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I loved video stores back in the 1980's. I was in middle school in the mid 80's when they were big. We had a really great video store nearby (south suburbs of Chicago), where we rented most of our videos and games. It was run by a guy who had started it as a tv and radio repair and pro video business. So it was a place you could get your busted TV fixed and buy pro level cameras etc. It even had a unique name "Pro-Visual".
When the neighboring Pacific Stereo went out of business, he took over the lease, tore down the wall between his shop and that space and opened a huge (for a mom and pop video store) video store. Yup, it had the wood paneling! But the owner really loved technology so he had a computerized check out system in place years before anybody else did (even the chains). The folks didn't mind us going to that store since it didn't have that "back room". Heard years later the owner didn't want to deal with the problems created by those rooms (heard from other video store owners that they could be huge problems).
Our first time renting, we rented the VCR since we didn't have one yet. They had a interesting setup to make it easier to set up and it would protect the VCR (must have cost a pretty penny to set up) from the rough handling it would get. I don't remember if it was for my birthday or one of my brothers. Don't remember what the movie was anymore.
For some reason the folks bought the VCR from an another video store (one we never rented from). I think it cost about $700 bucks if I remember right.
But anyway that main video store lasted until fairly recently. I stopped going when I moved to Indiana in the early 1990's. The owner was well into his 70's back in the 1980's so it went through a bunch of owners after he passed away, slowly getting smaller and smaller. I think it lasted until 2006 or so.
When I moved to Indiana I found an another mom and pop shop. Interestly enough, the owners of both shops knew each other and were good buddies. The second shop was smaller but had a huge stock. The owner was always there (he joked that he lived in the back, there was no back). But you could find no bigger film buff then that guy. Got to be friends with him, to the point that people would leave messages (in the days before cell phones) for me there ha ha!
However he was retirement age when DVD's were starting to take hold in the late 1990's. He decided to retire as investing in DVD's would likely never pay off for him. He only had leased first release DVD's (yup many stores leased their newest movies). I still have a bunch of leftovers VHS tapes he gave me when he closed his shop.
Now the few times a rent a movie, I go to "family" video. The only video store with that back room ha ha. They seem to be the only chain around here that seems to do pretty well, they are even adding new stores yet. Don't know what they do different from the failing chains like Blockbuster.
The irony of it all. Blockbuster was once owned by distant relatives of my dad (fifth cousins or something). We never went to blockbuster even after a store opened nearby. I don't think I have rented more then ten movies from there.
Oh man. Great thread. We had Movie Gallery then Blockbuster then Hollywood. Never got to go in the non chain ones. Our mom knew they had adult movies so they were off limits.
our first VCR was designed to be portable so it was in two pieces. The tuner and the player. The player was a top loader and had a rechargable battery that lasted like...ten minutes. The thing weighed about 10 pounds and you were supposed to hang it off your belt. The camera (sold separately) was the size of a small rocket launcher. My dad had the idea he was going to film some of my brothers basket ball games. However the VCR was like 900 I think. The camera was probably a couple of grand.
Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
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the one near me was called video plus, and it had 3 locations owned by one man..and he was open for 2 decades but had to close shop. he watch me grow up! anyways i loved it, $2.50 rentals and free popcorn on friday nights and you rent like 7 and get the 8th free.. lots of discovery could be made browsing videos and choosing one..so exciting.. now i really have no where to find movies besides redbox and the internet but some things can't be found in those two places
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