I do not rent a lot of movies anymore. In most cases I just outright buy my DVDs when they come down on price. Unfortunately, the best place often for purchasing DVDs is often the local rental place which puts its previously view on sale fairly often. It is with mixed feelings that I talk about the fact that 2 more of the Movie Gallery shops are closing up in Saskatoon. Pretty soon all we will have left are Rogers and Blockbuster. The Movie Gallery down the street from me has had pretty good deals and it was a great source for running out and grabbing a kid’s movie when I wanted one for my kid so I’m somewhat sad but I’ll admit I can’t wait for their DVDs to all go on sale coming up first thing in December. The last time a shop closed up in Saskatoon I picked up twenty some DVDs for sixty dollars. I imagine that I’ll be able to score a bunch of back catalogue DVDs for cheap once again.
I can understand people purchasing more and more DVDs but I just don’t believe that the majority are now doing one of the Netflix type DVD rental options. In Canada we do have a few different companies offering this type of service but none have streaming media yet so it seems to me that we are probably losing stores because of the Netflix and streaming that is happening in the United States. I’m guessing that eventually I will be doing all my DVD shopping and renting online and you know what I’m a bit depressed about it.
I love wandering around through the stacks and looking at DVD covers. I love flipping through and trying to find something new that I haven’t heard about. While I guess I can do this on Amazon or one of the online rental stores it just does not feel the same. I’m going to miss my walks down to the Movie Gallery. I for one care and wish there was something I could do about it but I think its a sad truth that soon even the big rental companies will be gone.
Bloomberg has an fairly interesting article about Movie Gallery and other rental shops closing up. Its worth a read.
Many Rogers Video locations have closed up in my neighborhood, Blockbuster seems to hold on to all its locations.
We rented the first movie in what seems like forever, Duplicity (which was pretty great, BTW). I like you often go to these stores only to buy from their used bins (often getting cheap Tartan release Asian discs and occasional foreign films at deep discounts), so the act of going up to the counter and paying wasn’t all that strange, the act of ‘returning the disc’ was the alien part. It was indeed alien and will likely only get more strange (despite the 40-50 customers in the store when I was there, it was busy!) as time goes on and VOD-cable closes the distribution window. That window is the only thing holding people to going to the video store, I believe.
On the other hand, Redbox and its ilk seem to really be seeding the death knell of video stores.
Red Box. Absolutely! There are three of these machines (that I know of) within 1/2 mile of my house. They’re popular as hell and at nearly every large grocery store chain and McDonald’s around here. Why would one go to Blockbuster and pay $6 for a movie when they can go to a Redbox for $1? The selection isn’t the same but it’s better than you might think and most people are out to just look through all of the new releases anyway.
And with BB newest addition of a kiosk selling memory cards gives the amount of films available to be almost limitless and they’ll never run out of stock.
I get your nostalgia factor for wanting to flip through all the cases at the store, John. But that will fade soon. I was the same way with music (I’d literally spend hours in the music store sifting through all the albums and sampling them, etc). But I haven’t been in a music store for ages and you know what? I don’t miss it at all. Sifting through all the music online (of which there is WAY more) in the comfort and ease from my own home is much more satisfying.
And Canada needs to get on the ball. Netflix and BB online is the best model of movie distribution currently out there. They have everything, you always have a movie in hand and the streaming capabilities are of high quality and more and more are available every day. Plus interacting with friends and comparing lists, reviews and star ratings is a real treat. Sorry. If I owned a BB store I’d close up shop right now and invest in Redbox or some other similar model.
PS – brilliant Onion video! (as always)
I’m dreading the Redbox. Sure they might have some older stuff but I can’t ever see them carrying foreign and indie stuff.
As for streaming I blame the whole lack of world view thing by the movie companies. We don’t have access to Hulu, no one outside of the UK can see the streaming stuff on the BBC. I’d be willing to pay for netflix streaming but can’t cause I’m in Canada.
I love shopping in person much more than online. When I go online I already know what I want and I order it within 5 minutes. I never browse Amazon or YesAsia.
I bet you would browse Netflix if you guys could get it. It’s more interactive and fun. Plus a lot of the titles you can actually just click “watch” and check out as much or as little of it as you want to.
I’ve personally never used Redbox (I have Netflix so no need), but my roommates use it all the time. Cheap, quick, easy. But yeah, they’re probably not going to have “3-Iron” available. Though there’s no reason the new BB kiosks can’t have that if they go with their memory card model.
“I love shopping in person much more than online.”
You’ll get over it.
@John, “As for streaming I blame the whole lack of world view thing by the movie companies. We don’t have access to Hulu, no one outside of the UK can see the streaming stuff on the BBC. I’d be willing to pay for netflix streaming but can’t cause I’m in Canada.”
There are IP spoof tools that work around those. I’m sure the legality of that is grey, but just sayin’
I can accept things are changing and I’ll be ready for it. But I love my local rental outlets…”Videoflicks” and “Filmfest DVD” are two stores nearby that seem to be doing pretty well and have excellent selections – not just recent blockbusters, but smaller films and lots of classic and foreign stuff. Being the generalist that I am, I love to have my decisions made for me as I glance through the titles and have ones jump out at me. Doing blind rentals, finally picking up that classic I’ve been meaning to or suddenly getting an urge to dive into a particular director’s work.
I know, I could likely do that with the Netflix setup as it stands now. That’s fine, I’ll get there. But right now I love having my different stacks of DVDs to choose from at home – my colection, my new additions to the collection, my zip.ca envelopes (Canada’s Netflix), my rentals, scattered screeners, etc. It keeps my pickings wide and usually pretty fresh.
In my former college’s town where there used to be three movie stores (Blockbuster, Movie Gallery, and a local) there are now ZERO. You have to drive ten miles to the closest movie store now, although there is a Redbox.
The sale started today and I found out that all their Wii games and their kid’s movies went off to their headquarters for distribution amongst the other stores. So I spent less than I planned (no xmas presents).
Here is what I ended up buying
My Neighbor Totoro
Re-Animator
Tekkon Kinkreet
Gerry
1941
Henry V (Brannagh version)
Dead Alive
Lifeforce
Sexy Beast (I think I might already own this one)
El Aura
Y Tu Mama Tambien
After the Wedding
Save the Green Planet
District 13
Grizzly Man
The Pledge
Fido (I think I might have already own this one)
Iron Monkey
Star Wars – Ewok Adventures (Both movies on one disk)
Not a bad haul now I’ll wait till the 2nd last or last day and then I’ll hit it when everything is 80% off. I could have probably waited as most of these might not have sold with the general crowd that frequents the store but I didn’t really want to risk missing a few of these.
I almost bought Thirst but I had seen it already and both Che disks. They were more pricey so I cut those 3 out. Maybe they will still be there when I go back.
There are some great titles in there, Save the Green Planet, Iron Monkey, The Pledge, Y Tu MT, Gerry, Tekkon, Sexy Beast, El Aura! Yum. Yum!
Question however, why on earth would you want to own 1941?
No clue on 1941. I couldn’t remember anything about it other than people talked about it. I’m thinking that the talk was bad but I seriously couldn’t remember anything about it when I was in the store.