...to Bye, Bye, video stores

I thought this article was interesting, and like any other story about a company or store going out of business, it made me a little sad.

Yeah, okay, it's dumb that a story about a corporate giant going out makes me sad, but somehow I just hate seeing that happen to anyone. What about the employees? What about the stockholders that will lose money? What about the people like myself who don't subscribe to Netlflix but want to find classic movies that the Redbox kiosks don't offer? This sucks for people like me, in a sense.

Now sure, I DID stop and see what moves I could score for six bucks. Because hey, if they have my favorite Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn (let's not forget about Cary Grant and Steve McQueen, either) film, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to snag it --even though it's a little heartless.

But perhaps what makes this most saddening is that it's just another shadow of what's going on all around us. Businesses are closing, people are losing their jobs, and people's retirements are being lost with the foreclosure of these business. Maybe that's what actually makes me sad about the whole deal. I'm trying to imagine what is just going to innovate and change (for example, Blockbuster is installing Blockbuster Express kiosks similar to the Redbox), and what is just going to end (Hollywood Video).

But the fact is, in ten years, I'll have mostly forgotten about the downtown Provo Blockbuster, and probably the crew of Hollywood Videos, too. By then I'll probably have my own active Netflix account, and I will anxiously await the next batch of DVDs to arrive. I'm not going to resist change.