Streaming may have greatly simplified access to audiovisual content, but it has a dark side with erratic catalogs, absurd restrictions, and rising prices. Defying time and trends, many users are returning to physical formats, and in the United Kingdom (Suffolk, to be precise) there is still a video store called Northgate Video, which rents and sells thousands of DVDs…
The last Blockbuster in the world is in Bend, Oregon. Its official website indicates that it has more than 21,000 movies and continues to add new content. But we must also recognize that it has a very important media advantage: "The Last Blockbuster" is a powerful title, to the point that it became a documentary a couple of years ago.
Northgate Video, a corner of audiovisual magic
It has thousands of copies, and there is always something on the TV (Rachael McMenemy for BBC)
Webber still offers movie rentals to regular customers, but mainly focuses on selling "ex-rentals" (between 2,000 and 3,000 copies), and shows a certain pride in obtaining almost anything requested. The requests tend to be "random and old", from 1950 to the present. Webber also mentions that Blockbuster's fall benefited him a lot at first, multiplying his income tenfold at that time.
In contrast, the arrival of streaming with Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney Plus hit him hard, especially in the last 18 months. Almost everything debuts on streaming first or becomes exclusive material (something inevitable considering that the platforms themselves are producers), and the equation changes completely. Webber admits that if he depended on the video store, he "would close it the next day", but his goal is interaction, visits from his "regulars", keeping conversations, and seeing their joy when they find something they've been looking for for months.
What will happen in the future? Webber, 72, plans to keep going and resist as "the last man standing" among video rental stores in the UK. It is estimated that fewer than ten remain there.
Source: BBC
