in my post this weekend about the potential for buying CDs, DVDs, and VHSes for a buck and selling them at a profit: VHS, cassettes find new life at NYC event as hundreds of analogue enthusiasts are ‘fed up with streaming services’
Cassette sales have surged 440% in the last decade, per NPR, and VHS stores are on the rise — from Blockbuster’s return in the UK to the opening of VHS stores from Maryland to California.
“I think it’s a lot more appealing to the people to do that now than ever before,” said Aaron Hamel, co-owner of Night Owl Video, a VHS and DVD store that opened in Williamsburg this year. “I saw the record resurgence, and I feel like physical media for movies is sort of the same environment [vinyl] was 20 years ago.”
At the NYC Tape Fair, Night Owl Video’s VHS sales included a copy of David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” and “Love Camp 7,” which Hamel describes as a “Nazi exploitation movie from the 70s.”
Stores selling physical media will last at least as long as self-serve frozen yogurt shops.
