MONROE - As much as Family Video rents out DVDs and video games, the store also sells a sense of camaraderie for movie buffs.
Family Video has been in Monroe for about five years and manages to stay lucrative despite a saturated online environment of streaming movies and TV shows, as well as competitive rental services like Redbox.
Brittany Workman, manager of Monroe's Family Video, said the rows of videos are where the money comes from, but customers keep coming back for the camaraderie with the staff.
"I have folks in and we'll just talk about their day, how their kids are doing," Workman said. "It is kind of nostalgic."
Workman admitted she has an account for Netflix, the online video streaming service, but she uses it for the originally-produced content, not for movies.
"Some of the movies on there are awful," she said. "I think I got it to watch the new season of "Arrested Development.' I like the TV series on there."
Workman said Family Video eventually gets the original TV shows made for Netflix, but typically a year after they are released online. But those shows aren't what her customers are after: She said about 70 percent of the store's rentals are for the newly-released movies.
Workman said she doesn't see business slowing down any time soon.
"We get the new movies Day One that they come out on DVD," Workman said. "I see streaming as more of a novelty."
She said the annoyance of finding the right streaming service - and there are a plethora, including HBO GO, Amazon Prime, Hulu -could eventually draw people from them.
It also helps that Family Video has cornered the market in rentals as it's the only store like it in the area. Finding a brick-and-mortar store with videos for rent seems to be becoming a bit of a rarity outside of the Midwest. Family Video has stores in the South and West, but most of the stores are near the Great Lake states. Blockbuster, once the nation's largest video-rental chain, filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and closed its remaining 300 company-owned retail locations in 2013. About 50 franchise-owned stores remain open, according to the franchise tab on blockbuster.com, and are mostly located in Alaska and Texas. Family Video is found in 19 states, according to its website, and the company continues to open stores.
It's not just older movie-watchers renting DVDs: Workman said people of all ages come in to rent the new movies or pick up a video game. The most popular rental item recently was either the most recent "The Hobbit" or "The Hunger Games" titles, she noted.
Workman and her six employees get to be tastemakers for the town, and she constantly gets asked if a movie is good or to suggest a title. She said it's difficult to compete with the online sprawl of reviews, which can span from the vitriolic to the mundane to the fanboy-obsessed.
"There's so many review sites, it's hard to judge what's good anymore," Workman said.
So she relies on her own likes or dislikes and from the opinions her customers share.
Like a merchant an old-fashioned corner grocery store, she gets to know her customers.
"I have tons of regulars," Workman said. "They bring food to me all the time."
One customer, Mike Scott, said he comes down about every week to check out a new release. On tap for a recent visit was the war drama "Unbroken."
"I would much rather help someone out local than pay for something that's streamed (over the Internet)," Scott said.
Scott said he likes seeing the new movies even though he has a TV subscription with Dish and has Internet which could allow him to watch just about anything for free.
"For some reason, it's fun to come down and rent videos," Scott said.
Family Video has been in Monroe for about five years and manages to stay lucrative despite a saturated online environment of streaming movies and TV shows, as well as competitive rental services like Redbox.
Brittany Workman, manager of Monroe's Family Video, said the rows of videos are where the money comes from, but customers keep coming back for the camaraderie with the staff.
"I have folks in and we'll just talk about their day, how their kids are doing," Workman said. "It is kind of nostalgic."
Workman admitted she has an account for Netflix, the online video streaming service, but she uses it for the originally-produced content, not for movies.
"Some of the movies on there are awful," she said. "I think I got it to watch the new season of "Arrested Development.' I like the TV series on there."
Workman said Family Video eventually gets the original TV shows made for Netflix, but typically a year after they are released online. But those shows aren't what her customers are after: She said about 70 percent of the store's rentals are for the newly-released movies.
Workman said she doesn't see business slowing down any time soon.
"We get the new movies Day One that they come out on DVD," Workman said. "I see streaming as more of a novelty."
She said the annoyance of finding the right streaming service - and there are a plethora, including HBO GO, Amazon Prime, Hulu -could eventually draw people from them.
It also helps that Family Video has cornered the market in rentals as it's the only store like it in the area. Finding a brick-and-mortar store with videos for rent seems to be becoming a bit of a rarity outside of the Midwest. Family Video has stores in the South and West, but most of the stores are near the Great Lake states. Blockbuster, once the nation's largest video-rental chain, filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and closed its remaining 300 company-owned retail locations in 2013. About 50 franchise-owned stores remain open, according to the franchise tab on blockbuster.com, and are mostly located in Alaska and Texas. Family Video is found in 19 states, according to its website, and the company continues to open stores.
It's not just older movie-watchers renting DVDs: Workman said people of all ages come in to rent the new movies or pick up a video game. The most popular rental item recently was either the most recent "The Hobbit" or "The Hunger Games" titles, she noted.
Workman and her six employees get to be tastemakers for the town, and she constantly gets asked if a movie is good or to suggest a title. She said it's difficult to compete with the online sprawl of reviews, which can span from the vitriolic to the mundane to the fanboy-obsessed.
"There's so many review sites, it's hard to judge what's good anymore," Workman said.
So she relies on her own likes or dislikes and from the opinions her customers share.
Like a merchant an old-fashioned corner grocery store, she gets to know her customers.
"I have tons of regulars," Workman said. "They bring food to me all the time."
One customer, Mike Scott, said he comes down about every week to check out a new release. On tap for a recent visit was the war drama "Unbroken."
"I would much rather help someone out local than pay for something that's streamed (over the Internet)," Scott said.
Scott said he likes seeing the new movies even though he has a TV subscription with Dish and has Internet which could allow him to watch just about anything for free.
"For some reason, it's fun to come down and rent videos," Scott said.