Hollywood Express closing Davis location

[trtls.livejournal.com]

Sad. Just sad. And greedy. According to an employee the rent situation is "out of control" therefore Hollywood Express is merging the Davis Sq. stock into their Porter Sq. store. The Davis location will be closed as of July 27. If you have an account and go in before the closing day, you can get a coupon for 10 free rentals to be used by (I believe) September at the Porter location only. Yet another local store pushed out.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Now that's just sad. It leaves no video store in the neighborhood at all, with Blockbuster closing in Porter Square and Hollywood Video already closed at Mass. Ave & Route 16 in Arlington.

[squonk.livejournal.com]

What! That's terrible. What're we going to get there instead, a fucking Uno's?

[maclou.livejournal.com]

Awww that's really too bad! It's so hard to find rental places now, the only place I really rent from any more is the library.

[soong.livejournal.com]

'greedy' makes me want to ramble about the nature of capitalism, but really we'll just all have to wait and see what goes in there and if they can be profitable at the high rent rate. I keep expecting rent-raising-landlords to guess wrong and have months of lost revenue because no business will go in there at that rate, but it doesn't actually turn out that way as often as I expect.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

who rents videos any more... I don't think it's as much a rent issue as it's a dying industry.

[ceo]

A burrito joint. Bet on it.

[voodoocheese.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I haven't rented any videos since Netflix and such. It's a shame, but not unexpected.

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

I imagine that 'greedy' late fees may also have something to do with their revenue problems. After a few too many rentals where the single day late charge was double what I'd paid to rent the movies in the first place, I stopped renting out of principle. Just not something I need to worry about.

(It looks as if they've lowered the fees quite a bit since I made that decision, but I still find it absurd that they consider you 'late' for dropping something in the box after they close on the due date.)

[808.livejournal.com]

My prediction is a cell phone store or bank. It's harvard square all over again.

[ron_newman]

Or maybe Bertucci's could come back to the neighborhood? They promised to do that after closing the original location (now Subway), but never did.

[lonelyholiday.livejournal.com]

It has happened with some office space my boss looked at, which was a bit too high for us, but is STILL vacant after several months.

Every time I walk by the building and see that the "for rent" sign is still in the window, I wonder if the guy is ever going to call us and say he'll accept our price.

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

Ditto. That means I have not rented a video since at least December of '03.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

When he does, lower your offer.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

Rents in the square will get worse before they get better. The monstrosity that they are allowing to be built beside the Rosebud is the beginning of the end of the character of Davis Square. Small local businesses will not be able to compete/survive.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

I rent videos there all the time. With their coupon system, you can get really great deals, like moveis for as low as $2 each.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

I had such horrible experiences with Netfux that I stopped and decided that local was better. Just wait, soon they'll corner the market then we're all fucked on movie rentals.

[ron_newman]

Are you referring to the first-floor office space in the Citizens Bank building?

[ron_newman]

I don't see how that new building is displacing any local businesses. It's only going to have one retail storefront, anyway.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, because back when Blockbuster had the market cornered, it was a dream of capitalism and artistic integrity.

Not.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Whaaaat?! What do you think they're putting in there, a Wal-Mart?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I suspect that a good chunk of the neighborhood already has Netflix subscriptions.

And, as you know, I just cannot cry for Blockbuster.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear this (I was just in there the other day, there was no mention of it). It's sad to see another local business closing in Davis. I've used HE's coupon system for years. Actually (Ron you probably know) how long has HE been in Davis? I remember going to the late, wonderful City Video in Porter before HE opened in Davis. I hope the HE between Porter and Harvard can hang in there.

But I guess I'm not totally surprised by this news given the general faltering of the video rental industry and the fact that so many folks I know around here just use Netfix.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Just yesterday, I walked by HE and thought, "gee, I'm amazed this place is still open, I wonder how much longer we'll have a video rental place in the Square?"

Now I feel guilty. Jinx!

Quite honestly, now that Netflix streams instantly to my TV and I can pretty much watch any movie I want within ten seconds of thinking about it, I'm not surprised video stores are having a bit of trouble. Evolution of tech...

[fefie.livejournal.com]

"decided that local was better".

Supporting local is better, IMO, if you want to keep the square local in character.

[ron_newman]

Huh? We're talking about Hollywood Express which is an indisputably local business.