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Not just one, but two. I'm lucky enough to be in close proximity to both a Family Video (newly opened no less) and a local mom-and-pop rental store called Video Universe. I go to Family Video if I want the new stuff cheap and Video Universe if I want something classic. I got to tell ya that I really dig the experience and not just out of nostalgia. It's a great excuse to get out of the house, a good experience for my daughter picking the movies she wants off the shelves and overall just a cheaper alternative. I still have Netflix and Prime because I dig on original content and the convenience, but the video store just offers much more in terms of specific new and old content. Some of the benefits of the video store: -Great atmosphere with plenty of great employees/patrons around to talk about movies with. -Free kids movies are a godsend. -Being able to pay only $5 to watch an entire HBO series that is vastly overpriced for both video and digital. -Having a pizza place attached to Family Video. No, seriously, it's actually in tandem with the video store. There is a takeout window right in the middle of the new release section. The best thing ever is that if you rent a new release and later order pizza delivery, the delivery guy will return the movie for free. Where the hell was this place when I was a kid? -Plenty of rare and strange movies that I love discovering on the shelf. Video Universe has an entire section for Troma and Takashi Miike films. -If the movie is messed up, I can just bring it back and get another one for free. None of this email back and forth BS I've had to deal with on Vudu or Amazon for digital rentals going from server or bandwidth problems. Anybody else still go to the video store?
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Sep 30, 2014 18:08
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Not since about 2008.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:18
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I wish there was a good place I could go to and browse blu rays. I enjoy browsing around without really knowing what I'm looking for. I'm willing to pay Best Buy prices in order to do this, but now even Best Buy is shrinking its blu ray section down to nothing, and its mostly new releases.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:25
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All of my local stores closed years ago. 
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Sep 30, 2014 18:30
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I also go to Family Video sometimes.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:32
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Yes! I live very near to a two-story behemoth of a video store called I Luv Video. It has an incredible selection, including titles that were only ever released on VHS. Tuesday is Free Beer day and I can easily spend an hour browsing and sippin'. Down the street is a similarly great place called Vulcan Video. Austin has some definite problems, but a lack of video stores is not one of them!
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Sep 30, 2014 18:36
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I haven't seen a video store in a couple of years now.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:42
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:I haven't seen a video store in a couple of years now. It seems they are easier to find in smaller exurbs and ruralish areas where there are still people who don't know about Netflix.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:30
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I never really thought about it until I read this topic, but it must be at least 10 years since I've set foot in a video rental store. I remember they closed the local Blockbuster maybe 4ish years ago, and I really don't think we even have a rental store in town now.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:45
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There used to be two local mom & pop video stores in my town and a Blockbuster. One of them went out of business briefly before Netflix and RedBox took off. But the other was most certainly killed by them. Blockbuster was the last to go, although it held on for quite a while. Anyone think there's a chance that the mom & pop video store could come back some day, or is the concept dead and gone?
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Sep 30, 2014 20:53
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There's an indie video store downtown here attached to the indie theater, which is attached to a bar and cafe. Seems to work.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:54
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I still go to my local 2Q Video which, to my knowledge, is the only video store in Toronto that lets you check if the video you want is in stock on their site before hoofing it over there.
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Sep 30, 2014 21:14
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We have a local video store, Video Paradiso, that separates a portion of its videos by director and has a fairly robust foreign section (also partially separated by director). It's a little pricey, but it works in a pinch.
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Sep 30, 2014 21:26
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TrixRabbi posted:There used to be two local mom & pop video stores in my town and a Blockbuster. One of them went out of business briefly before Netflix and RedBox took off. But the other was most certainly killed by them. Blockbuster was the last to go, although it held on for quite a while. I wish they would, Netflix has basically given up on dvd rentals and streaming selections are really poor. Often the only way to watch some older more obscure films is to buy a copy or hope somebody puts it up on youtube. I love my local video store and hope it stays around for a long time but I'm not very optimistic that it will.
