Video stores: Relics from another age?
TEXT OF STORY
BILL RADKE: There are reports that Blockbuster could file for bankruptcy in the next month. That could help the video store chain get out of some leases. Analysts say Blockbuster might end up closing hundreds of stores. And that got us wondering — in these days of videos in the mail, at the grocery store, and on demand, how is it that the video store even exists?
Marketplace’s Adriene Hill reports.
ADRIENE HILL: Blockbuster seems to be a bit of a relic from another age.
ARVIND BHATIA1: A large store like a Blockbuster has become a dinosaur.
Arvind Bhatia is an analyst with Stern Agee. He says consumers want convenience. They don’t want to drive to Blockbuster. The grocery store is easier.
BHATIA: They’d rather just pick it up at a Redbox kiosk or have it come home to them, via mail.
So why hasn’t Blockbuster gone the way of the T-Rex yet?
Michael Pachter is an analyst with Wedbush Securities. He says there’s still something fun about discovering movies at the video store.
MICHAEL PACHTER: You walk around the perimeter of the store and you say, oh my goodness, Sylvester Stallone made another movie, maybe I’ll rent it. I actually like that experience and a lot of consumers do.
But, neither Pachter or Bhatia think the pleasure of finding a new Stallone film will be enough to save Blockbuster stores in the long run. DVDs will — soon enough they predict — wind up in the pile of extinct technology.
I’m Adriene Hill for Marketplace.
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