Who here remembers video rental stores?

"Be kind. Rewind."

The two video rental stores in my community one of which closed ten years ago and the other about four years ago. Eventually I got rid of all of my videos and replaced them with DVDs.

I just watched a somewhat interesting, tongue in cheek interview with the manager of the very last Blockbuster store in Bend, Oregon. It was conducted inside the store and a number of customers could be seen in the background, browsing through the aisles. It did create a slight sense of nostalgia.

There was a Westcoast video store in Hickory Hollow Mall in Nashville up into the late ‘90s.

I remember in the early '90s when a video store opened up by my house, and they would let you reserve movies. It blew my mind because I was so used to first come, first served when it came to renting, especially new releases. After a few years, I got to know the owners pretty well, and they were going to offer me a job there, which would've been my first, but they ran into financial trouble and had to sell the property. I was so bummed because I was really into movies, and wanted to work at a video store.

I don´t miss how overpriced they were, or paying late fees. It did serve its purpose in its era though. I miss renting video games, that you could basically try before you bought. The other thing I miss about renting movies, is that everyone would have to get together to watch it, and it would almost be like a social event to watch a movie with friends or family. That said, I don´t think anything can beat the convenience of being able to watch basically anything you want today, whenever you want.

Many, many years ago, I worked in a local video store, which offered movies only on VHS. When I interviewed for the job, I asked the owner if he were going to start to offer DVDs, and he said that he didn’t think that DVD was a format that would catch on! (Yes, the store went out of business!) We had our Adult Video section in “the back room.” The store manager was a very cool and funny guy, covered in piercings and ‘tats. We had a tape-splicing machine so we could repair damaged inventory. The manager told me that none of the Adult tapes was ever returned rewound, which ticked him off, so he was using our machine to splice a notice he’d made in at the point where the tape had been stopped. The notice declared, Last Guy Got Off HERE.

One night I took one of the Adult movies home. It was an actual movie with a plot, a murder mystery rife with Adult action. I watched it from start to finish. I was shocked by how much the fidelity of the tape’s picture improved after the last Adult scene but before the climax of the story; and then I realized: I was the first person ever to watch that part of the tape, so that part was not at all worn out!

Where was West Coast Video?

I think there was a store by that name in Redwood City, CA.

There is still a video store open on El Camino in San Mateo, CA, called Rocket Video. One guy works there and tries to keep it in order, but it it too big a job for him. I think it is going to close soon, but he is trying to keep it open while he sells his inventory.