LONDON is saying goodbye to its last ever DVD rental shop which was open for more than 25 years.
For Your Eyes Only in Forest Hill owned by Gulam Charania has officially closed shutting its doors for good on Monday 13 November.
The video store held over 11,000 DVDs, video games and Blu-rays.
Some noticeable famous faces were among its customers including Con O’Neill and Hugo Speer.
The store managed to battle against buyout offers from industry giants like Blockbuster back when business was booming – it seems the small store has managed to outlive them all.
But the store has seen blow after blow, not one but two cars smashed into the front of the store in two different accidents.
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Both incidents caused the store to close which which massively disrupted months of essential trade.
The store also had to battle the rise of online streaming and piracy which soared particularly during the pandemic.
The owner has been left devastated, Mr Gulam described the closure as “the end of an era.”
He confessed: “I’m holding it together, but I am going through a sort of depression.”
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Mr Gulam recalled how some of his customers would travel far to his store to pick up a few DVDs even after having moved out of the area.
Most were just glad to see that he was still open.
Locals on Facebook were shocked after hearing the news – many commented the store reminded them of the “blockbuster days”.
One user said: “Such as shame.”
Another said: “I miss the blockbuster days.”
“Great memories of having a video shop,” said a third.
A fourth user protested: “Streaming sucks. Bring back the stores!”
A GoFundMe page was set up by supporters early this year when they heard the store was heading towards closure.
Mr Gulam explained despite £2,300 being raised the store relies on a consistent customer base that it has not seen for months and the funds would only cover bills for a few months.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen video rental stores on our high streets.
Blockbuster officially rented its last-ever movie in November 2013, shortly after after filing for bankruptcy.
At its peak, Blockbuster was allegedly opening a store every 17 hours and by 2004 it had over 9,000 stores across the US and employed 84,000 people worldwide.
Blockbuster closed its doors in the UK in December 2013, while the only remaining Blockbuster store is on Ben, Oregon is still open.
Unfortunately, it’s not just the film industry that has been hit hard.
High street retailers have been struggling immensely over the past few years.
Energy costs have risen and more shoppers than ever are choosing to order online rather than head into stores.
This has left some retailers grappling with budgets and have no choice but to close stores to cut costs.
Boots revealed it would be closing 300 stores over the next year as part of plans to evolve its brand.
B&M has closed nine of its stores since February this year.
Poundstretcher has closed five stores this year with another due to close by next year.
Even Tesco announced it will be closing a store last week.
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