I have been a Vdear customer for five years and I found that Vdear is very competitive in the video rental industry. Even during the hard economic times like this which has put several other video stores out of business in Fremont, Vdear still stands strong. Needless to say, there is a reason behind every successful story. The owner is acting like what the kung fu master Bruce Lee said ""water"" - strong yet flexible. When the chained video stores such as Blockbuster used to rent new releases for $5 or so, Vdear cut it down to $3 for the same videos. When the redboxes are out, Vdear responded by cutting the rental fee to less than $1/day. I am also a video gamer and I can only rent Wii games from Blockbuster for $9 for 5 days (not even Hollywood video has Wii stuff). I suggested to the owner and in a few weeks he's got more than 60 Wii games on the shelf, $7 for 6 days (if you count the day you rent it as one day, like Blockbuster). Vdear promises to continue to update the shelf with new Wii games periodically. Besides pricing, the staff there is pretty flexible and understanding, too, unlike bigger stores that have robot-like staff. Home movies and gaming are really one of the most economical entertainments out there (think about going out shopping with your kids or dining with a date), especially with the price that Vdear is offering. Sometimes I wonder why Vdear doesn't open another chain store or do more marketing to promote themselves, the owner doesn't say; come to think of it, by saving those costs, may be that's the reason they can survive on so little. On the other hand, the winners of these harsh commerical competitions are always the consumers - us. I hope more people, particularly my neighbors at Fremont, can benefit from Vdear's competition.
Pros: Low price, good service, no line, easy parking
Cons: No guarantee on new release availability, first come first serve
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