Remember the local video store?
By Rocketj1
@rocketj1 (6955)
United States
February 17, 2010 8:49am CST
My family recently signed up for a popular mail-ordered movie rental service.... you can probably guess which one... Anyway, I was just thinking about the changes in technology over my lifetime. This is how I remember the progression of TV in my own history.
When we were kids, we had a black and white TV and a color one. Shows would advertise the fact that they could be seen "in color". We had 3 local stations plus UHF (remember that?). No cable. Just rabbit ears and eventually a gigantic antenna on the roof. No remote control. You had to get up off the couch to change the channel. Kids' programming was Saturday morning or after school. No videos. No video games.
Then we bought our first Atari set. Pong, combat, tennis. Pri - ma - tive..... but really exciting then!
Then we had a VHS player. Very expensive and so were the movies. Other ppl had beta or even the video disc players with the huge album-looking discs. Then came cable TV and we could finally get better reception (that is if cable wasn't down that day!)
That was the era of the local video store. There seemed to be a mom and pop video shop on every corner. They were hoppin' too! Our local gas stations and grocery stores has their own video rental sections too.
Then came the video chains. And now DVDs can come in your mail or even be uploaded to your computer. And DVDs are probably going to be replaced by Blue Ray.
I just realized the other day that I have not seen a mom and pop video store in YEARS. That got me wondering if any are still around...
Do you have any "mom and pop" (non-chain) video stores in your area? How do they seem to be doing? How are the chains in your area doing? I know that a friend of mine works for one and says they are really starting to hurt here in my town. Did anyone here ever work for one of those shops or possibly own one? I'm just curious about how changing technology has affected the businesses in your area or maybe even your own....
4 people like this
20 responses
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
18 Feb 10
There is a Movie Gallery right down the road here. I haven't been there in years, too small of a selection. Apparently that store is closing though, not sure why. It is the only video store in town, you'd have to drive 15 minutes at least to get to another one.
There's a Blockbuster in the next town over, plus a Hollywood video. I go to the Blockbuster there. They still seem to be doing fine.
Other than that I can't think of any other video stores nearby. I know there are some around... just none very close.
1 person likes this
@olisaur (1922)
• United States
17 Feb 10
I totally remember the local video store! ^o^
I was born in 1990, so as a kid I watched a ton of movies on VHS. I remember the video store my family used to go to vividly- they had this little kids' movies section in the middle, new releases on the left wall and mirrors lining the cieling. I remember I always used to rent Fern Gully and The Pebble and The Penguin, as well as a bunch of Disney movies from that store.
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
17 Feb 10
I go a lot further back. No TV. We listened to the radio. We went to the local cinema on Saturdays to see cartoons. Then years later came TV, only black and white and ONE station the BBC, then a couple more came later but still only in black and white. Many changes in my lifetime.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (85314)
• United States
17 Feb 10
If only the local video stores would lower their prices! The prices were what drove me to sign up with Netflix. I know Blockbuster has an online system as well as a walk in store, but Netflix has such a selection. And I am very impressed with how fast the DVDs show up. When I was a child, we rented our movies from a mom and pop video store. The owners eventually retired, which is why we eventually used Blockbuster. Then Hollywood Video came around and it was cheaper, but I can't beat what I have now.
1 person likes this
@thedailyclick (3017)
•
17 Feb 10
I remember there was a time where in the town there was about 4 video rental stores as well as numerous rental places scattered around on the outskirts. Plus there was several shops which always had a huge collection of films to browse through. Now there is just one DVD rental store left and it's only going to be a matter of time before that disappears because no one uses it anymore. As for shops to buy dvds in, well there are now just two and they only stock chart DVDs. I really miss those old shops where I could spend time browsing through old movies as well as new ones, scouting out those bargains.
1 person likes this
@1anurag1 (3576)
• India
17 Feb 10
Yes i agree with you. but more advancement also reduces the effort to get any thing and cause of which we really cant enjoy simple a thing.
i think when we used to have 10 songs in an audio cassate we used to enjoy more than the ipod we have today with a thousands songs.
when there was a video parlour i used to check out there for available movies but today i dont have time to see all what i already have.
i think simpler things are more valuable.
1 person likes this
@ErrollLeVant (4353)
• United States
17 Feb 10
your time line is pretty accurate, rj1. And I have not seen one of those type stores in a while either--too busy looking at the downloads on my phone I guess!
1 person likes this
@eaforeman6 (8979)
• United States
20 Feb 10
They are far and few between. I still use a vcr and the tapes. They are fading away fast. It was nice to pick up tour popcorn while you were there. There is good and bad to this, don't you think?
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
19 Feb 10
What a walk down memory lane! I remember all that to! Only we had ONE 12" B/W tv! And when the knob broke off it... we use the pliers to turn the channel!
Same thing happened to the cassette bowing out to the CD! And 8 tracks didn't stand a chance!
But first it was the big companys like Lowes and Home Depot etc that put the mom/pop's out of business. Now it is the internet putting alot of everyone out of business. I hear BlockBuster video is closing about half their stores country wide because of the mall kieosks and mail/cable things like NetFlixs.
Soon.. there won't be any bank tellers...but only ATMs!!!
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
19 Feb 10
Well, honestly, I don't think that when I am standing in line at the grocery... although it is my next thought. I refuse to do the self checkout as I refuse to pay the high price of the items, and then do the work myself! If I got a discount for ringing up and bagging my own purchase, I might give it some consideration, but since I pay the same price whether someone else does the work or I do it myself... I will just let them do the work!
