Pandemic Takes Another Business Down

Family Video is shutting down all of their stores, a move that is a sign of the times.

News of the closure was released by Highland Ventures, LTD, the owners of the video  rental store.  In November of last year half of the video stores locations were closed and the parent company had said they had no plans to close any more.  Those closures were a result of a 'financial strain' that had been brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Family Video chain said that  250 locations  were to remain open, however as the pandemic continued and more movie rentals were available to customers without leaving their homes... financial losses grew.  The loss for the video store was a huge gain for rentals and streaming services.

The latest closures will affect 58 stores in Michigan including stores in our area.,   Those stores are located in Lansing, Grand Ledge, Ionia, Flint,Jackson, and Holt.

Family Video has been around in the Midwest  for 42 years, and they managed to stay open even as giants like Blockbuster shut their doors. The final remaining stores are now having a liquidation sale offering huge sales on movies ( dvd's and video), games CBD products and even the stores fixtures.

Always sad when their are closings like this, it really is an end to an era.  A few years back, before Netflix and other's, many of us spent some time on weekends picking out a movie at Family Video or perhaps a video game, taking it home, popping some popcorn and settling  in for a night of family fun.  Now, due to the lack of foot traffic in stores and the loss of movie releases, Family Video has raised the white flag and has closed its doors.

The Detroit Free Press has more.