Whanganui's Video Ezy one of last 17 in New Zealand

As internet streaming, illegal downloading and changing habits take their toll on the traditional movie market, Whanganui's Video Ezy store is one of only 17 remaining in the New Zealand franchise.

Linda Spence, who co-owns the DVD rental store with her husband John and daughter Desiree Wright, says Video Ezy has been operating in Whanganui for more than 20 years and has been in its upper Victoria Ave location for 15 years-plus.

Mrs Spence and Mrs Wright both worked at Video Ezy before the family decided to buy the store in 2011. Now it's a real family affair, with the Spences' older grandchildren helping out in the business.

As the demise of video stores continues around the country, there is still a market in Whanganui for DVD rentals.

"We have lots of regular customers," Mrs Spence said.

"Some come in every day and others come in once a week. Some of them want to see all the new releases but the bulk of our customers come in for the weekly deals.

"The family section is one of the most popular and during the school holidays a lot of the family DVDs will be out. The box-sets are also quite popular, especially Game of Thrones.

"Our busiest days are the ones when you least expect people would want to come out. When it's raining, we are busy."

The store has more than 16,000 movies in its database and new releases are being added all the time. While there were still games available for hire, Mrs Spence said they had stopped buying new ones.

"There are lots of games online now and they are very dear to buy at $80 to $100 each - and a lot of times we don't get them back."

In the heyday of video rentals, Whanganui had four main rental stores, Video Ezy, Blockbuster and two United Video outlets. There were also numerous smaller outlets, often part of other shops.

Mrs Spence doesn't know what the future holds for her family's store but while there's still enough interest to make it viable they will keep going.

"We are still getting sign-ups. People moving into town are surprised there's a store still around."

Video Ezy began with one rental store in New Zealand and built up to a $125 million business with 170 stores as the industry became bigger than the box office. Now there are just 17 stores left in the Video Ezy chain. The demise of the video store is blamed on internet streaming, illegal downloading and changing habits, such as time spent on social media.