I walked past a bonafide video store the other day and had a double take

So I was on a walk to my town’s downtown, and along the way I spotted this really low-key retail store with 1950s architecture with just 1 car parked in a parking lot that could only fit 3 cars. It had the world’s smallest logo but I could barely read “video store” and I had to double take. Like it makes sense that some still exist in the world in the day of streaming and online rentals, but it was still kind of weird seeing a store dedicated solely to DVDs and Blu-Ray. Like, that’s the kind of thing you see in the discount section at Walmart.

I did some digging and found their website, and it kind of makes sense that they’re profitable. Their website apparently lists all their videos that are in stock, and almost none of them are good or well known movies. I’m sitting here scrolling through their catalogue and I can recognize maybe two movies out of a good hundred or so. In the “new releases” category the newest released blu-ray is a movie called “Cross of Iron,” which was apparently a German WW2 drama from 1977, released on blu-ray in 2011. Yeah… pretty new. I definitely recognize some of the names of these movies. Roger Moore is in one, so is Christopher Lee. Neil Patrick Harris is in a christmas made-for-tv movie from 1998.

I’m just so bewildered that not only does a DVD/blu-ray only store exist, it only sells niche poorly-reviewed movies. There’s no way a company like that is staying in business unless it’s a front or unless these blu-rays cost way less than I think they do.

PeleSpirit,

We have a DVD store in Seattle that is loved by the city. I think it's employee owned too, not sure. https://www.scarecrow.com/index.html It's for obscure videos mainly.

storksforlegs, (edited )
@storksforlegs@beehaw.org avatar

Well, streaming has become such a pain and ordering physical media online has its own downsides thanks to inflated shipping fees. This seems like it might do okay if you had the right location. (Aka your rent isnt too high).

If you operated in an area with a lot of niche movie fans (maybe older customers or younger collectors) - if you can provided you can offer a selection of harder to find stuff, foreign and niche films, horror, any “boutique” physical media etc.

Collectable games also, being able to buy verified copies is a huge selling feature, the internet is swamped with fakes.

kev,

As someone else had already mentioned here , probably is a front.

neptune,

I think a lot of niche and cult classic film is being lost in the streaming wars.

Lmaydev,

Plenty of people still like having physical copies and some movies just can’t be found online easily. Maybe they specifically stock films that can’t be found elsewhere?

I can see it working if you have a few dedicated customers. I’d imagine many older people still prefer it.

People still collected records and CDs long after MP3 players became all the rage.

There’s still a few dvd rental stores kicking around.

autumn,
@autumn@beehaw.org avatar

also: people who travel via rv! there’s basically no signal out in the boonies, so i have a collection of dvds in my trailer for when we go camping and it’s raining.

Player2,

A big hard drive is also an option for that use case

autumn,
@autumn@beehaw.org avatar

very true, although you still need a place (or a decent connection 🏴‍☠️) to get new material.

alex,

Ah yes, money laundering, I know that one

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