Nostalgic for video stores yet?

[samurainoir]

With video stores disappearing from the urban landscape, and the mom and pop video stores long gone, is it too soon to get misty eyed about them?

This past year stalwart Blockbuster was finally laid to rest (in Canada), and Rogers video is mostly where you can pick out your cel phone now, having shrunk by half. I don't even know if Jumbo video... The first of the superstores in Canada when I was a teen, is still around.

What I do miss is the mom and pop corner video store I grew up with, particularly since I was a latchkey kid with access to the family video store account after school every day, and they tended to ignore age restrictions when renting movies back then too.

[generic]

Yeah, I miss the mom and pop store up the street from me. I didn't know that age restrictions ever applied at video stores. I always rented whatever I wanted. I remember one summer, my friend and I rented every single Horror movie they had. We were clearly not even 16 at the time. Hell, I'm not sure we were 13 at the time! I've missed the mom and pop video stores for years.

[toys2cool]

I miss Blockbusters, all the ones around here closed down

[wayne foundation 07]

We have a Family Video here in town, opened up a year or to ago.Last place around to rent a movie.

[Figuremod73]

Definately. I use to ride the bike to town every week back in the '80s and get a movie/ Nintendo game, and a cola. I still would rather have one around instead of those vender machines.

[rche]

We are fortunate in Austin to have a couple of locally owned stores that cater to the video crazies. I Luv Video and Vulcan Video are both great places to go and find a forgotten relic or a crazy import or even a new blu ray.

[emeraldknight47]

Definately. I use to ride the bike to town every week back in the '80s and get a movie/ Nintendo game, and a cola. I still would rather have one around instead of those vender machines.

Oh, but why? The vending machines are so warm and personable.....

::laffs::

JK, I hope y'all know.

I DO miss trips to the video store to check out the latest flick without having to buy it. I don't have an internet connected idiot box, so if I want to see a movie these days, I either have to A.] Buy it B.] Check it out from the library (after they FINALLY get it in) or C.] Wait until it shows up at BUYBACKS for $3.99 or in the five-buck bin at Wal-Mart....

[Captain Big Trousers]

Ever since they switched to DVD my experience has usually been:

Rent movie.
Go home and play movie.
Find movie is scratched and unwatchable to completion.
Return movie.
Be accused of scratching movie.
Store puts scratched movie back on shelf to be rented again.

New releases were generally okay, but I'd usually buy a movie I cared enough to watch anyway (not really a cinema-goer* and buying a DVD is still cheaper than a family visit to the movies). So I gave up on video stores years ago. Not nostalgic about them one. single. bit.


*Pixar excepted.

[SUP-Ronin]

I don't miss VHS one bit. I'm fine with DVD's/BlueRay, but I rent movies next to never. It was always a pain in the arse. It was fun as a kid though, my dad would rent kung foo and samurai videos for us to watch.

[domino]

I do miss the old VHS mom and pop stores. It was so much fun to go an look at all the boxes and try to figure out which one to rent based on the descriptions. I miss the combination of carpet fresh and fresh popped pop corn smell that it had. I would spend at least an hour looking around.

[palitoy]

In the early 90s, there was a video store on every corner, each with a differing selection. I still collect VHS oddities.

I miss those days but ever since the switch to DVD, it wasn't the same for me.

[johnmiic]

We had a great video store that closed up, (when cable came to town in Corona, NY in 1988), called Video Zoo. I hated Blockbuster but I would rather pick something out on a shelf than wait for it in the mail.

[4NDR01D]

On the one hand I'll always have fond memories of walking around a warehouse size Jumbo Video, eating free popcorn and checking out the great box art of all the 70's/80's b-horror films, but on the other, those days are long gone and I'm ready to embrace the new era of direct streaming to my TV.
I've probably watched more movies, documentaries and TV seasons in the last 6 months since getting Netflix, than the last few years combined.

[Duncan]

The best one left in Columbus, North Campus Video, closed 2 weeks ago. Too bad.

[spacecaps]

There are none around here anymore. Three years ago I could walk to a Hollywood Video and two Blockbusters. $5 a movie, or join a month to month club, limited selection, late fees...man I don't miss these stores at all. You can buy a movie on standard DVD format at Target or Best Buy for less than what it cost to rent the film a few years ago. I'd much rather find what I'm looking for on my computer, reserve it at Redbox for $1 or stream it through netflix for $8 a month. At worst I'd have to get it through the mail and I'm totally ok with that too. The video stores I have a fondness for have all been gone for at least 20 years....Four Girls, Dollar Video, Palmer, West Coast, Flix, Druckers all wiped out by Block Buster which was the worst of them all.