Anybody else here remember video rental outlets?

[Streetwise]

Every Friday night when I was in high school, I would take some of the money I earned at my PT job and go to a local VHS rental outlet. I often either rented the latest anime releases or I went to the horror section and rented whatever had the most outrageous cover art. Those were fun days. Streaming just is not the same kind of thrill.

didn't hire a lot but did get some, it's expensive to travel where I live so that curtailed it to a certain degree.

 

[Flown]

Every Friday night when I was in high school, I would take some of the money I earned at my PT job and go to a local VHS rental outlet. I often either rented the latest anime releases or I went to the horror section and rented whatever had the most outrageous cover art. Those were fun days. Streaming just is not the same kind of thrill.

I do remember I'm in the same age group as you it seems It was always very frustrating to get a damaged VHS tape though!

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

There was a couple in our area, once I returned The video to the wrong store, freaked me out.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I do. Blockbuster was where I bought my first Nintendo DS Lite and DS games. And there was another that closed last year where I bought all sorts of used DVDs and games cheap. I got New Super Mario Bros Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl cheap from that store.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Oh yeah, I remember them. Not just Blockbuster, but others too. They were a major part of my childhood. I didn’t go to rent movies, I went to rent games. It was always exciting.

I also remember when they were all closing down. A few of the ones around here sold off their stuff when they closed… I actually still have the cases (with those “permastruct” things stuck on) for most of those, thick plastic things that each cartridge was in, and the cartridges are still marked as property of those rental stores.

It’s actually one of those things I try not to think about too much as it just gets me all depressed if I do that.

Toluene will remove the glue. be careful smells not safe to get on your hand could cause cancer.

 

[watersprite]

We’d walk up the hill to where there was a general store, and connected to that was the movie rental shop.
When the little independent store was closing, I bought our favorites. I probably still have them stuffed in a box in the basement.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Just gave away my player and remaining tapes a few weeks ago.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Interesting how technology with streaming and other services have atomized our experiences so that things which were sometimes social are are now done in isolation. Video rental stores are such.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Yep. I can say I witnessed the entire life of the video rental industry - from birth to death.

I remember when video rentals first started up. There was a caged display in the grocery store with about a dozen movies. You had to pay a $200 security deposit to ensure you'd return the movie and not pirate it.

Then they relaxed a bit and movie rental stores popped up.

Then they started to decline. I was slow to switch to streaming, so I was still going to video stores when they were run down and starting to smell like a daycare.

Then, suddenly, they were all closed and I didn't even notice until I read an article about "The last Blockbuster".

 

[LadyS]

Yesss. We had a Hollywood Video (not sure if that was a chain) and I still remember the smell and excitement of walking into the store and heading straight to the section where I'd rent the same video every time and drive my brother crazy.

Those were the days.... loved the 90s.

Anyone else remember having to call the theater for the movie times and having to sit through the whole spiel before getting to your movie? Or digging through the newspaper to find them...

 

[LadyS]

I had almost forgotten about that.




Yeah, I have a sister and you sisters are just so much fun. Tormenting brothers seems to be very important for sisters.

Gotta keep you on your toes
Besides I don't know why he complained.. we each got to pick one to rent

 

[Judge]

Yep. A weekend ritual...involving considerable time in choosing what title to take home. And buying TV Guide magazine to scour the television programming worthy of being videotaped.

Back then I used my VHS recorder only to play prerecorded videos, and my Sony Super Betamax to archive my own titles...until I began collecting prerecorded videos. Reminding me of those bleak days when prerecorded VHS cassettes were around $100. With Paramount finally breaking the logjam and charging $26 for their titles, which eventually brought the cost down to something most folks were willing to pay.

Funny to recall the elation of having a 20 inch monitor with built-in DBX noise reduction and stereo with surround sound. Amazing for the times...but garbage compared to today's audio and video technology.

 

[Magna]

Yes, I remember this. It was a time before the internet or cell phones even existed. There was an small neighborhood independently owned video rental store on the closest town. The store was owned by a father and son. The son was known far and wide for having savant like ability to remember the faces, names and addresses of anyone who'd ever rented from the store. A person could rent one time and come in again several years later and the son would greet the person by name. He also knew who many people were connected to socially (ie who a person's friends were). That helped him keep tabs on people. It was common to hear something from him like the following: "Have you seen your friend Tim around? Tell him the next time you see him he's got two past due videos he needs to return ASAP".

 

[Nemesis_2k7]

Every Friday night when I was in high school, I would take some of the money I earned at my PT job and go to a local VHS rental outlet. I often either rented the latest anime releases or I went to the horror section and rented whatever had the most outrageous cover art. Those were fun days. Streaming just is not the same kind of thrill.

yep.

CIVIC video
VIDEO EZY
BLOCKBUSTER
and "noname" video stores.

i miss video game rentals

 

[Nemesis_2k7]

Yes, I rememeber that and it was great. Walking around looking at all the video covers on the shelves, I could spend an hour just looking at that. Just being in the video store was great. It cost $2,50 to rent one movie or $4 for two. I couldn`t do that all the time and that made it more special. You had to carefully pick movies when you got the chance. I still remember a lot of the video covers, just looking at the pictures and reading the back of the covers was fun.

At first I didn`t have a VCR, so I had to rent one. A big black plastic suitcase with a VCR in it. And when you hooked it up to a tv there was always something that had to be adjusted to make it work. Going to the video store was an experience. They had pinball machines and video games too, that was also a big deal.

yep. ours had mortal kombat 1.
street fighter 2 turbo
and a game called "hard drivin" an "8 bit" which went by a few names. even had a proper manual gearbox and clutch. it was on the sega mega drive also. had a loop de loop lol. was nuts

 

[Metalhead]

I remember being a teenager in high school m, and one of my local video rental outlets had a large hentai anime section. They would not rent anything from that section to me since I was under 18. And then that outlet went out of business a week before my 18th birthday. God did not want me watching hentai after all.

 

[Nemesis_2k7]

I remember being a teenager in high school m, and one of my local video rental outlets had a large hentai anime section. They would not rent anything from that section to me since I was under 18. And then that outlet went out of business a week before my 18th birthday. God did not want me watching hentai after all.

Thank god for the internet eh. lol

 

[Suzette]

There were two convenience stores in town. 7-11 and an independent shop. The indie store carried rentals. Just one row and a couple of turning racks. This was VHS days so selection was slim to say the least.
But hey, we had 1500 residents so we were happy to have anything!

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Portland Oregon has a video store called "Movie Madness" that is thriving to this day. It is a massive, multi-room video store that specializes in horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and cult films. With all the glass cases everywhere, containing costumes and props used in popular films, it feels like more of a museum than a video store.

No visit to Movie Madness is complete without a visit to an amazingly delicious Thai restaurant that the locals call "Crazy Thai". The restaurant earned that nickname because the when the owner sees a group of customers coming in, he peeks his smiling face from around the corner, and runs up and hugs everyone, and even kisses some of the prettier customers. He's kind of overbearing, but man, it's the best Asian food and the best customer service. If he really likes you, he gives you free food too.

Welcome to Movie Madness!

 

[Suzanne]

Yes and before the video would start, have that frightening advert that warns about piracy and lol the music and grapic. I would think that they way they did it, made it look worse than if one committed murder lol