Also at banks... I hardly ever use the ATM. I will wait for a teller and get an actual person to do the transaction, that way I know it goes through alright. Sometimes ATM's can mess up and you don't know until later and then the part about someone "seeing" your PIN etc, and not to mention being mugged as you exit the machine... I'll go inside, keep a teller employed and have my safety and account accuracy all in tact!
@walijo2008 (4644)
• United States
19 Feb 10
Yeah, that's one reason I don't like to use the self-checkouts at the grocery store, that could be taking someones job away from them.
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
17 Feb 10
The last non chain video store we had here closed down about a year ago. We actually have one of the chain stores here in the process of closing now, they are selling off the rest of their inventory, Blockbuster is still up though for the time being. The other store was right across the street so the that Blockbuster might get more business now. I think the physical stores are going to hurt now with Blockbuser online and Netflix, and now the Redbox's that have movies for just $1.00. It is very sad, but it is more convenient to get something in the mail and then just put it back in the mail when your done.
1 person likes this
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
19 Feb 10
What a nice trip down memory lane! I so remember having 3 channels to choose from on Saturday mornings, and how long the wait was for the shows to come on if you happened to get up before the day's programming began. The local stations only broadcast between 6 am and midnight...the rest of the time there was a bulls eye test pattern to look at.
I have seen a few mom & pop video rental places, usually at the local gas/convenience store in rural areas. The areas that still only have dial up would still have them since downloading would take hours.
I'm not sure what's keeping some of the big chains open. With the $1 video rental boxes all over the place, it's hard. The local ones here rent more video games than anything else. With those games being so expensive, maybe that's the only thing they can do to stay open.
1 person likes this
@MrKennedy (1978)
•
17 Feb 10
I remember back when I was a kid, there was a local video store near us
It was a small place ran by a lovely couple who had lived in the area for many decades. They were amazing people who were always so kind, and because they knew me and my family quite well, they would always give us free popcorn and candy, or discounted rentals every time we popped in
They had a massive collection of VHS movies for rental, at 50p per night or £1 for 5 days, but set up this reward scheme whereby if you returned a video rewound at the beginning, your next rental would be discounted or you'd get something like rent one VHS, rent another free.
Unfortunately, they were unable to keep up with modern times, and sadly went out of business
It was a small place ran by a lovely couple who had lived in the area for many decades. They were amazing people who were always so kind, and because they knew me and my family quite well, they would always give us free popcorn and candy, or discounted rentals every time we popped in
They had a massive collection of VHS movies for rental, at 50p per night or £1 for 5 days, but set up this reward scheme whereby if you returned a video rewound at the beginning, your next rental would be discounted or you'd get something like rent one VHS, rent another free.
Unfortunately, they were unable to keep up with modern times, and sadly went out of business1 person likes this
@Picquarian (724)
• United States
22 Feb 10
We had two video stores in our town, a large chain store and a privately owned one. The privately owned one has closed down after being in business for over 20+ years.
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
18 Feb 10
I do remember changing in time. All the excitement of new technology coming to us. OMG, VHS was a big deal. People used to say that nothing can be better. Same with CD. I don't play CD's now. Same with video rentals.
They charged late fees and used to be very expansive.
I didn't see any video rental for a long time...because it is declining business...
@dawnald (85130)
• Shingle Springs, California
19 Feb 10
Sounds almost like the story of my life. We had a black and white TV with rabbit ears, then one day dad came home with a color tv. Three channels plus uhf, and how fuzzy were those? Then some of the other channels, local stations came in. Then one day dad came home with a betamax, a pong game, eventually we got cable. Now we have two tvs (only lol), one is HD. VCRs and DVDs on both of them. A DVR on the good one. Satellite TV. A game cube, a wii... My kids have no idea how good they have it. And every week or so we get a new movie in the mail. Sometimes it's for the kids, sometimes it's for us.
And with all that, I still can't see the Olympics broadcast at a decent hour. zzzzz
@walijo2008 (4644)
• United States
19 Feb 10
I haven't seen any mom and pop video stores in a long time, we used to have one in the town I grew up in, I remember they even used to rent VCR's to you, we didn't have a VCR for a long time, and we thought that was something when we got one..lol. I also remember those video disc players, we always had to rent one of those too, I don't know whatever happened to those, I don't think they lasted too long. Where I live now, we used to have two or three video stores, one my sister in law and her husband owned, but this one chain video store came into town and it ran the other small video stores out of business, including my sister in laws. Everybody was talking about the new store in town and how great it was and how many movies they had in stock, but I remained faitful to my SIL, and kept going to her store till they had to sell it, even now I'm not sure if its still open I haven't been there in awhile. If I rent movies, I usually use that little box they have set up at walmart, where its cheap to rent overnight..haha.
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
• United States
18 Feb 10
wow. I remember them. I remember walking a few blocks to get there too. Small store, privately owned. Wall to wall videos. I remember a section for Beta too.
@hagirl (1295)
• United States
18 Feb 10
There are not very many of them anymore just like the old drive-ins have went by the waste side..... The do have a drive-in about 20 minutes away and my husband and I try to visit atleast once a year.....Now video stores are at a least because we have pay-per view on our satellite and cable tv and sometimes it is easier and less cost just to sit at home.....We enjoy sitting at home with the conveniences we have and watch a movie on pay per view.....
