Westport in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Sunday, October 25,
2009
Quick Article Index . . .
Mom ‘n pop video
rental in the twilight of its life.
|
Mom ‘n
pop video rental in the twilight of its life. EverythingWestport.com Sunday, October 25, 2009
And
she’s not alone. Blockbuster’s New Bedford store has recently closed and is
liquidating its inventory along with 300 other locations this year. And
recent news from Netflix and Hollywood’s studios has video chain retailers
scrambling to negotiate terms on new releases. Remember
the days of the local video outlet where you could find 4 or 5 in a decent
size town? When VHS ruled, and the stores only carried two copies of the
latest release? How about pay-as-you-go rentals and week-long wait lists? And
tapes that didn’t work or came apart in your $3000 VCR tape deck/receiver. Sue Ubiera and her husband Rayes have owned
Village Video since July of 2007. Before that the Ferreira’s of Village Pizza
held the reins for about five years. They picked up the inventory from Lees
Market who gave up the ghost after a little over a year because they couldn’t
justify the space allocated to video rental. You may remember that Lees
picked up the inventory from Jake Rodrigues when he closed The Big Picture at
the beginning of the new millennia. Westport’s last family-oriented video
rental store is now no more. Never to return. All done after five
owner/operators gave it a go. A little less than three decades to kill the small
rental outlet model as these stores are overtaken by newer methods of
distribution. Hollywood studios want a “sale-only” window to increase
DVD sales. Reed Hasting’s, Netflix chief executive,
said Hollywood studios are considering a “sale-only” window for new DVDs that
would delay consumers’ access to rent new titles – Bloomberg News. “DVD sales have dropped almost 10% this
year as more people get videos online or rent using Netflix’s mail-order
service or Coinstar’s Redbox kiosks,” he said. “If it’s economically
attractive for us, and it’s economically attractive for them, then we both
can voluntarily agree to do it,” Hastings said. A longer “sale-only’ window means fewer
rentals as impatient consumers hit the theater matinees ($4 to $5) or buy the
new video for their home libraries, which they have been building anyway with
$5 movies from Walmart and Hollywood Video. Look at the pressure that was on Village
Video. They were caught between a rock and a hard place with a shrinking
customer base and severe price competition from cable/satellite pay-per-view,
Netflix mail and PC downloads, and dollar rentals from Redbox. Not to mention that chain video is far from
standing still. They are focusing more energy on Blu-ray, and tout to Wall
Street analysts that future profits will be based on gaming rental growth and
low-cost video sales, both new and used. Like most smart retailers, Hollywood
Video is pushing their platinum customer loyalty programs where for a minimal
set fee each month the avid viewer can rent as many videos a month as their
brains can handle. It’s the economy, stupid! However, when loyalty is up against saving
money, most often money will win, especially when the economy hits the wall
like it did in late 2008. According to Hollywood Video, revenue is
shrinking primarily because of the less-expensive customer loyalty programs
they offer and not demand. Although
they do admit to carrying fewer copies of new releases. “We look to our
growing game rentals as a source to offset our shrinking video rentals.” Well the game is about to notch up a level. According
to the Wall Street Journal “YouTube is reportedly working on a premium movie rental service
($4). The online video sharing site has been almost entirely reliant on
user-submitted content, but it is in talks with various film studios about
securing licenses to host motion pictures. Among the names in the discussion
are Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., and Warner Bros. Studios. There is also talk in Central Village about
the possibility of a Redbox location, but volume requirements may be a
problem. And as if that weren’t enough, Netflix just
announced they will make its online rental services available through Sony
Corp.’s PlayStation 3 console, the second game device to tie in with the
retailer. The service, available with subscription packages starting at $8.99
a month, will start in November, 2009, Netflix said. Netflix already has a
pact with Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox Live. It looks like streaming video is
becoming a priority as people look for more online films and TV shows. Got VUDU? With
a $149 box from Best Buy and a few bucks a week your hi-def flat-screen can
