Final credits roll for Stoke DVD store
While people are blaming the demise of DVD rental stores on streaming websites, owner of the last Video Ezy in Nelson says it’s down to a change in people’s habits.
Another DVD rental store, Stoke’s Video Ezy, is closing its doors for the last time.
The store was buckling under the pressure of ever-changing lifestyles and some might say, Netflix was responsible.
Video Ezy Stoke store owner Sean Davis said the blame wasn’t as obvious as everyone thought.
‘‘Everyone sort of points the finger at Netflix and says Netflix killed the DVD.’’
He said illegal downloading and streaming services including Lightbox, Neon and Netflix had ‘‘definitely played their part’’ in the downfall of rental stores but it was more about what people were doing with their spare time.
‘‘You’re competing against Facebook, you’re competing against the fact that people are happy to sit on their phone for an hour or two at night now.’’
‘‘We offer a different product to Netflix, our new releases and things like that. I think what killed it more is that people are happier to spend their spare time doing other things.’’
Since taking over the store three years ago, Davis said the decline in patronage had been noticeable.
‘‘When we took over there were 60 Video Ezys in New Zealand. When we finish there’ll be 17.’’
Davis said he predicted it could be another couple of years before all DVD stores were wiped out but he hoped there would be a point where the demand would ‘‘plateau, where certain stores will carry on’’.
‘‘I don’t think it should ever just disappear completely.’’
He said he had to give up the store due to a taking on a new venture - running a Tahunanui backpackers.
As he’s only been in the business a few years, Davis said he wasn’t too emotional about the closure though he felt like he was letting his regular customers down ‘‘but everyone’s pretty understanding’’.
‘‘We’ve had customers coming in with chocolates ... to thank us for the time we’ve been here and the other good thing, all the staff have found fulltime work to move on to.’’
He said the store had no concrete closing date and would be selling its stock for the next week or two, open from 1pm.