End of an Era in Video Rentals

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Redbox and Netflix Caused the Downfall of Brick and Mortar Rental Stores Many people can remember a time when there was an air of excitement about walking into a movie rental store and gazing upon a seemingly endless selection of film choices. Weather scanning the exterior walls for the latest in entertainment, or venturing into the long isles of older releases to revisit the classics, it was an exciting time. A tradition that many thought would never end. However, this method of film rental has become all but obsolete. Buildings once extravagantly decorated, or displaying a signature marque, now either sit vacant or occupied by a new business that, try as they might, cannot diminish the identity of rental giant that once stood proud. Blockbuster and Hollywood video Several years ago If you wanted to rent the latest movie releases you had to physically go to a storefront, set up an account, and pay a fairly high price. Your rentals would be due back at a specific time, and if you happened to return them late a fairly high fee would be changed. Few rental companies manages to operate as successfully as Blockbuster, and Hollywood Video. Blockbuster Blockbuster opened their first rental store in 1985 in Dallas Texas. Before then, video rental was something run by smaller local business. Blockbuster stocked 8,000 tapes in its first location. After the success of their first location, they began to rapidly expand. By 2008 Blockbuster had 8,000 stores around the world, with revenues in excess of 5 billion dollars making it the number one video rental store(history.com, n.d.). However, in 2013 Blockbuster announced that it would be closing down all of its physical locations in the beginning of 2014, and going out of business 29 yea... ... middle of paper ... ...lar to Netflix, however is remains to soon to tell what the success of this service will be. Conclusion It is clear to see the definite correlation between the demise of Blockbuster and Hollywood video, and the rise of Netflix and Redbox. New video rental technology began to evolve at a rapid pace, and caught former rental giants off guard and struggling to keep up. The ultimate downfall to the large rental companies began when Netflix introduced their video streamingservice in 2007, and Redbox expanded kiosks in rapidly placing 68 percent of the U.S. Population within 5 minutes of their locations. As time goes on, it will be interesting to discover weather or not companies like Netflix and Redbox will be able to maintain their success. One thing is clear, both companies should learn a valuable lesson from the former rental kings that they managed to overthrow.

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