Britain’s last DVD rental stores
The owner of one of Britain’s two longest surviving DVD rental stores is surprised that business is booming – 40 years after they opened. Colin Richards, 71, opened TVL Allstar Video in Haverhill, Suffolk, in 1984 and it originally started as a company that leased video tapes to other shops. He then decided to start renting movies and the store now has around 8,500 DVDs including Forrest Gump – which has been borrowed at least 2,000 times. But while the rise of streaming services like Netflix largely killed off the movie rental business, Colin says he has a steady flow of loyal customers who keep him profitable. He is still renting out DVDs to families for $2.50 a week – 11 years after Blockbuster shut down. Colin said: “I thought the business would be a five-year thing. Then I thought we would transition. But that obviously didn’t happen. “When Netflix came about, I think we had already established ourselves in the market place as we had a huge membership. “Sky and Netflix really didn’t worry us at all really.”
Colin says he has a steady flow of loyal customers who keep him profitable. As the rare video store in the UK Colin believes they have stayed open because they have ‘diversified into other things.’ Alongside renting DVDs, the dad-of-two also sells stationary, repairs scratched DVDs discs and runs a successful photocopying and printing service. The store has also turned into a hub for the local community and Colin says they have customers who come in for a chat ‘on a daily basis.’ A regular said: “I’ve worked here for over 40 years and although I have retired, I still come in every day. “It’s something to get up for and it gives you a purpose – as long as the business can support itself, then I’m happy with that.”
“So many people come in and see us every day, who have all sorts of challenges. We are still helping people out – such as elderly people with paperwork. It’s nice to be a place where people can feel like they can confide in you because you will give them the help and support with whatever they need. Although we don’t profit directly from that, it gives us a lot of satisfaction.” Colin says that a lot of their older customers will bring their children and grandchildren to the store for the ‘retro experience.’ He said: “We’ve got a demographic of families bringing their children in. The other survivor, “Snips Movies” in Bebington, Merseyside, says rentals have doubled in the last two years thanks mainly to Gen Z customers (aged 12 to 27) and younger Millennials (aged 28 to 43) who regularly travel to his shop.
“Obviously people have streaming services at home, but the difference is when you come into the store and pick the movie, you make an effort to sit down and watch it. “With streaming, you can easily be distracted and come away from it and do something else.” The list of most rented DVD’s are in the link below, take a guess before you look and see if you are in touch.
DVD diversions
The cast of Friends has reunited to open a DVD shop:
A man walks in and says, “My Netflix subscription just ran out. Do you have the latest season of You?”
The staff points to a corner of the shop and says, “Aisle B there for You.”
People keep telling me that I don’t have Friends, but they’re wrong.
I have all 10 seasons on DVD.
For sale. Muhammed Ali DVD set – George Foreman Grill.
Both boxed.
We had an outage at my place this morning and my PC, laptop,
TV, DVD, iPad & my new surround sound music system were all shut down.
Then I discovered that my iPhone battery was flat and to top it off it
was raining outside, so I couldn’t play golf.
I went into the kitchen to make coffee and then I remembered that this
also needs power, so I talked with my wife for a few hours.
She seems like a nice person.
December 31st Birthdays
1995 – Gabby Douglas, 1996 – Nadia Parkes, 1999 – Hunter Schafer, 1948 – Donna Summer
1960 – Van Kilmer, 1937 – Sir Anthony Hopkins, 1994 – Max Bowden, 1943 – John Denver