Blockbuster in Halls Head is closing down, and getting rid of all its stock – even the shelves – before it shuts its doors on November 13.
Halls Head store owners Maarit and Darren Mossman also own the Blockbuster in Greenfields, but despite the usual trends in the video store industry, that shop is still going strong.
Ms Mossman said she thinks it may be due to the different in demographics and the rent prices at the Greenfields location.
She said the price of renting space at Greenfields was comparative to the bigger shopping malls, which made it easier to keep that store going.
“We are a locally-owned and locally operated business… We may have an international name on it, but we’re a small family,” Ms Mossman said.
“The Greenfields shop is in the perfect spot, because of all the young families... it’s residential, mostly small families, that don’t have an overabundance of wealth but they come for some affordable entertainment.”
She said the store also attracts a solid base of retirees who regularly come for the ease of renting DVD’s.
A Screens Australia report Online and On Demand from 2014 found that only half of Australians who regularly use the internet opted for streaming or downloading services to watch films and television.
“Although this represents an increase from 43 per cent in 2012, it has far to go to reach saturation point,” the report read.
“We are still competitive, compared to the alternative, the downloading and streaming, it can take forever to download some things, and some people don’t know how,” Ms Mossman said.
The price of renting has dropped significantly in the past decade: for instance, at the Greenfields store customers can rent a weekly DVD for $1.
She said many of her customers come for the nostalgic fun of browsing for hard-copy movies, and making a night of it.
“That’s exactly what we wanted, getting into the business,” she said.
They first went in on the Blockbuster franchise 12 years ago.
“It was a destination, it was somewhere to go, something to do, and that’s what I’d like to still keep, and let the children of today still have that same experience that most of us all had when we were growing up.”
After the Halls Head Blockbuster officially closes, the Greenfields store will be one of four left in Western Australia, but Ms Mossman said it’s just about finding the niche.
“There’s always going to be a market for it, there’s always going to be those people who want to have the physical copy,” she said.
“A lot of customers still want to have the choice, and the freedom to choose to come down here and browse.
“I’m really thankful for all the wonderful great customers I’ve had over the years, and I still need their loyalty and for them to help us any way they can.
“We’re not dead, we’re still here.”