Bad news today for Irish DVD and gaming outlet - Xtra-Vision - as financial woes call for the appointment of a receiver.
We've already lost Chartbusters (eh, where do we tan now?), for a while there we had to live without HMV and now we could well be losing Irish rental stalwarts Xtra-Vision too.
More proof that we Irish have all but fully made the transition to a digital world. As a matter of interest, when was the last time you rented a DVD?
There used to be something very exciting about the thoughts of a planned night in, a trip to the old fashioned 'video shop' where you'd stock up on special offer goodies (Doritios and what have you) and argue with whoever you're with for at least a half hour over what film to get. I used to get in trouble for wanting to rent movies that I'd already seen. Sometimes the gamble with a new movie was too much. Especially at 5 euro a pop and a two-way trip. Then you'd have the argument the following day about whose turn it is to bring it back. Going even further back, there was the good oul days of rewinding tapes to the start so that the next renter wouldn't say 'ah for f*ck sake, what d*ckhead had this last?' Such early noughties' first world problems, eh?
As per Newstalk, this decision has been brought on by the withdrawal of credit insurance and a massive downturn in rentals.
For now the stores will remain open while Ernst and Young seek out a buyer. We wait patiently to find out the fate for the chain's 1024 Irish employees.
