Once a revolution in home entertainment, with innovations in technology seeing people being able to take movies home for the very first time in the 1980s, recent years have seen the Internet taking precedence. A steady mix of downloading, YouTube and the likes of Netflix have offered ease of use, along with immediate access to a wide range of material missing at your local physical store.
Thus the death knell has been ringing for the industry for some time now. However, unlike many other parts of the world, rental stores in Finland have been able to supplement their business with irtokarkki, aka pick and mix candy. Taking up a sizeable portion of the shop space, these various lockers of goodies might just be the industy’s saviour, at least for the time being until movie rental stores figure out their next move.
Meanwhile, your local library has also gotten in on the digital act, offering a number of films that are available via streaming – at a price that can’t be beat.
James O’Sullivan
