"All Family Video stores to shut down due to unsuccessful last-minute effort"
Family Video, a staple in video rental stores since 1946, is closing all of its remaining stores, marking the end of an era for the company that survived its peers for over seven decades.
The company's history dates back to 1946 when Clarence Hoogland founded Midstates Appliance & Supply Company. Over the years, it evolved and transformed, eventually becoming Family Video in the 1980s. The company started with Beta, moved on to VHS, and remained a part of the DVD & Blu-Ray Era.
However, the COVID-19 crisis took a major toll on the company. Derek Dye, senior brand manager at Highland Ventures, stated that the pandemic's disruption to Hollywood movie releases was the largest challenge of the year. As a result, Family Video closed roughly half of its footprint in 2020 and launched a no-budget, nostalgia-based grassroots marketing blitz using the hash tag "#SavetheVideoStore". The marketing blitz was meant to spark customer and stakeholder support and implicitly acknowledged the dire situation amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Despite these efforts, the company could not overcome the challenges posed by the digitization of video. With its closure, it seems Family Video came up short in its Hail Mary effort to survive.
Family Video started 2020 with more than 500 stores, down from its peak of 800 locations. The exact wind-down phase of Family Video, after which inventory was depleted, occurred around mid-2021 when the company announced closing most of its stores and began selling off remaining stock. The last day for movie rental at Family Video was Jan. 6. Stores will remain open until all products are sold.
The closure of Family Video feels momentous, according to Daniel Herbert, an associate professor at the University of Michigan's film, television, and media department. Family Video survived all of its peers, including Blockbuster, Movie Gallery, and Hollywood Video, for many years. Its longevity is attributed to owning most of its real estate, rather than renting it.
However, the five-month gap when the company was getting mainly B-movies and straight-to-DVD type films, as mentioned by Dye, may have contributed to its downfall. The digitization of video posed a long-term existential challenge for Family Video, as consumers shifted towards streaming services.
Despite the closure of its physical stores, Family Video's website, www.FamilyVideo.com, will stay open and sell branded merchandise and other products. Keith Hoogland, Family Video's President, stated that they survived 10 years longer than the big 3 (Blockbuster, Movie Gallery, and Hollywood Video). While the end of an era is upon us, the legacy of Family Video will live on.
