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Yeah, ironic because Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores it now stands in for in our collective memory of the 90s. I actually liked our local

Yeah, ironic because Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores it now stands in for in our collective memory of the 90s. I actually liked our local Blockbuster, and have fond memories of it, but only because it was run by the same employees from the independent video store it drove out of business. I liked that one even better.

artificial 4y ago
This reminds me of smaller bookstores prior to the era of Borders and Barnes and Noble dominance. pours one out
- legitster 4y ago
  Smaller bookstores are actually doing pretty okay these days: https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/02/18/indie-bookstores-comeback https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/02/18/indie-bookstores-com... Mostly because Amazon decimated corporate chains, which freed up more market for independent stores.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Though independents are still a pretty niche business. Around where I am there are certainly far fewer of them than there were before the big chains became dominant.
    - legitster 4y ago
      I don't know. I'm in a pretty redneck county and even here there are dozen independent bookstores. Most of them are tied to a coffeeshop though. But if you check your local map you might be surprised.
      - pessimizer 4y ago
        Even the article said there were 10-15 bookstores in a place that had 35 of them in the 70s.
- bluedino 4y ago
  How are they still in business, by the way? It seemed like they were just a Starbucks location with a ton of overhead, I thought we'd seen the last of them when pandemic shut everything down. I loved B&N by the way, more computer-related books than WaldenBooks, but not as many as Borders.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Because "Starbucks with overhead" is a surprisingly effective business model apparently; though if you go into one you'll notice that there are a lot more chotchkeys for sale near the front of the store (even LEGO lol).
  - munificent 4y ago
    > How are they still in business, by the way? They've broadened out into being general "gift stores". My local Barnes and Noble has a large toys section (mostly LEGO and educational stuff), board games, puzzles, music (lots of vinyl), stationery (fancy journals). It's essentially "stuff introverts like" in a nice space.
  - jabroni_salad 4y ago
    Around the time of the pandemic they implemented a strategic change to have local management arrange the store rather than auctioning shelf placement to publishers like most other retailers do. This has actually made B&N pretty nice to browse compared to a few years ago.
legitster 4y ago
> Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores Is there a source for this? Usually, both rise and fall together with consumer demand. When I grew up, Blockbuster was one of a dozen options in town. As an example, there are more independent coffee shops today than before Starbucks expanded.
- LegitShady 4y ago
  the wikipedia article for blockbuster contains a quote/source about this (search it for "mom and pop") but the citation no longer exists due to link rot. essentially blockbuster operated at larger scales than many small video businesses and so had smaller unit costs while also having more selection.
- omar_alt 4y ago
  I distinctively remember around 1994 two family run stores in the UK town I grew up in disappearing and the reason was the same, Blockbuster. I didn’t play games much but I recall them also renting out Japanese nintendo games and also sold the necessary cartridge converters to play Starfox.
  - ars 4y ago
    > the reason was the same, Blockbuster. The "name" of the reason might be Blockbuster, but the actual reason was that Blockbuster had a larger selection. Those mom and pop stores were really small, so if you wanted something else you had to go to Blockbuster anyway, so why bother dealing with more than one store even for the stuff they had? Just get everything at Blockbuster. It's the same with retail stores - I don't go to the small stores, even if they might have what I want - why should I? I can go to the larger store and get everything and not have to think about it.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Starbucks grew the "expensive coffee" market, and so independents had a niche to slip into (expensive, but not Starbucks) - Blockbuster did nothing to grow the "rental movie" market, and a given market in an area is roughly limited to the number of houses in said market. People drink less office/gas station coffee than they used to, and so can drink more Starbucks/independent coffee. The same didn't happen to the mom and pop video rental places (though the ones that survived blockbuster, usually by being in a market too small to support a Blockbuster, often outlived them (the one near me closed a few years ago finally)).
causi 4y ago
I loved when Blockbuster came to town because it cut the price of rentals by two thirds. I was not a wealthy child and being able to rent a game every few weeks was way better than every couple of months.
WalterBright 4y ago
The local video rental proprietor told me when she was closing up for good was that Netflix destroyed her business.
- mikeocool 4y ago
  Anecdotally, I recall a brief moment in the late 2000's where the mom and pop shops had a bit of resurgence (or at least a stay on their execution) -- when Netflix DVD's by mail had put most Block Busters out of business, but before every movie was readily available on streaming services. If it was Friday night, and you'd just sent back your netflix disc -- or you were looking to watch something that wasn't at the top of your queue, the mom and pop video rental place was your only option. At least in NYC, it seemed like this kept those places going a little but longer than anyone would have guessed when Block Buster was still around. Though once streaming became prevalent they all disappeared pretty quickly.
  - rhino369 4y ago
    NYC probably had more indie rental stores around just because of the population density. In my suburb, Blockbuster had already wiped them out in the 90's.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    Feels like even without streaming or even Netflix’s original DVD-by-mail delivery service, Redbox could’ve eaten brick and mortar movie rental stores.
    - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
      I don't recall Redbox existing, at least in my area, during that time.
      - WalterBright 4y ago
        This was before Netflix streaming, when Netflix was just dvds.
fundad 4y ago
How is that ironic? Memories of the 90’s woupd be all about the demise of mom and pop shops and generally flattening the character of US cities and towns (see also Starbucks). It’s more discomforting than ironic.

