Red Queens and Increasing Returns

When I was required to watch “Minority Report” for my class assignment, I figured I’d just go down to the video store and rent it. When I went online to get the hours of the store I couldn’t find the phone number. Then I realized it was because the store was no longer open. I then realized that the whole chain of Hollywood Video had closed down. This was a video store I used to frequent often, and it was located in a shopping center I visit all the time. I never noticed that it was no longer there. There used to be four video stores within 10 minutes of my house. This time I had to drive about 30 minutes away from my house to get to the nearest Blockbuster.
Video on-demand and the red boxes in the supermarket are diminishing the need for the video store. This is an example of increasing returns. While both the video store and the on-demand services can offer the same products, the video store cannot compete with the convenience offered by the on-demand services. The on-demand services obsolete the video stores. Now you can rent movies directly from your TV, computer, phone, Xbox, Wii, and Playstation, and through the mail. I wonder how long the Blockbusters will stay around.