bring convenience and excitement to your home theater with a limited amount
of HD studio releases (that will change as the studios get their act together)
over the internet. Welcome to the
world of VUDO’s on-demand movie service. Is this the ultimate movie service
for today’s couch potatos? http://www.vudu.com/ So who’s the winner? The Hollywood Studios and movie producers/distributers
worldwide. Any website developer will tell you, he who has the content
controls the dollars. And judging by the quantity of lackluster movie
releases there will be a lot of content, however bad it may be, coming out of
Hollywood. Many in Westport are sorry to see the
Ubieras go. We were sorry to see The Big Picture go, to see Lees go, and to
see the Ferreiras go. But 1300 titles can’t compete with 30,000. And $2
rentals are right around the corner. Plus we don’t need to brave a blizzard
to rent a video. “I had a customer who came in every Friday
night for what his kids called a PIM night,” said Tony Ferreira of Village
Pizza. “Pizza, Ice Cream and a Movie. We operated the video store as a
convenience to our customers. With increasing storefront rent we couldn’t
afford that service any longer.” Convenience has risen to a premium level where
the internet is providing a direct video channel to game boxes, PCs,
specialty receivers, handheld devices, and large screen TVs. What’s next, a
virtual reality device wrapped around our head? Oh, I miss the good ol’ days. All of the Ubiera’s DVDs and VHS tapes are
for sale at $5 and $1 respectively. Make an offer. Sue Ubiera said she will
miss the socializing with customers who supported her over the last year and
a half. We’ll miss you too Sue. EverythingWestport.com Saturday, October
24, 2009 View the
hi-resolution photo album for this event now 18 photos | Broadband/DSL speed |
The pie tasting
contest is always a big hit at Lees’ annual Fall Festival. But this year a
couple of scarecrows stole the day. Lees Market
sponsored a scarecrow contest as part of the annual Fall Festival where
quality, not quantity, of entries produced two very clever and quite remarkable
men-of-straw. All
entries will be displayed at Lees through Thanksgiving. Winners received a free
thanksgiving turkey with all the fixings from Lees Market. Which scarecrow do
you think won? Customers taste and judge pies for school
cash. Three teams from
Westport’s Macomber School won the gold, silver and bronze for their school
as walk-in pie tasters selected their three most favorite choices, and paid
their money to do so. 39 pies from six schools competed with $300 raised for
the school with a matching donation of $300 from Lees. The winners were:
Tigers!, PieMakers, and Nonna. Although the
outdoor events were washed out, the market was jamming with children’s events,
food demos and wine tastings for the adults. 20 of Lees visitors went home
winners in the store-wide raffle and giveaway promotions. The social center
of Central Village ran out of parking spaces as they once again unselfishly offered
back to the community the goodwill of the Holiday seasons ahead.
Lt. Beaulieu of the Westport Fire Department
offered up Halloween and household safety tips to youngsters and adults
alike. Left: Barbara Fingold of Snow’s Nice Cream Co. from Greenfield, MA
offers a sample of Bart’s Homemade to Clara of Westport.
Left: Sean Frazier of Baystate Wine Co. explains the
varieties to an attentive audience. Right: Margret Lederer, owner/manager of
Purple Pear of Providence.
From the left: (1) Isabel Borges (foreground) of
Shapiro Brothers ran out of her hot apple crisp and cameral apple dip early –
wonder why! (2) Lees introduced a couple of products in the oriental section
that had shoppers excited. See below. (3) Not Your Ordinary Oatmeal on sale
at Lees.
Chris
Rossi of Lees Market was particularly excited about introducing Josephine’s Famous Food Fall River Style
Chow Mein Noodles and New England
Style Gravy Mix. “We have carried the Hoo Mee Chow Mein Noodles and Gravy
and as everyone knows the product has not been available. Josephine's Famous
Food is a local company from Brockton, and they are now offering what Lees
Customers have been missing these past months: great tasting noodles and traditional
style gravy that you will enjoy.” Josephine’s Gravy will make 24 one cup
servings and contains no MSG, Gluten Free and All Natural. “One try and you
will be hooked,” Rossi said. Read more on their website. By
the way, the Farmer Jones entry won the scarecrow contest. He’s the dude holding
the hoe! Click
here to read article
and view photos from last year’s Fall Festival! - - - - - End - - -
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Events of Westport All rights
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