It was announced today in the High Court that Xtra-Vision, Ireland's longest-standing movie rental chain, is to cease trading today with the closure of 80 stores and the loss of 580 jobs.
A statement released by Oxtermont Ltd., Xtra-Vision's holding company, stated that the move was "a direct result of the market decline of shop counter rental", with a 30% drop year-on-year in over-the-counter DVD rental. According to the press statement, Xtra-Vision will cease to trade from all stores from today.
The move comes as customers across Ireland move further and further away from DVD and Blu-Ray to streaming services like Netflix.
Meanwhile, a statement by Grant Thornton, the liquidators appointed to Xtra-Vision reads that their "first priority is to meet and brief employees at all 83 locations and process their entitlements for redundancy. Over the coming days we will be in contact with all creditors of the company however, it is important to note that any Xtra-Vision gift vouchers will be honoured by HMV which is not affected by this liquidation."
Xtra-Vision was sold to HMV's owner, Hilco Capital, in 2013 for an undisclosed sum.