Movie rentals not dead

With all the news about Netflix subscriptions and the demise of Blockbuster Video, this next story may surprise you.

The movie store could be making a comeback. The U.S. based chain “Family Video” is expanding operations and hosted a job fair in Welland today.

We thought the movie store was gone for good when the last few Blockbuster locations shut their doors. A few mom and pop shops managed to stay open but it seemed like DVD’s would soon be a thing of the past. Well, not yet. It looks like the internet isn’t satisfying our appetite for movies, and the brick and mortar movie store is making a resurgence.

The song says that “video killed the radio star..”. And the internet killed the video store.

But a visit to Family Video in Welland suggests otherwise.

Mike Drever is District Manager for Family Video: “We’re looking for people that are available for Niagara Falls, Hamilton Mountain.”

The U.S. movie store giant just hosted a job fair in anticipation of adding to its 13 Canadian locations.

Despite the popularity of streaming services like Netflix, demand for DVD’s still exists.

“Quality of picture on the DVD’s are better than on Netflix and that.”

“Streaming still buffers and freezes sometimes depending on your internet connection.”

Family video isn’t the only movie store making a go of it.

Even as big chain movie stores started closing their doors, independent operations like Steel City Video managed to stay afloat, offering customers a personal experience.

Select Video in Hamilton even credits big name closures for a boost in business.

Mohammad Dirani is owner of Select Video: “Blockbuster closing was a big help to us because of competition, right.”

Supply and demand are business basics, but video stores won’t discount the value of quality customer service.

Mohammad Dirani: “People like coming to the video store. People like the physical interaction — they like our opinions.”

Jessica Graham is Store Manager at Family Video: “We’re gonna ask you, ‘What’s your taste like?’. And maybe we can make some sort of recommendation off of that. And next thing you know, you came in for one movie and you’ve left with five but you’ve still spent way less than you ever thought you would.”

Family Video says pricing is one of the ways they keep customers coming back. They’re still looking for storefronts. They’ve got lots of freebie deals or cheap rentals. A lot of customers we spoke with said renting is now even cheaper than paying for the internet data to stream movies.