THE END OF THE VIDEO STORE?

If Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, and video-on-demand have taken a heavy toll on Blockbuster, they are taking an even heavier one on small mom-and-pop video stores, the Wall Street Journal observed today. “Technology,” it observed, “is killing the video-rental store — and a piece of American culture with it.” The newspaper cited a survey by SNL Kagan indicating that this year rentals from U.S. video shops are expected to decline 56 percent to $3.65 billion from its peak of $8.37 billion in 2001. The number of stores declined to 16,237 in 2007 compared to 23,036 in 1997, the Journal noted — and that was before Blockbuster shuttered thousands of additional stores and Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery folded.