
I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned  as the industry died - walterbell
http://www.vox.com/2015/11/20/9757186/netflix-video-rental-store
======
gexla
It seems like there would be some sort of hipster twist you could add to a
video store to keep it going. Maybe the video store component becomes sort of
a background prop, but it would be something that few other places could
duplicate.

My most memorable moment in a video store was walking half through the
swinging doors of a section which immediately electrified the senses of a 11
year old boy. Video boxes floor to ceiling covering 4 walls showing mostly
naked people. I got a split second view before I got a tug on my collar
followed by a reverse warp out of this fascinating world.

~~~
phphphph
My town has two successful DVD rental places. Their "hipster twist" is
basically: quality movies, and an owner that can find something for you. They
aim at students and established inteligentia. At its core, the service they
provide is discovery.

(the town also has a surprisingly thriving arthouse cinema scene, so it's
certainly a welcoming environment.)

As for the wall of nekkid: "Confessions of a porn store clerk"
([http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Of-Porn-Store-Clerk-
ebook/...](http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Of-Porn-Store-Clerk-
ebook/dp/B007ZL0IHM)) is a fabulous read. It's available for free, too, but I
found it worth the dime.

------
executesorder66
I find it interesting that the author never even mentions people that torrent
movies.

He complains that Netflix and Hulu don't have such a large collection as some
video stores, especially rare movies. But I have never not been able to find a
very rare movie via a torrent.

And it is rather unusual that this large contributing factor to the downfall
of his industry is never mentioned.

~~~
gkop
Funny you and I had the opposite thoughts about torrents. My thought was, "Ya
know, the really good indie movie rental places are special; they have films I
can't even find [seeded] between TehConnection and Karagarga". Maybe I should
look at other trackers...

~~~
ryan-allen
The pay per view rental model like iTunes often has a lot of harder to find
movies.

A few times for me it's the last port of call when I can't find a title
anywhere digitally, at at least then you're getting the best quality sound and
picture!

~~~
iofj
As a non-American I'm really frustrated that what you don't get is
translations. Disney movies for the kids have been translated into 100 or so
languages, yet buying one on iTunes gets you English and -maybe- Spanish.

And then when you get to Europe, they suddenly have English-French languages
on the same page.

It'd be really nice if when I bought a movie that they're selling the
translated version for would be accessible everywhere.

Same problem on Amazon, Google play, iTunes, even Netflix.

~~~
RightWingRabble
Then you should definitely try bittorrent. Not only can you play those files
(or transcode those files to play) on literally anything, but fans themselves
do subs in roughly all the languages. If any of those services you mentioned
above would allow user submitted subtitles, it would remove a large reason to
torrent instead of buy.

------
ryan-allen
I would pay someone like this for a quick chat on a Friday evening to help me
choose a movie.

I'm old enough to remember going in to a video store and having a chat about
what I should watch next.

The engaged staff quite often would send me on my way looking forward to
watching the movie, and I wouldn't stop watching half way through either, I'd
commit to it because it was a real recommendation by someone I talked to.

The part in the article where it was said we don't pick something to watch, we
settle for something on the streaming services hits close to home for me.

~~~
incarnate
Movie Recommendation as a Service (MRaas)? Or curation - if it isn't out there
yet it will come.

Something with humans, since it would be easy to imagine algorithms getting
stuck in a very narrow genre (like when you give a Pandora channel too many
songs and it ends up with the same 20 tracks or covers thereof). Plus giving
you that commitment to see the movie through.

Or just head to reddit[1] or equivalent communities.

