After operating as a video store for more than 35 years, Network Video Forbes will be closing its doors.
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Following the trend throughout Australia and the world, the day of the video store is over, with Forbes being one of the last in operation in Australia.
Gone are the days when the whole family would troop down to the video store and search the shelves for some nightly entertainment suitable for all to watch.
The video store provided a cheerful environment for both customers and staff, and offered a huge range of movies for rental.
In fact, many of the movies, new, old and in a range of categories, are not available from other sources even today, and this aspect of the video store will be greatly missed.
Network Video Forbes commenced in the mid 1980's as what was then known as movie headquarters.
In the late 1980's it became one of the first Australian franchisees in the newly established Video Ezy group.
In those days there were just three national television stations, ABC, Nine and Seven, and the central west was serviced by just the ABC (channel 2) and channel 8 from Orange.
This was the 'golden age' for video stores as they provided the major source of movies for home entertainment. Initially, movies were delivered on VHS, with most homes complete with a VHS player.
By the early to middle 1990's channel 10 and SBS had commenced operation and aggregation of the channels had begun. This meant that the central west was now serviced by all programs broadcast by the major channels in Sydney.
Although these two factors had an effect, the video store was still a very important element in the provision of movies for home entertainment.
By the late 1990's VHS had been superseded by the DVD. These were small, compact, portable and reasonably cheap, and thus the sale of DVD's through the major department stores and other outlets, commenced. This also had an effect on the video store.
With the introduction of smart TVs, Netflix and similar pay TV platforms, the demise of the video store was inevitable.
Consequently, Network Video Forbes sadly will close its doors on Sunday, November 3.
Our closing down sale will commence tomorrow - all DVD's, fixtures, fittings and all associated items will be offered for sale at greatly reduced prices. Everything must go before the end of October so we will be open to offers on anything in the shop.
TSG will still be operating as normal and will continue after the closure of Network Video. However, plans are in place for exciting developments in this space.