We Need Video Stores Now, More Than Ever
❤️📼❤️
Hello, there. I’ve just returned from vacationing in the Bahamas!
I’m kidding. We’ve been working non-stop here at Obsolete Media on our upcoming feature film. But it hasn’t been all work and no play. We were on Substrate Radio a few weeks ago talking with the Sleep In Cinema guys about E.T. and how it relates to our new film. We had a blast chatting with Craig and Gareth! If you missed it, you can listen to it here.
Speaking of our favorite Amblin film, E.T. didn’t have a home video release until six years after its theatrical run.* However, it quickly became the most rented movie of 1988, and one of the best selling home videos of all time. Hey! Remember video stores? Remember the Friday night ritual of ordering a pizza and renting two or three movies? That’s what I want to talk about today.
Renting a movie from a brick and mortar video store seems like an era long gone. But just four years ago there was still a video rental chain with 600 locations in the U.S. That chain was Family Video, and it was still going strong before the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to shutter.
Listen, I’m not going to sit here and make an economic argument for the existence of video stores. It doesn’t make pragmatic financial sense, but maybe we’re at a point in history where we should pump the brakes on our so-called progress and start making deliberate choices for the things we want to exist.
People decry the deaths of arcades, malls, and of video stores- the once stalwart institutions of pop-cultural congregation. We are now, all of us, siloed into our own bubbles; entertainment just a click away. But what about the act itself? The act of leaving the house for a particular purpose, whether buying a pair of jeans or renting a movie. What have we given up by giving in to convenience?
In the last decade, we’ve forfeited commitment to the low-stakes effort of a swipe. Back when you had to travel to a store for a thing, you went with a deliberate purpose. You were going to leave with the thing. You went to Blockbuster, you left with a movie… or three. And you watched it, had some feelings about the experience and brought it back for someone else to embark on a similar journey.
Today, with the half dozen streaming services you promiscuously participate in, you choose one and then spend forty five minutes scrolling their catalog until you settle on a film or a show. You watch for five or ten minutes and then either turn it off or your attention is pulled elsewhere, like your phone. But it’s okay- there’s no sunk-cost, apart from the hour you just wasted and the monthly subscription you’re paying where you feel like you’re saving but you’re really not.
When you rented a movie, you watched it. And it could’ve been baaad. Hell, most times it was just mediocre. But it also could have been GREAT. And you had nothing to base that decision on other than the box art and maybe a soliloquy from the high school employee that said it was rad. You didn’t check Rotten Tomatoes or Letterboxd- you rolled the dice.
What about that pimple-faced cinephile working the counter that rec’d Tampopo over and over until you acquiesced?** It can be a tedious job checking in returns, rewinding tapes, cleaning discs, putting new releases on the shelves, and organizing the back catalog. It delights them to recommend a movie you’ve never seen! They get a small joy out of curating a Cronenberg retrospective section and constantly updating their “staff picks”. They’re adding to their cinematic education- and getting paid to do it! It’s better than flipping burgers.
We’ve talked about the human element, and it’s important. But do you know what really winds me up? The lack of access to certain films and shows in the streaming ecosystem. It seems like a minor thing, but it’s growing every day. Most Netflix shows and movies don’t even get a physical release, thus requiring a membership just to watch them. One of my favorite movies of the last few years, Tick Tick… Boom!, never got a physical release. That’s a film I would own if given the chance. Streamers pull shows and movies as they please.
Before I moved to L.A., I would frequent the local Blockbuster and rent discs of the Tales From the Crypt series. I had memories of catching certain episodes on HBO when I was a kid and wanted to relive that. It is corny and schlocky, but it’s wonderful. I own the series on dvd now, and I’m thankful I do, because it has never been made available for streaming or digital purchase. That was a culturally significant show in the 90s and it is not available to streaming audiences!
Will video stores make a comeback? I doubt it. But wouldn’t it be great? There are still some that are fighting the good fight. The last Blockbuster is going strong in Bend, Oregon. They’ve got a community that supports them and they got a boost in merch sales from the documentary that was released a few years ago. Vidiots in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles recently reopened with a new cinema addition. Scarecrow Video in Seattle is currently running a fundraiser to help them continue after 36 years in business. They boast the largest catalog of movies in the U.S. at 148,467. It’s like the library of Alexandria for cinema, and we can’t let it burn. I donated, and I hope you will, too.
Here at home there are two super cool boutique video stores in the Huntsville area that are worth checking out: Big Mix Video, where you can rent and buy dvds, blurays, and other physical media, and KBSVHS, a total throwback specializing in VHS sales. If you live in an area with a still-operating video store, please support it. Your cultural community will be the better for it. Some things shouldn’t be left to die. Video stores need to live on.
*Universal was having trouble with the film being pirated on VHS, so they finally released an official version with a green tapeguard and holographic sticker to indicate its authenticity. According to Wikipedia, E.T. was rented 6 million times in its first two weeks and grossed over $250 million in video sales.
**That was me. I was that pimple-faced cinephile working at Movie Gallery.
Can’t blame you. RIP Rose Video.
I was trained as a Media Librarian, so I knew what was on the shelf, but I also produced a film review show, so I watched an enormous number of movies. I would love to reactivate that show and perhaps reinvigorate those feelings of the local video store.