The final rewind

After three decades of steady, if unspectacular, service, the VHS is going the way of the dodo bird: The last big American supplier of the video format is dropping the tapes from its inventory. The VHS tape never really had a chance once the DVD arrived in the late ’90s, and VHS rentals were eclipsed by DVDs in 2003. By the end of 2005, DVD sales were more than $22 billion, and VHS was slumping badly but still viable enough to pull in $1.5 billion. Next year, that won’t be the case. “I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it,” says Ryan Kugler, who owns Distribution Video Audio Inc. in Southern California, “and I’m done.” • For story, see Page A5.