Video Rental Stores Still Exist! (Until Today)

[dextire]

I don't know about the rest of you, but around here video rental stores have been long gone for quite a few years now. First it was the little mom & pop stores, then it was Hollywood Video, and then finally Blockbuster all went belly up. So you can imagine my surprise when a friend of mine told me that a Blockbuster Video about an hour away from me was just now closing it's doors for good. I decided to make the drive up there today and take a few pictures of this relic of the past.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/dextire/Imock%20misc/Blockbuster/Blockbuster-1_zps563e9dfb.jpg

The rumors were true. It did indeed exist. A real live video rental store in all it's faded, cracked logo glory.
Let's take a look at the wonders to behold inside.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/dextire/Imock%20misc/Blockbuster/Blockbuster-2_zpsca9cf7d6.jpg

There it is. I had forgotten that weird smell that all Blockbusters seemed to have. I guess it's the plastic from all of their custom made cases.
Those same cases proved to be really difficult to photograph, as they were incredibly shiny.

And they were indeed selling off everything. You could even buy the shelves.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/dextire/Imock%20misc/Blockbuster/Blockbuster-3_zps0364343d.jpg

They had them marked out (since they were for sale) but everything except new releases were 5 day rentals for .99 cents. A pretty great deal if you ask me.

Unfortunately the owner didn't like me taking pictures, so these few were all I managed to get. Why on earth he cared about me snapping a few photos of the last days of this store baffles me.

I did pick up a few things though.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/dextire/Imock%20misc/Blockbuster/Blockbuster-4_zps4261aa79.jpg

These are backings that they put behind the DVDs so you knew where the movies would normally be if they weren't all rented out.
They are fairly thick cardboard and a little bigger than a DVD case. They serve as pretty nice mini posters.

It was very cool to see a video rental store again. Even if it was only for one day.

[Kitsa]

I go to Family Video all the time, usually when Netflix pisses me off by dropping something from their library or doesn't have something available on the streaming plan. It used to be that Netflix had more of the fucked-up Japanese stuff I liked than a video store. Now the opposite is true, for some reason.

Also, our Family Video sends out free rental coupons all the time and they have all kinds of convoluted deals I don't entirely understand, so it's not uncommon to get five movies for five nights for $3 somehow. That's what I did with Fright Night and Sadako 3D.

In the last pic, Tales From the Darkside, The Movie...loved that movie. Debbie Harry! I also liked the orignal poster, which looked weirdly like a Gremlin holding a book. The TV show theme song scared the shit out of me as a kid, but I loved the movie once I was brave enough to watch it.

[Tadao]

I loved going to the video store because it was next to the liquor store.

[MarioRPG]

I haven't seen a video store in years. The closest one was a Blockbuster, and now it's a sushi place. Although, similarly, when I saw one was closing down I bought a couple movies. Terminator, Drag Me To Hell and Last House on the Left all on blu ray for a total of $12

[Esuohlim]

I RENTED "CABIN BOY" ABOUT 20 TIMES :tear

[executioneer]

did you get them pipes clean :(

[Mockery]

Nice that you took photos of it before it was completely ransacked and shut down. How much were they selling the DVDs for anyway? There's still one Blockbuster a few miles away from me that I might go check out... if for no other reason than to stand in it one last time.

That said, there are still some really good independent video stores fighting the good fight to stay open. Cinefile in West LA is really fantastic, and they even have VHS stuff to this day.

[dextire]

Wow, around here even pawn shops don't have VHS anymore. It's either get lucky at a yard sale or flea market if you want instant gratification or buy online. DVDs and blu-rays were both $4.00 for ex-rentals and $20.00 for new.

Kitsa: I love the foreign poster where the gargoyle is reading the book with her arm around the mummy.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/dextire/Imock%20misc/Blockbuster/tales-from-the-darkside-poster_zpsb384a19d.jpg

[Babs]

I go on this VHS horror community on shitty facebook to trade and sell, of course, horror VHS. I've actually got a lot of nice gems off there, they're always updating with stuff every minute of the day. Prices are always negotiable. Check it out, its worth a look at least

[Aaarg]

There's a local video rental shop in town, but unfortunately I've never ventured into it. In the window there's a sign advertising tanning beds, so, um...

[Ex Leper]

We can still sell and trade for absurd prices with snobs on VHS trading groups on Facebook.