Renting Movies from Your Local Video Store

[Vincent Vega]

When I was a kid--in the mid/late 90s--we had a local Video Rental store which we frequented. It was a small place but always had a big selection of movies available; Some of y enduring childhood favorites (and probably many other films I've sadly forgotten) were from this place. It was a family run place as I remember it, though sadly, I can't recall the family, but I do remember that from years of renting from them, we built up a rapport of them.

I miss that. Netflix is cool but there's no human connection about it. You just download a movie in solitude or whatever. And it takes two seconds, it's routine. When I was a kid, we didn't rent every day, and as such, when we did, it was kind of an event. It was something to look forward to. And businesses like Netflix probably put so many families like the one I used to rent from out of business--I only hope they found some other trade to prosper in.

Aside but I also miss VHS types. Yes, yes I know newer is better, but popping in a VHS tape holds a lot of nostalgia for me....So do phones with cords but that's a different point entirely.

Does anyone else miss renting movies from your local video store?

Edited February 11, 2013 by Vincent Vega

[Georgy Zhukov]

I don't have to feel bad about going to the porn section anymore.

[pugachev]

I still rent from the local place from time to time. Its equipped with a full adult section, with the hanging beads at the entrance and everything. lol

[jekylhyde]

I do.

[AxlisOld]

Quality Video. Always used to beg my dad to rent Sega games while we were there. Now I own all the games I used to beg to rent. My life rules.

[izzygirl]

I miss putting adhesive tape on the VHS videos so I could record other things.

[Guest bellastar2355]

I miss putting adhesive tape on the VHS videos so I could record other things.

Haha the good old days

[ManetsBR]

I used to rent movies. But then I discovered Pirate Bay and Netflix.

[Gordon Comstock]

I haven't watched a real DVD in so long that I didn't know there was still previews before you get to the main menu.

[ManetsBR]

Yeah... Good guy VHS lets you skip them. DVD doesn't.

[Dirty Harry]

I don't get the same thrill out of downloading Body Flesh repeatedly as I did out of renting it.

[Nosaj Thing]

I remember those days in Blockbuster renting VHS movies with my dad. Awesome days.

[Gracii Guns]

I still rent DVDs from the library which I live next door to. It's cheap (£1.60-£2.50), I don't have to download anything and I'm not tied in to a monthly charge. They also have a good selection of world cinema to choose from. It suits my lifestyle, and is something I never did when younger. To me, I couldn't ask for anything better right now. No need to miss anything!

[James Bond]

Netflix is definitely convenient. Plus it's cheap to just buy a lot of older movies nowadays. I'm a big action fan, for example, and most of my Stallone and Schwarzenegger movies cost me about $5 or less a piece. At that price, there's no need to rent because it'd cost me about the same anyways. Then there's the option of renting off of cable or satellite and you don't even have to leave your house.

All that said, while it's easier to get movies nowadays, I do miss walking into my local video store and seeing walls covered with VHS tapes. Sometimes as a kid I'd rent a movie just based on the box art. If something looked cool, I'd probably get it. Then the nostalgia of the "Be Kind, Rewind" stickers and so forth. The good ol' days.

[Randy Lahey]

I don't miss spending $5 on a new release.

[classicrawker]

Netflix and on demand all the way. don't miss going to Blockbuster only to find all the new releases were gone..........