NETFLIX has taken a blunderbuss to Jumbo.

The iconic Bicton videos-for-hire store closes May 30 after almost three decades of trade.

Manager Allison Williams says the last nail in the coffin was the entry into Australia a fortnight ago of online-streaming service Netflix, but the end has been a long time coming: “Netflix played a role in the decision to close [but] there has been a steady drop in rentals over the past five years,” she says, which coincides with Australians’ take-up of internet movie download services on iTunes and BigPond.

“With the introduction of new technology, including Netflix, it was just a matter of time for us. We can’t compete with that.”

Jumbo owner John Geha, 44, has run the shop for 18 years and its demise follows his closure of Galaxy Entertainment in Como three years ago.

Video stores are dropping like nine-pins around the world: Civic Video closed in Myaree and Fremantle in recent years and Blockbuster, once a behometh, died in the US in 2013.

by EMMIE DOWLING