Incredibly there is still a chain selling physical copies of CD’s and DVD’s, more than several years on from the collapse of disc rental stores and the coming of fast internet Sanity still exists.

Sanity is an Australian retail store that is “a leading Retailer of Movies, TV Shows, Blu Ray, Gaming, Music, Books, Pop Vinyl and Official Merchandise.” ^source

Buying a physical disk in 2019 is borderline unheard of, at least for younger generations. You have the countless and growing number of streaming services, plus other options legal and illegal. Even if you got a disk, good luck finding something to play it with.

Laptops don’t have disc drives, computer cases have no option for them and cars are a nope too. Yes you can get adapters or portable player but its backward methodology.

Who buys discs anymore?

I say all this is true for the younger generation because in my eyes Sanity is still kicking for one reason. It is the baby boomers and those above 70 relying on Sanity to get their entertainment.

If myself or anyone else my age wanted a movie we would just jump straight onto iTunes and rent/buy it, or stream it on Netflix. Easy done and instant (if your NBN is good), How many people above 40 do you think would do this? Very few.

Whether it be old school ethics that physical is better or being scared/uncertain of technology, Sanity offers a pretty simple solution for these people.

Location, location, location

Another theory is the locations. Not surprising is the great amount of country town locations. These towns would have adapted internet slower, or at least got good internet later and it has these country people with the old school consumer behavior.

Not a single store in the Melbourne or Sydney CBD, although I’m sure there are similar stores and then just a massive scattering all across the country. It’s strategic thinking at its finest.

The end of Blockbuster came in 2013 thanks to the growing internet, with America being years ahead of Australia in its internet development. Could Sanity be spared by the NBN debacle? If we all had 130Mbps download speed, rather than a struggle for 10Mbps then yes you could get movies in a minute. Very enticing.

The outlook

Looking at the financial report for 2019 Sanity made total revenue of $122,510,000 this was down from an already low 2012 total revenue of $185,278,000. That is a grim outlook, especially given the market.

A lasting question would best be put as; Will Sanity completely disappear or just downscale drastically in the coming years?