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- Human interaction. It's always nice if you feel overwhelmed by choice, to be able to ask someone what they think or ask them about perhaps the difference between DVD and HD. I like to make myself available to anyone who wants to ask me something like this because, quite frankly, I love to talk about it.  I do try to make things more accessible to customers and find anything for them that they need. Any problems with an account can be sorted there and then with no hassle.

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- The film titles are easily displayed, with official boxes for the discs given for authenticity as well as familiarity so that you can read the blurb at the back if you want to. If you don't know what you want for a nice night in, all the newest titles are neatly and alphabetically organised so you could search for whatever you fancied. Exclusives are also quite frequent from a larger chain of rental stores and they stock films to rent that aren't due to be released for a couple of weeks. Pretty nifty.

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- Frequent special deals to suit the renter. Newer deals in-store often, for example, include four DVDs or Blu-ray for four nights for ten pounds. Blu-ray discs are now the same price to rent as DVDs which does make a huge difference to the film market. If you want to buy a Blu-ray version of a film that has just been released, customers must expect to pay around two or three pounds more.

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- You can support your local business economy within your community. Although we do now have a larger rental store in Rayleigh, we previously often chose to pop in and see that nice chap who ran Hollywood Nites for this reason. It was also quite satisfying to do a little bit of shopping at the Somerfield (now a Co-Operative), maybe get some fish n' chips round the corner, and then go into the rental place to pick a film up for the night. He also gave away some of his old posters of films gone by, which was pretty awesome of him.

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- Any problems with renting can usually be sorted out immediately by the staff, replacement discs can be issued straight away, and customers are rewarded by discounts when they re-rent during the same visit. Either way, renting from a shop is a much faster way of getting what you want, when you want it.

Ÿ	- Depending on the store and how many copies of films they have and whether you're really, really nice to the person you ask - they can also save something for you for a limited length of time.

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- This method is more expensive. As I've said above, renting online will be the preferred method if you want your films straight to the front door. However, with ‘in-store’ you do get what you've paid for. Essentially you are paying for the luxury of having what you want for an extended number of days - plus some good old fashioned customer service.

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- As we have established that with ‘on-line’ unlimited doesn't necessarily mean unlimited - it works out that the cheapest amount you will be paying for an online service (£4.99 for one disc at a time) will cover half of the amount that you would have to pay for four films for four nights. Think about what you are paying for - as I've mentioned above.

Ÿ	- You could also be enticed by the treats that live next to the counter, which will rack up your money outlay a little more. Especially if there is toffee popcorn - which is my nemesis!

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- The travelling can get annoying unless you live in the area. In the past, I could skip down to my local rental store and return the disc without spending any other money. These days you'd have to leap into a mode of transportation and make your merry way to Rayleigh, as it’s now the nearest rental hotspot for our area.

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- Availability could be a downside. Due to the size difference of a rental store and an online rental warehouse, stores simply cannot accommodate hundreds of copies of the latest film. On Friday and Saturday nights you'd also have a problem, because chances are that people in our area have had the exact same idea. You know how most of us can't stand a queue at Alton Towers? Imagine that on the night that Titanic came out way back in the day.

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- There will be late fees if you can't return the discs on time - simply so the store can give you incentive to return the films for other customers. If your film goes inside the drop box or if you have your face pressed up against the doors a minute past closing time, your films must be counted in the morning. Fortunately the charges for some stores have gone down and there are ways to wipe your fees if you want to rent out some more films.