[chris11]

Yeah, I agree with you. I don't really see much personal benefit in using brick and mortar video rental stores. Going to one means that I have to take a half hour or an hour out of my day to get a movie. And I can't check the inventory of a store online, so if I'm looking for an older or a more obscure movie, I'm not really guaranteed that it would be available. Plus I would not go to Blockbuster because I wanted to get a brilliant recommendation from a staff member. But I would be more willing to watch something recommended to me by a recommendation engine. And most video rental stores usually charge more than I want to pay.

So I really don't see brick and mortar stores competing with kiosks and rental services like netflix. The single benefit a store has is that it is probably one of the fastest ways to get a physical copy of a movie because it is not mailed. But I would not be the least bit perturbed about waiting a day or two to see a movie.