Axios: Video stores’ unexpected comeback

Video stores’ unexpected comeback
 
Illustration of a row of theater seats set up with a lamp, throw pillow, and cat, as if it is in a house.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
 
Video stores were written off as casualties of the steaming era — but they’re staging a comeback, Axios Local reporters tell us from cities around America.

Why it matters: New rental shops are opening around the country as people rediscover the fun of browsing the shelves for movie night.

Plus, as streaming prices rise, digital licenses lapse and online archives disappear, many cinephiles are returning to physical media for guaranteed access to both new and beloved films.

🍿 Blockbuster’s days are over. Just one independently owned store remains, in Bend, Ore. But a new generation of video stores is picking up where it left off.

In the Twin Cities, nonprofit Saturn Video will open next month, stocked with hard-to-find DVDs, Blu-Rays and VHS tapes, Axios Twin Cities’ Audrey Kennedy reports.

In Richmond, Va., Blue Rose Video & More opened earlier this month, selling DVDs, Blu-rays and 4Ks, and offering DVD rentals. It’s at least the third new video store to open in the Richmond area this year, Axios Richmond’s Karri Peifer reports.

In Philadelphia, Little Movie Store — set to open next month — has a 20,000-title collection for the city’s physical media fans to peruse, Philly Voice reports.

In Sacramento, Very Good Video is opening this fall to serve as a rental store and a community gathering spot, hosting screenings, trivia and more, reports The Sacramento Bee.

👀 The intrigue: Some of the biggest fans of the video store revival are young people.

Video stores hit a sweet spot for Gen Zers, many of whom are just old enough to remember wandering the aisles and picking out a DVD as kids, notes the LA Times.

The bottom line: The nostalgia economy is booming, and video stores are the latest comeback story. Find your Axios Local city.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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