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieSuggestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieSuggestions)

~~~
gedrap
>>> Movie Recommendation as a Service (MRaas)? Or curation - if it isn't out
there yet it will come.

I think it's not the same, if you are talking about an online service. It's
all about the physical interactions, anticipation. Getting out of home,
browsing the DVDs, bringing it back home, etc. It's the same with, e.g. books.
Browsing the local bookstore compared to going through the lists in Amazon (I
live in a country where it's a bit tricky to get English books and miss going
to bookstores in England a lot, I can totally relate to people the author is
talking about). Like the author said, it's half of the pleasure.

Humans are social animals. Not everything can be done online in an equally
enjoyable manner.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
I'm not sure we're social enough though.

Content industries have killed themselves by selling content as objects-you-
own (or rent briefly.) Even Netflix etc work on this model. And torrents are
just objects-you-steal.

If the content industries had done more to sell content as an element in a
social network - share with friends/family, meet strangers, enjoy
relationships of all kinds - they wouldn't be so threatened by P2P. The
breakout franchises - Star Trek, Harry Potter, Star Wars - all have this
personal and social element. Direct-to-DVD crap movies totally lack it.

Ironically - or maybe not - P2P provides more of that social element. People
make requests, comment on uploads, build reputations, and sometimes organise
private sharing clubs.

I'm sure torrenting wouldn't have become as popular without that social
sharing element.

~~~
gedrap
That's an interesting point. But virtually social (I just made it up, not sure
if it's correct but you get the idea), I believe, is very different form
physically social.

I think in case of video stores, it's quite similar to coffee shops.

I have some good quality coffee beans, a decent machine, so I can totally make
coffee that's good enough to compete with most of the coffee shops for a
fraction of price and time that has to be spent. That's similar to Netflix.
Quick, convenient, often good enough.

But still, I like to go to a coffee shop from time to time (which is similar
to going to a video store). It takes much more time, it's not as convenient
(can't just go straight from bed in my underwear), but there's something
rewarding about the whole thing. Dressing up, getting out of home, all these
things makes this as a sort of ritual.

------
e2e4
Initially video stores have cut into the profits of movie theaters. However,
it is interesting that currently theaters (while still struggling quite a bit)
seem to be coping better than the video stores.

~~~
toyg
That's because the fundamental differentiation has already happened there:
"going to the cinema" vs "watching at home" has been a choice for 30+ years
now. Who had to die because of that, died already. Despite Hollywood's
lamentation, it's unlikely that cinema numbers will ever get significantly
worse than they are at the moment, unless someone (Oculus?) manages to somehow
replicate the big-screen experience at home in full -- and even then, groups
of teenagers will probably still choose to escape their parents' abode every
now and then.

~~~
saiya-jin
it's already a worse experience (noisy, annoying kids, ringing cell phones,
too loud for some, not ideal placement of most seats etc.), but it's a social
experience. 3D might be an exception, for now, and it's still a rather niche
market.

same as people buying shots at bars vs drinking same alcohol at home for 20%
of the price.

~~~
spdionis
3D niche? I can't go to any movie anymore cause they are all f __ __g 3D and I
hate it. My head hurts horribly after onw of those.

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kfk
I would pay for his service, not a lot, but I would pay. Every now and then I
find a good movie (last one being "Swingers"), but it's completely random. I
can't find a website with a constant flow of good recommendations. I get very
frustrated every time I try to get something out of one of those "the 100 best
movies of..." lists.

------
tasdev
Interesting read. Reminds me of another article I read here about a store
closing down whose link I can't find.

I dislike that my children will never experience the video store like I.

Streaming just isn't there. The quality isn't good enough and the cost is, in
my opinion, too high.

~~~
busterarm
I absolutely loved my local video store and owe a large part of my viewing
tastes to it.

Had it not been for that store I wouldn't have the appreciation that I do for
foreign films, trash cinema, exploitation films and direct-to-video.

I outgrew my local rental's small collection quickly and was an early adopter
when it came to torrenting and streaming. I still miss the store - the process
of discovering a movie was at least half the experience.

The best I can do to get close to it is browse the IMDB release list every 6
months and then get every movie that sparks my interest. Binge watching 40-50
movies is cool, but not the same.

------
ZenoArrow
Great article. Independent video stores were/are interesting places to visit,
it's a shame they're struggling to survive.

I also feel the same about music shops and games arcades. The human element is
a big part of what makes the experience compelling. I especially miss games
arcades, they gave me some of my fondest childhood memories.

------
dsq
Where I live the video rental places gouged their customers with late fees. A
minute after 48 hours you were stiffed with another 48 hours. I and my wife
are very busy. Most of our subscription went on late fees. Just for that greed
I'm not sorry they closed.

~~~
martin-adams
The irony is this very thing was the trigger that started Netflix. Their own
practices that consumers hated helped create the very thing that killed them.

