I’ve read a number of articles about the expansion of the DVD rental kiosk through companies like Redbox (the most prevelant), NCR, Blockbuster, etc. All of these companies recognize that while the consumers may not be going back to the dedicated video stores in the numbers they used to, movie rentals as a commodity is far from being dead. Instead they found if the consumers were not coming to them, then they should bring the product to the consumer.

First, home delivery with services like Netflix were all the rage. But somewhat quietly, Redbox has emerged as a major player by allowing customers to rent and return movies from convenient locations they frequent regularly anyway, like the grocery store, convenience store or pharmacy.

So even though many major and privately owned video rental stores may be going the way of the dinosaurs, video rentals as a commercial entity is still very much alive and prospering. Maybe video on demand and video streaming will eventually knock these video rental services off their perch, but for the foreseeable future, there is money in those kiosks and retail is recognizing this.