Industry rewind

MAT-SU — In an age of digital homogenization, local video rental stores are finding they still hold a niche market by adapting with their customers’ needs.

Wilson’s Wasilla Video sits well out of the core area down Knik-Goose Bay Road. It’s easy for potential renters to motor past at 65 miles an hour headed to Blockbuster or their P.O. box to pick up their latest Netflix delivery.

Owner Bill Wilson said he has seen his rental numbers shrink dramatically over the past 15 years as more people choose a national chain or Internet delivery service. But, he said, he is still able to cut paychecks for both his children and he has no plans of closing his doors any time soon.

Wilson attributes his continued success in part to the more than 10,000 titles he still stocks on VHS cassette tape. Wilson said he has always prided himself on having titles renters couldn’t find anywhere else. That used to mean simply carrying the many “B” movies not released in theaters. Now, it means being one of the few places in the Mat-Su Valley to still stock VHS tapes.

Many of these tapes, Wilson said, are not available on DVD. Whoever owns the rights of a film chooses what format to release it in. Movies are no longer released on VHS, he said, but many companies refuse to make the investment to convert their older films to DVD. Wilson said he has several hundred musicals and World War II movies you can’t find on DVD. There are even around 20 Disney movies only on VHS, he said.

Other than just people looking for availability, Wilson said there is still a legitimate market for VHS rentals. The average renter of VHS tapes tends to be a bit older than those who rent DVDs, but Wilson said people often thank him for still offering the older format.

Despite its lingering longevity, Wilson said the end of VHS is foreseeable, even for his shop. Rentals of his 7,000 DVDs in stock far outpace those of VHS these days, and his daughter continually tells him he needs to free up more space for DVDs and now BluRay disks.

“I had about 25,000 VHS tapes, but I thinned it down a few years ago,” Wilson said.

He said parts to fix VHS cassettes are drying up and VHS players are starting to wear out.

But regardless of format, Wilson said the people who rent from his shop do so for a reason. He will continue to order titles no one else stocks. People rent from him because they are looking for a little more than they get from the video world’s version of the big-box store or the inconsistency of Netflix, he said. They want the personal attention and wide selection his store offers, he said.

Business is booming in Big Lake, said Neighborhood Video owner Bonnie Mitchell, who made the transition from mostly VHS tapes to DVDs when she took the shop over in 2004. Like Wilson, Mitchell still carries VHS tapes, but she said that stock is only in the 25 percent range. However, what she offers that the big stores don’t is attention to quality.

“From what my customers tell me, my movies play and Blockbuster’s don’t,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell explains that they put a protective coating on all their DVDs before they are rented out to protect them from scratching. She said they check every disk when it comes back. If it does get scratched, they grind the surface smooth again and reapply the coating to the disk.

Mitchell said her location plays a big part in her success. Being in a rural area, many of the homeowners did not switch from analog to digital televisions when the signals switched, she said. Vacationers will often pick up a video on their way to their cabin, she said.

But, Mitchell said being in a small town is what forces her to place a premium on quality. People know who she is, and she will hear about it if her product is bad.

For this reason, she said, she wishes the industry would go back to VHS, as they are much more durable than DVDs. But, the winds of change are inevitable, and she just hopes she doesn’t go the way of the laserdisc.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.