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Sep 30, 2014 22:10
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I get all my rentals from the public library. They have pretty much everything including full seasons of TV shows and tons of foreign films. The only downfall is it's near impossible to find most "B movies", which are what video stores were great for back in the day.
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Sep 30, 2014 22:39
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zandert33 posted:The only downfall is it's near impossible to find most "B movies", which are what video stores were great for back in the day. Yeah. My old local store had a 10 movies, for 10 days, for 10 dollars, deal for their old VHS section. So many glorious bad movies. So many memories.
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Sep 30, 2014 22:43
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Unless I'm feeling so unmotivated that I don't want to throw on some jeans, I go to Naro Expanded Video. Browsing hard copies is a much better experience than sifting through all the titles on Netflix. There's also a rent 2, get one free deal that runs five days a week.
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Oct 1, 2014 00:12
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I stopped going to my local video store when I rented a game, forgot to return it, and they told me I could either return it, pay $40, and then keep renting. Or just not return it and not pay.
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Oct 1, 2014 00:16
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Magic Pus posted:Yes! I live very near to a two-story behemoth of a video store called I Luv Video. It has an incredible selection, including titles that were only ever released on VHS. Tuesday is Free Beer day and I can easily spend an hour browsing and sippin'. Down the street is a similarly great place called Vulcan Video. Austin has some definite problems, but a lack of video stores is not one of them! I work at Vulcan and can confirm it's amazing. My very first job was at a Hollywood Video. Growing up, I worked in Movie Gallery and Family Video, too. As a lover of movies the perk of free rentals of anything was a special bonus I never wanted to give up. Being an adult now, when I moved to Austin, being able to regain that perk as a supplement to my adult job is amazing. Movie stores are amazing and you should rent at one if you can. Screw Redbox. Netflix is fine by itself but you can rent at a store and have Netflix and be golden.
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Oct 1, 2014 03:43
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I sometimes go the the local video store for a week's worth of cheap old dvd rentals. Very occasionally my parents will still rent a new release too.
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Oct 1, 2014 04:12
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fromagex posted:I work at Vulcan and can confirm it's amazing. You guys made my day, Vulcan Video has been around since as long as I can remember when I grew up in Austin; good to hear it's still around 14 years later.
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Oct 1, 2014 05:01
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The local Blockbuster put up signs they were moving and had a sale to shed some of their supply a couple years ago. They moved across the parking lot to a place of similar size, with arguably better visibility, and surely the space is more expensive to lease. Pretty weird.
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Oct 1, 2014 10:04
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Chronojam posted:The local Blockbuster put up signs they were moving and had a sale to shed some of their supply a couple years ago. They moved across the parking lot to a place of similar size, with arguably better visibility, and surely the space is more expensive to lease. Pretty weird. Must be one of the rare independently owned Blockbusters, I thought they folded on the corporate side about 6 months ago. There was one locally until they folded, it was the strangest thing when I moved here because I thought they had completely gone under about 5 years earlier. I haven't been in a video store in about 10 years myself. I definitely do miss the days of hanging out with my friends then, hitting the old video store when darkness fell to go find both good and terrible horror movies to watch.
