Grensásvídeó is the latest video store in Iceland’s capital to close its doors due to increased competition with illegal internet downloads and the availability of movies straight from the television via telecom companies.
Grensásvídeó owner Ragnar Snorrason. Source: Facebook.
“It’s the competition with the internet which makes this business completely hopeless, despite having worked hard to have material which is not available in other places in the country, a lot of Nordic, British, Italian and French material,” Ragnar Snorrason, owner of Grensásvídeó, said in an interview with mbl.is.
Ragnar has been building up his collection of films from all corners of the world for the past ten years but says the market in Iceland for such films is simply too small.
“People rarely come and ask for new movies. It was not long ago when you had to have several copies of new movies. This business is dead, simple as that. It would be completely different if we were in a city of one million. That would be three or four times my customers.”
After the closure of Grensásvídeó, Laugarásvídeó will be the last major rental in the capital area.
Ragnar says the store will stay open over the coming days while he tries to sell stock from his collection.
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