It’s the third Saturday of October and that means it’s Video Store Day! It’s when we all make an effort to go out and support our (surviving) local video stores. Given the resurgence in the popularity of VHS and all the special offers available at various stores (freebies, discounts, etc.), it’s hard to see why anyone would pass on this.
It’s funny how the major studios were smart enough not to try opening up physical video rental stores devoted to only their releases, but have let all that good sense fly out the window as soon as streaming video became an option. Which means streaming providers like Netflix are scrambling to produce original material to replace the content that’s gradually being drained away. Suddenly the “convenience” of not having to go out becomes very expensive if you’re a movie lover and you have to subscribe to multiple services. And that’s assuming you’re lucky enough to live in an area where high speed service is readily available.
But most video stores know you can’t rely on one studio or only new releases. A successful store needs a variety of releases and that usually means direct-to-video and less “mainstream” films in order to keep the money coming in. Since every VOD provider is trying to make exclusive licensing deals on various studio libraries, this makes it harder and harder for one streaming service to have a good selection. Sadly their “solution” seems to be to cater to the idea that mainstream is king and one should never be exposed to anything remotely different. Combine that with a library that can change at any time and you have one heck of a crappy situation for film lovers. This is why it’s so important to support local businesses. But don’t just take my word for it, as the official Video Store Day website has tons of testimonials on the matter.
Happy Video Store Day!
Special thanks to Eyesore Cinema for use of the image!
