Number of video shops reduced by half over the past decade

The number of video shops was reduced by half over the period 1998–2008. On 1 January 2008, there were 550 video shops in the Netherlands, as against 1,100 a decade ago. Competition gets fiercer as downloading of films from the Internet becomes more popular. Video shops also have to compete with commercial TV channels and films released on DVD. The proportionally largest number of retailers in this branch who discontinued their activities were found in the provinces of South Holland and North Brabant, but numbers were also declining in other provinces.

The average size of video shops – on the other hand – has increased. The proportion employing at least five persons grew from 11 percent in 1998 to 23 percent in 2008. Over the period 1998–2003, the total number of people employed in video shops increased from 2 thousand to 2.6 thousand. Subsequently, employment declined considerably to 1.8 thousand by the end of 2007.

Video shops