City of Paris issued the following announcement.
Highland Ventures Ltd. on Tuesday announced it will close all of its Family Video locations, with the last day for rentals to be today.
The announcement came in a letter from Highland CEO Keith Hoogland posted to the Family Video website. In it, he said the impact of Covid-19 on foot traffic and a lack of new movie releases "pushed us to the end of a era."
"I am extremely thankful to our employees and customers that were instrumental in Family Video's success. Without you, we would not have been the last man standing in our industry," Hoogland wrote.
Family Video will now enter the annals of business history with the likes of Blockbuster, which ceased operations in September 2010. Between November 2013 and January 2014, all corporate-owned Blockbuster stores in the U.S. were closed. There is one Blockbuster store remaining in Bend, Oregon, and it is privately owned and franchised.
There are approximately 300 Family Video locations, including stores in Paris, Sulphur Springs, Bonham, Denison and Commerce.
The website states all online orders will be processed like normal, and FamilyVideo.com will remain active. Stores will close once all items are sold, including DVDs, Blu-Rays, popcorn, Sour Patch Guys, gumball machines and shelves.
A sign at the Paris store states it expects to close in March. Hours of operation will be noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
Hoogland reminisced on the past success of Family Video, saying the company has "enjoyed being part of our employees' and customers' lives and communities for the last 42 years."
"What began as a handful of 500 square foot video rental locations, grew to 800 locations with up to 7,000 square feet of video rental and retail. Surviving 10 years longer than the big 3, Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video, we were among the few that started with Beta, moved on to VHS and remained a part of the DVD & Blu-Ray Era."
He noted how employees gave back to their communities, including grass roots events, celebrating report card successes, making holiday meal donations and supporting lymphoma research.
Original source can be found here.
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