Family Video to close its remaining stores
Business was brisk at the Family Video store in Roseville on Tuesday as the movie and game rental chain announced it was going out of business.
Donna Nadeau Millard feels like she is losing an “old friend.” She said she’s been renting DVDs and video games from the store at Common and Utica roads ever since she moved to Roseville.
“They were here when we moved in and they are just down the street from us,” she said. “I feel bad for the workers. I don’t know where we will rent from now.”
In its heyday, Family Video was one of the largest video/DVD chains in the country with more than 800 stores across the company. Today, that number is about half that amount.
The company endured various forms of competition over the years, but said the coronavirus pandemic was the final nail.
“While we have faced digital competition from Netf lix and others for years, nothing has been as devastating to our business as COVID-19,” the company said in a news release.
In Michigan, more than 504,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus since the pandemic began.
At the Roseville location — and others — customers were busy buying their favorites. The company has a liquidation sale underway to sell off the remaining stock of movies, video games, CBD products and store fixtures are gone.
The company’s first store opened in 1978.
Its Macomb County locations include 13 Mile and Dequindre roads in Warren and Crocker Boulevard in Harrison Township.
“We are very thankful to have been able to provide entertainment family movie nights,” said Keith Hoogland, CEO of Highland Ventures, LTD, which owns Family Video.