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Oct 1, 2014 13:59
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TrixRabbi posted:Anyone think there's a chance that the mom & pop video store could come back some day, or is the concept dead and gone? I'm optimistic that it will. Keep in mind that the Family Video I mentioned just opened up a few months ago. Last Friday I was in there the place was packed with people renting stuff and enjoying the free pizza samples from the attached eatery. There is a certain demand as there are several people is rural areas with internet that cannot support streaming as well. Many of them are reliant on Redbox for videos or just purchasing them online. The prospect of going to a video store where you can actually talk with people rather than going through online customer support is very appealing in that aspect. Blockbuster and Hollywood mainly went down because they were mega-chains of video stores that expanded far too quickly and shot way over the bow for aspirations. Blockbuster at one point had music stores and a Dave & Busters equal. They were doomed to fail when a national alternative presented itself. Mom and pop stores have a better chance because they'll rely on the local community which I'm very thankful has kept mine alive and well. Some awesome video stores. -Scarecrow Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VMhEq6kxG4 -Video Universe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TesPB6G9eY -Video Ezy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQYXpgziaJ0 -Video Stop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QqaDZo_sME
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Oct 1, 2014 14:23
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I don't think I've been to a video store in about 5 years or so, when they converted my local Blockbuster to a Mongolian BBQ place.TrixRabbi posted:
Here's the benefits of a video store in general: - You can get things on demand, if it's in the catalog they have - It's equal or higher quality to what you can see on TV - It's probably cheaper than buying the video from the store Here's why large video stores (Blockbuster et all) are better than small ones: - They have a larger potential catalog because of economies of scale. - They can probably get things for cheaper (not always). - They could probably rent you the equipment (this was back during the N64 days I remember they would rent those out or a VCR or something). Here's why Netflix et all are better than either: - Huge Huge catalog - Way lower fee per movie if you use the service more than about once or twice - It's really on demand (no worries about leaving your house to pick up/drop off a movie) The only issues with them are that they don't get the movies for a while (this is mostly a studio thing and they were loving with video stores near the end too), and the quality is not quite as good as what's on a Blu-Ray (though arguably it's "good enough"). As internet penetration increases (you only really need ~10Mbit connection for an HD Netflix stream and 90% of America has the potential to access at least that) the pluses of the latter outweigh the traditional video format. Oh, and this isn't even mentioning the iTunes store, where you can rent stuff (for much more per movie than Netflix) and it's released either the day the Blu-Ray comes out, or even before that in some cases (Godzilla 2014 came out digitally a few weeks before the Blu-Ray).
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Oct 1, 2014 16:41
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Last time I went into a video store was 2003. Blockbuster. The last 3 times I had rented DVDs there, they were so scratched up they were unplayable. The last time I was there, I told them I wanted to inspect the disks before I left the store. They wouldn't let me. I gave them my video rental card and left, and just watched stuff on pay per view until streaming took off. It seemed to be just a few months later BB posted their first huge quarterly loss and started closing stores. I like to feel I was a small part of that, because they were assholes renting unplayable DVDs.
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Oct 1, 2014 16:59
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My dad was asking me about Netflix, so I explained it to him, and he seemed interested. I thought to myself, 'cool, he is finally adapting to new technology'. The next time I talked to him, he had just opened up an account at Family Video and rented Righteous Kill and Dirty (Cuba Gooding Jr). Keep on keeping on, dad.
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Oct 1, 2014 17:05
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There's probably a couple of video rental places still going around here. There was some article in the paper about how the tanning beds they have is what keeps them hanging on. The closest Blockbuster closed sometime between 2011-2012.
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Oct 1, 2014 17:12
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The last movie I rented from a video store was Crossroads (yes, the Britney Spears one) for the Rifftrax. The staff laughed at my choice and I had to explain myself. Thankfully, Hollywood Video went under soon after, so there is no permanent record of this transaction.
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Oct 1, 2014 17:17
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Slugworth posted:My dad was asking me about Netflix, so I explained it to him, and he seemed interested. I thought to myself, 'cool, he is finally adapting to new technology'. I worked at a Blockbuster for about three years in college and people like your dad were the best customers and the most fun to deal with. They'd browse around as if they really didn't know what they wanted to watch, then inevitably I'd end up ringing them up for multiple straight to DVD releases, most likely including at least one Stephen Segal movie. These people, despite their poo poo taste in movies, always seemed really cool and part of me feels jealous of them because they can enjoy simple pleasures like Segal snapping some dudes neck.
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Oct 1, 2014 17:33
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Slugworth posted:My dad was asking me about Netflix, so I explained it to him, and he seemed interested. I thought to myself, 'cool, he is finally adapting to new technology'. Dirty is the worst movie I've ever seen in a movie theater (I saw it for a free screening). Good god it was terrible. I stopped renting movies at video stores a long long time ago. But when I was into collecting DVDs I would still check out Blockbuster's used movie section and maybe even buy one if the price was good. It also helped that family still sometimes gave me Blockbuster cards as gifts. The last thing I bought at a Blockbuster was when the local one was closing, I bought a a couple boxes of candy for 70% off. I proceeded to eat them while watching a movie at the theater across the street.
