I'm still puzzled by the popularity of Netflix. Cheaper costs aside, unless they've developed transporter or replicator technology, I can't see how waiting a couple days fulfills the "instant gratification" a physical rental outlet provides when someone wants to see something right now, and the process of mailing the things back offers no advantage over having to travel to the video store to return them. (Unless you live in some place with no rental outlet, of course).
Also, I hope Netflix has pretty strong quality control, because when I used to rent I'd often have to return the disc to the store because it was too badly scratched to play.
Here in Canada we're not seeing Netflix have much (any?) of an impact, but the stores are starting to fade. One chain, VHQ, has closed a bunch of locations and merged with Movie Gallery, while our other two major chains, Blockbuster and Rogers, seem to be doing OK. That said, many people, myself included, buy rather than rent, especially when you can find recent releases sometimes going for $5 or even less at Wal-Mart. I rarely even buy previously viewed DVDs at the videostores anymore, after encountering a long string of scratched discs (and by that I mean down to the foil in one case). What's keeping the videostores alive in my neck of the woods are game rentals and sales of games and accessories.
I don't mind seeing Blockbuster taken down a peg or two. They've become too powerful over the years, to the point where at one time they were even starting to dictate content (Blockbuster's refusal to carry NC-17-rated movies takes part of the blame for the failure of that rating). Wal-Mart needs a good spanking too, but it's become so powerful that any sort of major downsizing could collapse local and even regional/national economies, so it might be a bit too late.
Alex