~~~
fit2rule
The free market at work. Lets see what else can come along and disrupt things,
because it pays attention to what customers hate...

------
illumen
There was a really big video store across the road from me. They made most of
their money via porn I heard. Normal movies were 1 buck per day. It was very
busy up to a year ago.

Then it moved down the road, a bit far for me to walk when I felt like being
on the couch. So I stopped going.

It's still very busy though.

It also has a good website where you can look stuff up online. It was also
convienient to grab a bottle of wine/beer and popcorn etc at normal prices
(not insane cinema style prices). They have stuff which the big online video
distributors have and it is more convenient in many ways.

But then again, this is Berlin... and there are still plenty of vinyl stores
and such like. In a lot of ways it's the city time forgot.

------
infinii
While vinyl records have made a resurgence from near extinction. It's unlikely
the same will happen for the video stores as music seems more timeless and
collectible than movies.

~~~
danieldk
Moreover, I think you will be hard-pressed to find someone who will argue that
VHS or DVD provided better quality than Netflix et al.

Obviously, Blu-Ray provides better quality than today's streaming services,
but the format never really took off in a big way among the general
population.

It's a bit of a shame, since with Blu-Ray, you at least own something. It'll
still work when somebody pulls the plug on some service.

~~~
Asbostos
I have a feeling that the idea of owning things is going to become a crazy
old-people's complaint. Perhaps younger generations will be happy with their
remote-wipeable phone apps, viewed-then-gone movies, hired rides in someone
else's car, etc. Maybe these things are becoming so numerous and cheap
compared to our income and other costs (housing) that people won't care
anymore.

~~~
danieldk
I agree that it will probably become a old-people's complaint. The latter part
(numerous and cheap) does assume a perfect market though. In reality, many of
the resources may end up in the hands of a monopoly or oligopoly and then they
change the rules or charges at any time.

------
ralphael
That was just such a great read, many thanks to the OP.

Nothing beats depth of experience and passion, to give you an insiders view.

------
coderdude
Hulu and Netflix are all you need, entertainment-wise. Haven't watched
traditional TV in ages and it has for sure had a positive psychological impact
on me. Not related to the article (like I'd know, I commented first before
reading), but I did want to take this opportunity to preach.

~~~
msravi
And for those outside the US, bittorrent is all you need.

Seriously, I really don't understand - Hollywood is losing a ton by not
allowing Hulu and Netflix to screen internationally. They end up pirated
anyway - why the US-only restriction? I'm in India and would gladly pay
Netflix the $10 fee - but I can't.

~~~
radmuzom
How do you propose the studios which owns the movies satisfy all the laws in
India? It may not be possible to get a censor board certificate for each of
the movies in the collection of Netflix.

The cost of opening up them to vandalism (if they have offices in India) or
lawsuits alleging "hurting the sentiments of the people" is too high.

One reason I use torrents (even though I am willing to pay for good content)
is to defeat censorship.

~~~
msravi
I don't think they need to "operate" in India or anywhere else in the world.
They just need to allow people to sign up for their service irrespective of
where they're from and access content, just like, you know, how the rest of
the internet works.

My guess is that they're being held back more by Hollywood's licensing
conditions rather than individual countries' laws.

~~~
tracker1
Unfortunately, distribution networks and related contracts are _very_
complicated legally, not even going into local laws and other legalities.
Netflix itself has a few good sized teams of developers dedicated just to
creating tooling to help navigate the legal nightmares regarding distribution
agreements and their streaming services.

I'm pretty sure the studios would _much_ rather be able to have a very few
global release channels than the network remnants they currently have.

~~~
msravi
Sorry, I don't get it. Are you saying that the studios are forced into this
situation because of earlier contracts they've signed with cable networks?
Aren't contracts signed separately for each new movie that they create?

~~~
tracker1
There are distribution deals with studios for all distribution to a given
location and/or media within different regions. There is some content that is
negotiated individually, others en-mass. It is often per-movie, but this only
makes things more complicated, not less.