artificial 4y ago

This reminds me of smaller bookstores prior to the era of Borders and Barnes and Noble dominance. pours one out

legitster 4y ago
Smaller bookstores are actually doing pretty okay these days: https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/02/18/indie-bookstores-comeback https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/02/18/indie-bookstores-com... Mostly because Amazon decimated corporate chains, which freed up more market for independent stores.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Though independents are still a pretty niche business. Around where I am there are certainly far fewer of them than there were before the big chains became dominant.
  - legitster 4y ago
    I don't know. I'm in a pretty redneck county and even here there are dozen independent bookstores. Most of them are tied to a coffeeshop though. But if you check your local map you might be surprised.
    - pessimizer 4y ago
      Even the article said there were 10-15 bookstores in a place that had 35 of them in the 70s.
bluedino 4y ago
How are they still in business, by the way? It seemed like they were just a Starbucks location with a ton of overhead, I thought we'd seen the last of them when pandemic shut everything down. I loved B&N by the way, more computer-related books than WaldenBooks, but not as many as Borders.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Because "Starbucks with overhead" is a surprisingly effective business model apparently; though if you go into one you'll notice that there are a lot more chotchkeys for sale near the front of the store (even LEGO lol).
- munificent 4y ago
  > How are they still in business, by the way? They've broadened out into being general "gift stores". My local Barnes and Noble has a large toys section (mostly LEGO and educational stuff), board games, puzzles, music (lots of vinyl), stationery (fancy journals). It's essentially "stuff introverts like" in a nice space.
- jabroni_salad 4y ago
  Around the time of the pandemic they implemented a strategic change to have local management arrange the store rather than auctioning shelf placement to publishers like most other retailers do. This has actually made B&N pretty nice to browse compared to a few years ago.

legitster 4y ago

> Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores Is there a source for this? Usually, both rise and fall together with consumer demand. When I grew up, Blockbuster was one of a dozen options in town. As an example, there are more independent coffee shops today than before Starbucks expanded.

LegitShady 4y ago
the wikipedia article for blockbuster contains a quote/source about this (search it for "mom and pop") but the citation no longer exists due to link rot. essentially blockbuster operated at larger scales than many small video businesses and so had smaller unit costs while also having more selection.
omar_alt 4y ago
I distinctively remember around 1994 two family run stores in the UK town I grew up in disappearing and the reason was the same, Blockbuster. I didn’t play games much but I recall them also renting out Japanese nintendo games and also sold the necessary cartridge converters to play Starfox.
- ars 4y ago
  > the reason was the same, Blockbuster. The "name" of the reason might be Blockbuster, but the actual reason was that Blockbuster had a larger selection. Those mom and pop stores were really small, so if you wanted something else you had to go to Blockbuster anyway, so why bother dealing with more than one store even for the stuff they had? Just get everything at Blockbuster. It's the same with retail stores - I don't go to the small stores, even if they might have what I want - why should I? I can go to the larger store and get everything and not have to think about it.
bombcar 4y ago
Starbucks grew the "expensive coffee" market, and so independents had a niche to slip into (expensive, but not Starbucks) - Blockbuster did nothing to grow the "rental movie" market, and a given market in an area is roughly limited to the number of houses in said market. People drink less office/gas station coffee than they used to, and so can drink more Starbucks/independent coffee. The same didn't happen to the mom and pop video rental places (though the ones that survived blockbuster, usually by being in a market too small to support a Blockbuster, often outlived them (the one near me closed a few years ago finally)).

causi 4y ago

I loved when Blockbuster came to town because it cut the price of rentals by two thirds. I was not a wealthy child and being able to rent a game every few weeks was way better than every couple of months.

WalterBright 4y ago

The local video rental proprietor told me when she was closing up for good was that Netflix destroyed her business.

mikeocool 4y ago
Anecdotally, I recall a brief moment in the late 2000's where the mom and pop shops had a bit of resurgence (or at least a stay on their execution) -- when Netflix DVD's by mail had put most Block Busters out of business, but before every movie was readily available on streaming services. If it was Friday night, and you'd just sent back your netflix disc -- or you were looking to watch something that wasn't at the top of your queue, the mom and pop video rental place was your only option. At least in NYC, it seemed like this kept those places going a little but longer than anyone would have guessed when Block Buster was still around. Though once streaming became prevalent they all disappeared pretty quickly.
- rhino369 4y ago
  NYC probably had more indie rental stores around just because of the population density. In my suburb, Blockbuster had already wiped them out in the 90's.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Feels like even without streaming or even Netflix’s original DVD-by-mail delivery service, Redbox could’ve eaten brick and mortar movie rental stores.
  - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
    I don't recall Redbox existing, at least in my area, during that time.
    - WalterBright 4y ago
      This was before Netflix streaming, when Netflix was just dvds.

fundad 4y ago

How is that ironic? Memories of the 90’s woupd be all about the demise of mom and pop shops and generally flattening the character of US cities and towns (see also Starbucks). It’s more discomforting than ironic.