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Oct 1, 2014 20:30
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There's a nice little video store on Fox Point in Providence called Acme Video that I really like. It's on the pricey side for a rental, but they have a ton of B movies and foreign stuff so it evens out. The owner seems to be a 9-11 Truther (or there is a lot of demand for those rentals?) given there is a shelf for 9-11 conspiracy movies, but that's my only real complaint.
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Oct 1, 2014 22:18
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Sadly, Acme just closed a couple of months ago. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.
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Oct 2, 2014 00:28
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When the local Hollywood Video went out of business I was able to buy a DVD of The Constant Gardener for a dollar. I still haven't watched it.
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Oct 2, 2014 02:51
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Magic Pus posted:Sadly, Acme just closed a couple of months ago. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. That's actually a big bummer because I love renting movies when it is cold out. Probably better I found out this way as I was going to stop in there tomorrow to rent something.
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Oct 2, 2014 03:47
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There's a company in my area that basically snapped up all the closing blockbusters and video ezys and will ride the wave until Netflix comes here or whatever really undercuts the business. They do a dollar per weekly on Tuesdays, and it's an amazing way to watch classic films and cool genre stuff. It's like a record store, where there's much less textual baggage and you can actually be surprised.
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Oct 2, 2014 04:35
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We have an Exchange in my town which is kind of cheating, but they still sell movies so it counts drat it.  Have tried getting a job there for years too. I live within walking distance of it for god's sake 
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Oct 2, 2014 04:53
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Like with record shops, video stores were a big part of my youth and so I'll never be able to tell if I miss the stores or the experience of being 16 and discovering stuff for the first time. I think both are inextricably linked. At any rate, if I'm a suburban guy with a big place before I reach my 70s I'll probably build a faux video store in my basement, then live out my remaining days down there watching tapes on one of those crts where the screen isn't too big, but it's been set into a gigantic wooden console that gets hotter than the sun in summer months. Maybe I'll hire a pimply teenager to work the counter.
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Oct 2, 2014 15:56
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From about 2008-2010 I lived an extremely short walk away from a Blockbuster. They had an unlimited rentals program there, maybe $20 or $30 a month for two movies or games at a time? Something like that. It was great, I played so many Xbox 360 games and watched so many movies. I also partook in their sales very often - 3 movies for $20. A good chunk of my DVD library is actually Blockbuster copies. It was a smaller, urban store so not an enormous selection but it had an immediacy that Netflix DVD rentals don't have. My next apartment was also within walking distance of a Blockbuster though not as close, and I was around when that one closed so I scored a few cheap movies at the end. Growing up in suburban Kansas City there was a store called Video Library that had everything. PC games, old travel videos, porn, anime...everything. They had a phone by the desk with a sign next to it that said "Home Hotline" even well into the cell phone era - very quaint. I was sad when that place shut down. A lot of good memories renting weird movies from there as I grew up and my tastes expanded. Another fun memory is when I was visiting a family friend in Tarrytown, NY back in high school. They didn't allow any franchises in that town since it's so historical, so I got to walk down a hill to a little tiny video store where I rented Clerks and watched that for the first time. These days I just use the library if there's something I can't find on Netflix or youtube, but they don't have everything. I'll have to investigate and see if there's any indie video stores near me, there really is something special about them.
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Oct 2, 2014 15:58
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There's a great video store in my neighborhood called Le Video whose massive selection includes a giant VHS catalog of everything under the sun (like a quarter shelf just for "Nunsploitation"). There were talks of it closing a few months ago, and I remember feeling vaguely outraged that such a neighborhood institution could be shut down by the cold heart of the market until I realized I hadn't stepped foot in there in years because, well, I never really needed to. They're still in business, so I should swing by and look for something obscure.
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Oct 2, 2014 20:10
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