HIRE CALLING: OUR LAST TWO VIDEO STORES

VIDEO killed the radio star – now the video hire business is fending off a potentially fatal attack from the internet by diversifying its offerings.

Only two video hire outlets exist in the Geelong region today – down from 29 outlets a decade ago when the DVD was the main source of on-demand entertainment.

Manifold Video in Manifold Heights and Leading Edge Video in Corio are the last video bastions holding back the tide of streaming services such as Foxtel Now, Netflix and Stan.

Leading Edge Corio owner Chris Munns, pictured, is set to expand his store’s offerings to include records and comic books in coming months although his video offerings remain reasonably popular.

“There’s only two of us left, so there has been a lot of change in home entertainment over the past few years,” he said.

“Netflix and Foxtel have changed the way people watch movies. But a lot of customers say how they enjoy coming in and checking out the covers.

“The feedback we get is that people have tried Netflix or whatever and they’ve got sick of the same stuff being repeated and come back to the video store because there’s greater variety.”

Video stores started popping up around the Geelong region in the early 1980s with the advent of the VHS and Betamax players. The impact was felt within a few years on traditional cinemas – both Corio Theatre in Little Malop St and Moolap’s Star Drive-In closed by the end of 1984.

Rental outlets moved from video to DVD by the mid-2000s, followed by Bluray discs later in the decade.

“I remember video stores in the 1980s – not everyone had a video player so it was a real novelty,” Mr Munns said.

“In the past six or so months, there’s been a small increase in people in their 20s coming into the store. We’re looking to diversify in the coming months, like stocking CDs and records – making it into a real home entertainment centre.”