As reported in our forum, Hollywood Video is closing its doors at over 500 locations, potentially more and so is also selling off their entire stock to anyone for a bargain price. These closeouts will certainly be a threat and a boon for remaining video store chains, however, it does say alot about the future of brick and mortar rental shops, and perhaps, even the DVD itself. While Hollywood Video was doing well as a chain in itself, it was far too competitive for Blockbuster's comfort, and in 2005 attempted a hostile buyout, but without success. The secod largest video store chain, Movie Gallery, ended up with the purchase. Wikipedia has this in regards to Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video since the purchase:

"Since the purchase, Movie Gallery stock has dropped to its lowest value in over a decade and has had difficulty meeting Wall Street expectations. While originally leaving both brands as separate as possible, the company announced that Jeff Stubbs, the then Vice President of Movie Gallery, would take control of ALL operations of both brands effective May 2007 as the President of both brands. It was also announced that the Movie Gallery marketing department would assume control over both brands' related activities and operational procedures in general would also be taken over by Movie Gallery management...On September 26th, 2007, Movie Gallery announced that they will be closing 520 stores, equaling 12% of their stores, in an effort to stave off debt, conserve cash, and appease debt holders."

So, what this means is that it is a great chance for you to get those very difficult DVDs to find at excellent prices. I myself was able to get some of those astromonically priced DVDs at bargain bin prices, although with a caveat. All of the DVDs are former rentals, usually comes in a rental case, and most are without inserts. In addition, there is a high probability the DVD will be scratches and all of the cover art will have potentially one sticker and as many as 4 or 5.

If you are a reseller, it can also be profitable as many of the hard to find DVDs can sell, minimally, at double what you paid for. Also they are selling out on all their new DVD's at more than half price of the retail cost and even then they are discounted. One store manager told me today that some stores that are closing sooner are shipping the remaining stock to other stores, so it might be useful to check back to see what new stock they may have brought in.

In addition, the initial costs were around $7.50 per title, while this week that I went they are down to $5.99. As was told to me, the prices will continue to drop for the individual titles. 

One of the major concerns among re-sellers is that, what was once rare is now in abundance (albeit very used versions). Copies on Amazon have almost been flooded. This has shown to be good and bad. The bad is that the titles are appearing as common and thus has dropped the prices by almost double, in some cases triple. Understandably the re-seller wants to maximize their profits, however, it may be about a year before the debris from the smoke clears the air and the former rentals are depleted leaving the store bought versions in its place. It will also create a divide between former rentals and store bought versions. If the rental versions are more difficult to sell at high prices, then we will see prices move again downwards.

The upside to this, I am noticing, is that sellers who want to sell their store bought versions suddenly see price drops, are now competing with rental versions. So if you have some spare change in your pocket from your recent Hollywood Video purchase, its a good idea to scan Amazon for some new copies at rental prices.

As I said previously, this will create the Great Divide of the common OOP, the scarce and the Rare DVD. So as I write this, I would like those that have perused their local Hollywood Video to let us know in the forum by following this link and share if you found some of these titles listed (must be registered to post):

 

Peter Pan (Mary Martin Edition)

Salo (Criterion)

Midnight Hour (Anchor Bay)

Les Miserables - The Dreamcast (VCI)

 

American Cinema (Image)

 

Les Vampires (Image)

Arabian Nights (Passolini/Image)

Farewell My Lovely (Pioneer)

Black Rain (Image)

The Vanishing (Image)

Last Year At Marienbad (Fox Lorber)

Chuly Over Venice (Home Vision)

Salome's Last Dance (Pioneer)

The Woman in Black (BFS)

Caesar and Cleopatra (Image)

Man of a Thousand Faces (Image)

Mystery Science Theater - The Movie (Image)

Red Desert (Image)

The Killer (Criterion)

This Is Spinal Tap (Criterion)

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe (Image)

Rolling Stones - Voodoo Lounge (Image)

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection 10 (Rhino)

Last Days of Disco (Polygram)

Thursday (Polygram)

Human Condition 1 (Image)

Human Condition 2 (Image)

Human Condition 3 (Image)

47 Ronin (Image)

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (Universal)

Quatermass 2 (Anchor Bay)

Quatermass and the Pit (Anchor Bay)

Quatermass Double Feature (Anchor Bay)

1984 (MGM)

Seven-Per-cent Solution (Anchor Bay)

The Car (Anchor Bay)

Ipcress File (Anchor Bay) 

Beyond the Clouds (Image)

Hands on a Hard Body (Ideal)

Badfinger (Pioneer)

Fire Over England(Lumivision)

Voyage of the Damned (Pioneer) 

I list these as premium DVDs to get for any connoisseur of collectible DVDs. The number of titles springing up on Amazon and eBay will certainly affect the market prices, yet, I do not see this as doom and gloom, but a great opportunity to see films that you would not otherwise get a chance to see. I personally do not rent from these large chain stores, so I found it nice to grab some rarities at basement cost, even with all the stickers and stuff (which I usually hate, as I am hyper-critical about how they treat their DVDs).

 

Other resources concerning the closing of Hollywood Video stores:

Movie Gallery Press Release

USA Today 

Dayton Business Journal

Blogging Stocks

Linglestown Gazette

The Press Enterprise

Associated Content 

The WiiCast

 

If you want to find some Hollywood Video store near you, try this search:

Hollywood Video Search 

 

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