Funai Electronics is the last company in the world still producing the VCR. Once a staple in the home entertainment system, the company used to sell 15 million units per year. Although still impressive, the sales fell to 750,000 units last year.
The VCR started gaining momentum in the late 70’s after the release of the first home tape recorder by Philips in 1972 but was left in the dust by 2003 by DVDs, Blue-Rays and streaming services like Shomi or Netflix. Walmart, world’s largest retailer, stopped carrying the VCR machines in 2006.
Funai Electronics will produce the last VCR on July 30th citing difficulty in obtaining necessary parts as the reason for stopping the production.
To think that there is a whole generation out there who will never know the joys of “be kind and rewind.”