Are books, comic books, video rental and magazine stores all going out of business ?

Some of these things are going away completely. Some quickly, some eventually. Some will remain, but as more of a niche. They are being succeeded by the following (roughly):

snail mail = eMail

magazines = tablet magazines/websites

video rental stores = video on demand/NetFlicks/Apple TV, etc.

books = eBooks (in a variety of ePub formats) from Amazon, Nook, iBookstore

comic books = digital comic books on Comixoligy

All driven by the internet.

Welcome to the future.

Video rental has been on the decline for years. The only video stores that are sticking around are the niche ones that have inventory you just won’t find on the ‘net.

Magazines are on the decline as more goes net-based, but there is still enough call for them to have a rack in the book store. Magazine stores must be a Canadian thing, as the only sizable magazine racks I’ve seen have been in big book stores.

Books will always have demand for hardcopy. Maybe less demand, but still sizable enough that it’d be commercial suicide to publish ePub-only. Same with comic books; try collecting and trading files. Sure, if you are just into the stories then that might make sense, but true comic aficionados will always insist on hermetically sealed, never-read, uber-mint condition hardcopy.

Employment is shifting towards a service-based industry. That latte won’t pour itself you know!

@jerv The group NickleBack came from the lead singers job at Starbucks in which he would almost always give a nickel back in change. I don’t drink coffee but maybe I could ask for a unheated latte in a cup. (basically a cup of milk)

I think books will always be around, as Jerv says, maybe a little less, but they haven’t said their last word yet. Or if they ever do get abolished, it’s not happening right away. Contrary to popular belief, not everybody has the Internet, nor does everyone care about it, whether they can have it or not. And a lot of people who DO have the net don’t give a fuck about e books, like me. I’ve never read an online book or downloaded any books on the PC, and I never will. not true, got some Conan novels, but I haven’t read the online versions, hurts my eyes after like 15 mins Somehow, I don’t think I’m the only one.
For that reason, I also assume porn magazines will also be around for a while. Saw this question earlier and didn’t answer, but when I saw a good amount of porn books in the magazine section at the corner store today, I was reminded of this. was looking for tractor mags, I swear!
Although I do have to say, there were a lot of magazine shops here, and some have closed down. The one that remains is probably making more money selling cigarettes rather than mags…but, something is keeping it in business. I pretty much stopped going when video game magazines pretty much all went out of order, but every convenience store here has mags of some kind or another

@jerv I get that about comic books, but are there enough collectors out there to keep that business going? I don’t really think that if collectors are the only demand, that this will save said industry from making new ones. You have to pay the artists and the enterprise, and some comics go for more than those dudes have ever been paid for making the comics. I love the Conan Saga comics, my dad had most of em in his youth, and then they were mine, but they’re long gone now. I’m stuck with buying hardcover collections. I love them but they’re not the originals. Those don’t go for much today because so many copies were made, but since barely any comics are sold here…if any…I guess I’m stuck with helping to destroy the medium by not buying original comics. And even if I did, they would come from used book stores or people selling them on eBay or wtv, so probably the people who made them get no profit.
So that doesn’t help. Besides Conan I don’t know too much about comic books, but I HAVE noticed their decline, and I don’t think that most of it actually has to do with the Internet. blame TV

@Symbeline “I get that about comic books, but are there enough collectors out there to keep that business going? I don’t really think that if collectors are the only demand, that this will save said industry from making new ones. You have to pay the artists and the enterprise”

The question is about the retail outlets, not the industry itself. The comic industry is doing fine, but there’s not nearly as many comic shops as there was in the 90s. The 1990s, however, were kinda odd. There was this huge boom in comic sale (probably fueled, to some degree or another, but huge publicity/marketing gimmicks like “ZOMG! The death of Superman!!!), and thus little comic shops started popping up everywhere. To give you an idea of how huge the comic book bubble was back then I lived in a town of 5,000 that at one point had two comic book shop across the street from each other. That bubble popped in the late 90s and the industry, and thus retail, shrank for awhile. I’d say now, so far as I can tell, it seems to be around what it was pre-bubble. So yeah, I’d say those devout fans and collectors are enough to keep the industry going.

Haha I remember the death of Superman. Didn’t see the comic itself, but people were talking about it a lot. I don’t see any comics anywhere ever anymore though. :/ One book store has comics, like Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes and stuff, and actually has a lot of manga. But I mean Superman and Spiderman and all that, never see any. Kinda sucks. I always liked the artwork in those.

Sure, but I’m guessing you’re not really looking at comic book stores.

There are no actual stores around here, that I know of, that sell only comic books. Although there has to be some in Montréal.

@Darth_Algar You mean The Healing Coma of Superman. DC permanently damaged their credibility there, and shot themselves in the foot again with the New 52, practically handing the industry to Marvel and indies.

Most comic book stores I’ve seen are actually comic/gaming stores, as there tends to be some overlap between those two geek cultures.