If you’ve been to a video store lately, you know that they seldom just offer video rentals any more.  Especially the local boys, the mom and pop stores.  They might well offer tanning facilities, lottery ticket sales, fax machine services–I’ve even seen some with adjacent restaurants and dry cleaning!

And according to analysts, ever since the rise of Netflix and the many assorted kiosks, as well as streaming video, this is the way the video stores will have to go to survive.  Michelle Metzger with Blockbuster Video had this to say:

“There’s still something to be said for the family ritual of going to the video store to rent movies.  We still have over 3,000 stores here in the U.S.”

Indeed, there is.  I personally frequent video stores for game rentals and for movies placed on long wait or otherwise unavailable from Netflix.  It’s all a part of diversification, which the theaters are already learning about.

Video stores that offer more than video rentals, in an environment where a rented video can be sent to your smartphone,  are the most likely to survive in the new business climate.