To stay afloat, stores have been forced to move beyond simply stocking weird 1970s B movies. Scarecrow added an espresso machine, serving coffee at a walk-up window during “grumpy hour,” from 7 to 9 AM. The store also started selling vinyl records, books, and toys as well in an attempt to draw customers. Potomac Video, meanwhile, has started selling off extra copies of films, as well as those that have not been rented in years. Last year, the store made $40,000 selling movies on Amazon, McNevin says.
Even without the cult film sales and espressos, remaining stores do have something that Blockbuster didn’t, which is the appeal to a different crowd, says Greenberg.
“[T]he ‘indie’ video stores, especially those that remain, maintained some value-add based either on a sense of community, staff expertise/curation, or service to a specific demographic overlooked by Blockbuster,” says Greenberg. That could mean appealing to rural people without broadband Internet access and immigrant patrons, for example, who may not feel well served by streaming or subscription services.
“Those that have survived this long have at least as good a shot of making it as indie bookstores in a post-Borders/Barnes & Noble World,” he adds.
Making it, however, will still be a struggle, and for some stores it will involve appealing to a sense of community. Scarecrow, for example, recently undertook what Steiner calls a “use it or lose it” campaign, alerting the community to visit before the store closes down for good.
“Because we are such a community resource, such a valued community resource, we wanted to give people the chance to support us while they still can,” he says.
Article Appeared @http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/11/11/as-blockbusters-close-indie-rental-stores-scramble-for-business