooms) to watch movies and make out. It’s a pretty big industry.
We have a few Family Videos in our area, and they seem to be doing all right. But Blockbusters are becoming an endangered species. The one in my town was selling off its stock this weekend. Was able to get the latest two-disc version of Blade Runner for four bucks.