With the closure of Chump’s in the Tulare County town of Three Rivers — one of the last video stores in the Valley — libraries are increasingly serving as a place to rent videos in some communities. Photo by Bridget Butler-Sullivan

When it comes to video stores in the Valley, it seems the tale is all said and done.

Fond memories of visiting stores such as Blockbuster, of searching through movie after movie to find the perfect one are just that — memories.

This trend was proven once and for all with the closure of one of the last operational DVD and game rental shops in the Valley: Three River’s own Chumps in Tulare County.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however. As a way to compensate for these closures, residents of smaller Valley towns have found new ways to rent video material. The most popular option: public libraries.  

“There are a very good amount of locals who rent from the library. About 80 percent of our patrons are renting movies along with books,” said Amber Palermo, a librarian in Three Rivers.

Located at 42052 Eggers Dr., right above Three Rivers Union Elementary, the library has been an active part of the town since it was built in 1977. While it has always been a popular destination for Three Rivers residents, activity has increased since Chumps closed in December 2017.

Fellow librarian Sonja Hoogeveen commented that this increase looks to be about 20-30 people. This number does not include the patrons who were already frequenting the library before Chumps closed.

The library keeps about 60 movies on shelf, and rotates films between other smaller library branches in the Valley every three months, Palermo said.

Residents are also able to request specific movies be sent from other locations. Most commonly, these come from the Visalia branch, which has the largest collection of movies in the county.

Springville, another small Valley towns with limited access to video, has many people frequently rent DVDs from their library as well. According to Springville librarian Matt Herrera, the library receives between 15-30 patrons a day when open, at least half of which rent movies.

“Patrons are almost all return customers,” he said, also adding that a significant amount of locals continue to utilize the library as a source of both reading and video material.

According to data retrieved from the Visalia branch — the main headquarters to the Tulare County Libraries — the libraries began carrying DVDs in 2008. Since then, there has been a gradual increase in not only films, but also circulation of videos between branches.

Between 2014-2015, for example, video circulation increased by 48,000. That is nearly 90 percent more than the difference between the year prior. There is no clear indication that this is related to video stores closing, however it does show a trend of libraries being frequently used for video rentals.

Darla Wegner, county librarian for the Visalia Branch, commented that the television show collection for the county has particularly expanded in the past few years. Multiple requests are going in for new shows such as the Handmaid’s Tale, she commented.

The closest Redbox video rental kiosk to Three Rivers is over 20 miles away, and because the town is extremely rural, problems with internet connection require many of the residents to use dial-up. This means that video streaming opportunities such as Netflix and Amazon are limited.  

As it so happens, Redbox now offers a series of movies and games that can be purchased online and then individually owned, but this process only works for areas equipped with the machines.

The company plans to add additional rollouts in 2018. According to a publicist for Redbox, retailers in Three Rivers are welcome to request a kiosk be installed in the town at http://about.redbox.com/request-a-kiosk/.

In the meantime, residents can pre-order DVDs and games they would like to buy online at Redbox’s site, and then go pick them up at the location of their choosing.

There are currently only two operating stores in the South Valley that still offer rentable DVDs, neither of which are intended solely for video and game rentals like Chumps.  

Paradise Video, a convenience store in Ivanhoe, has reduced its film inventory by 90 percent over the past several years. “The only reason we keep [renting out movies] is because we’ve done it for so long,” said an employee.

By contrast, Porterville’s Video Mex has nearly 2,000 films and games for rental. The selection is updated weekly, and has an average of 15-20 renters a day according to Gicel Granados, an employee at the store.

While the business functions largely as a video rental shop, Video Mex also sells a series of miscellaneous items and offers services including disk repair and cellphone services. It is the closest thing to a traditional video store still open in the Valley.

In the words of Wegener, “Requests definitely haven’t dropped for physical DVDs.”