The owner of Britain’s longest surviving DVD rental shop is amazed that business is booming – 40 years after they opened.
Colin Richards, 71, opened TVL Allstar Video in Haverhill, Suffolk, in 1984 and originally started as a company that rented out video cassettes to other stores.
He then decided to start renting movies, and the store now has about 8,500 DVDs, including Forrest Gump – which has been rented at least 2,000 times.
But while the rise of streaming services like Netflix largely destroyed the movie rental business, Colin says he has a steady stream of loyal customers who keep him profitable.
And his store in Haverhill, Suffolk, is still renting out DVDs to families for $2.50 a week – 11 years after Blockbuster closed.
Colin said: “I thought the business would be a five-year thing. Then I thought we’d go through. But obviously that didn’t happen.
“When Netflix was created, I think we had already established ourselves in the market because we had a large membership.
“Sky and Netflix really didn’t bother us at all.”
The video store is believed to be the last video store in the UK, but Colin believes they have stayed open because they have “diversified into other things”.
As well as renting DVDs, the father-of-two also sells stationary equipment, repairs scratched DVD discs and runs a successful photocopying and printing service.
The shop has also become a hub for the local community and Colin says they have customers coming in for a chat ‘on a daily basis’.
He said: “I have worked here for over 40 years and although I have retired I still come every day.
“It’s something to stand up for and it gives you a purpose – as long as the business can support itself then I’m happy with that.
“A lot of people come in and see us every day, who have all kinds of challenges.
“We’re still helping people — such as seniors with documents.
“It’s nice to be a place where people can feel like they can trust you because you’ll give them help and support for whatever they need.
“Even though we don’t make a profit from it, so it gives us a lot of satisfaction.”
Colin says many of their older customers will bring their children and grandchildren into the shop for the ‘retro experience’.
He said: “We have a demographic of families bringing their children.
“Obviously people have streaming services at home, but the difference is when you go into the store and pick the movie, you try to sit down and watch it.
“With streaming, you can easily get distracted and get away from it and do something else.”
TOP TEN CHRISTMAS MOVIES to rent
1. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
- Home Alone (1990)
- Elf (2003)
- Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- The Polar Express (2004)
- Scrooge (1970)
- The birth of Christ! (2009)
TOP ten movies rented
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- First Blood (1982)
- Avatar (2009)
- Dirty Dancing (1987)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Schindler’s List (1993)
- Titanic (1997)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Frozen (2013)
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Image Source : nypost.com