The End of the Video Store Era

           A Celebration and Remembrance

                   By Scott MacDonald

 I don't have a Netflix account.

     It's not that I don't want one. It's just that I prefer instant gratification with a side of adventure.  You can call me old fashioned, but I prefer to walk into a video store and either grab that new movie that I missed in theaters, but have to see, or to search for some gem I may not have heard of.  OK, so the latter hasn't really happened in many years, but it's a great feeling when it does.

     My family and I just moved back to Bradenton, FL. From Seattle, WA.   In Seattle my video store loving behavior was fine, there was independent video stores in every neighborhood, and we lived only a few  blocks away from the mighty Scarecrow Video which had over 100,000 films  and TV shows on their shelves in a variety of formats.  In the entire time we lived in Seattle they only did not have a film I was looking for once (Edgar Wright's Fistful of Fingers for the curious).  It was a good feeling, we got to support a great independent business, and also support something we love, and then we moved back here.  

     The town itself is not too bad, but it is sort of boring, and the only video store we have within a short driving distance is a Blockbuster Video. A little further up is a Hollywood Video, neither store had the greatest selection, and the Blockbuster was actually downright pitiful.  That, of course, didn't stop us from going. We love film, and they were the only game in our neighborhood, so we went. It made us long for Seattle and Scarecrow, or at least to be closer to Sarasota, and the wonderful Video Renaissance there. 

     I never thought that little Blockbuster would impact my life very much, I did work for them during a short spell at the end of high school, but it was just a job, by then I didn't really have Blockbuster taste, I had recently discovered Fulci and Argento, and had begun to delve deeper into more underground films, which is an area that Blockbusters simply do not cater to. Like I said, I didn't think it would impact me, but it ended up doing so the other day.

     My family and I drove by on the way to get my daughter an after school snack, when we saw the “Store Closing” sign hanging on the building. This isn't anything new to me, I've seen a million chain video stores close around here the last few years from the Movie Gallery's and Video Library's to a few Hollywood's that were around here. So at first I didn't even think about it. We just did what we always did, hit the liquidation sale, and hoped to get some cheap cinematic gems.  And then that's when we found out that all the area Blockbuster's are closing, like I said this would normally be a cause to celebrate, but then it hit me.  That leaves this town a ONE VIDEO STORE TOWN.

     That's when it hit me, after years of avoiding Netflix, it has now become a necessity. The adventure is gone at least while we remain in this town.  No more exploring the shelves for that long undiscovered gem, we will just order what we want at the time, and then wait.

     I have a very hard time adjusting the idea of this existence. My early cinematic knowledge came from video rental stores. In fact I would go so far as to say that without them, I may not love movies as much as I do. I was born in the early 80's, so I cannot remember a time when they didn't exist.  I remember going to the Mom and Pop shop Videoland in Brick, NJ.  I can't accurately remember if their selection was anything special, alls I know is that I rented a lot of NES games, and Howdy Doody tapes. 

   It was Wieben's Video in Secaucus that my love for horror was born, even though I was only 8-9 at the time, Wieben's and their other local competition Family Video would rent me horror tapes, that I would sneak out and watch when my parents weren't home or asleep.  It was my first taste of true forbidden cinematic adventure, and with that first taste I became obsessed, and wanted more.  By the time my family moved to Florida when I was 11, I had a full blown cinematic fever, but by this time the video store landscaped had been altered, in this town their were mostly chains (2 indie stores I can remember Club Video and Barb's, although I rarely frequented either), but the chains at the time had an amazing selection, I remember the local Video Library had an absolutely humongous horror section, that my friends and I ate up.  We weren't content watching Friday the 13th Part VII for the millionth time, so we constantly searched for titles in the store we hadn't seen.

   Without video rental stores I would not have these memories, and while there will still be Blockbuster's, and Hollywood's for some time, and indie shops will exist as long as there are independent minded film lovers to shop and staff them.  I never liked Blockbuster, nor will I ever probably.  But the feeling of living in 1 video store town is leaving me with quite a strange feeling. I am beginning to wonder if this is the beginning of the end of the video store era.

   I would like to encourage all EuroCultAV readers to email me at with their video store memories, or to discuss your favorite video stores past and present.  If you have a cool indie shop in your town give them a shout out, even if you have a chain store that just happens to have a surprising awesome selection write about them to. When I get enough responses, I will post your replies in a separate article dedicated to the memory and celebration of video rental stores around the world. This is not just open to North American residents, no matter where you are in the world, I want to know where you rent your movies!! 

-Scott MacDonald