AS ANOTHER video store bites the dust in Griffith, the city’s sole survivor has insisted his business can endure the rise of technology.
Video 2000 will shut its doors for good on Sunday after more than a decade at Griffin Plaza, slashing the city’s video shop population from four stores in its prime to just one.
The prevalence of illegal downloads and pay TV have seen the demise of video stores across the nation and the latest closure has left Banna Avenue store Top Video standing alone in Griffith.
While Top Video owner Ross Patane was confident his business would survive, a local technology guru said he was not surprised DVD hire had taken a nose-dive.
Veritech proprietor Livio Mazzon said downloading and watching movies online was “extremely easy” and even children could do it.
Mr Mazzon said this was enabled by high-speed internet, which would be further improved when the NBN was established.
He predicted online movies would become increasingly prevalent.
However, he said there were risks.
“With piracy, there is a high risk of people infecting your computer because it is a quick way of getting viruses out there,” Mr Mazzon said.
“People think watching movies on their computers is no risk but you’re downloading information onto your computer – there is a risk.”
Mr Patane, who has owned Top Video for 15 years, admitted times had been tough but said things were looking up.
“Video 2000 has been around as long as I have and it is sad to see them go – it’s not good to see another video store close,” Mr Patane said.
“I did see a bit of a decline in business for the last couple of years but things are starting to pick up now.”
Mr Patane suffered the same difficulty plaguing many Banna retailers – tough times meant people simply did not have the cash to spend on luxuries like DVD hire.
He denied movie downloads had been the greatest cause of the decline.
“About 10 years ago when pay TV turned up, people said ‘you’re gone for’, but I’m still here,” he said.
“There are some people who just download their movies but others want to come in and browse, we still have the 17- to 18-year-olds coming in, boyfriends and girlfriends coming to pick a movie.”
The manager of Video 2000 declined to comment.
