The end of an era -- Blockbuster is really closed (1 Viewer)

[BobO'Link]

Blockbuster here was horrible. Nothing but the latest "hot" movies - dozens of copies with all of them out. Little to no "back catalog" titles. Prices higher than anyone else in town with late fees that bordered on usurious and they *always* tried to sell you their overpriced popcorn packets and drinks. I never used them.

 

[Malcolm R]

We didn't get a Blockbuster until just a few years before they all shut down, but the store we had was big and beautiful. Lots of catalog titles and new releases. I loved to go in and browse around. Must be we got lucky. Unfortunately, I think it was open for less than 5 years.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Before Blockbuster, there was Erol's.

Where did you live when you had Erol's?

They started here in NoVA, so we had them from the beginning. Dunno how far they expanded...

 

[B-ROLL]

I only "rented" from Blockbuster once - When I had to house/dog sit for my mom and she had a VCR. Being "not wealthy" I would take advantage of many stores' "Join for free and get your first X movies for free." Blockbuster was one of those stores. Later after I learned that some of the video stores sell their old movies for way less than retail, I started going to a new blockbuster and ended up getting A LOT of "previously enjoyed" DVDs (later Blu-rays but they basically wanted near full retail for those...) Especially during the 6 for $20 sales. I remember on year between new and used I had watched all of the Best Picture Oscar(R) nominees ...

There were several times when their business model worked against them and they lost tons by guaranteeing a certain film would be in stock - I paid $4.95 for a pristine copy of Star Wars the Phantom Menace on VHS the Tuesday after it came out on VHS because it was NOT coming out on disc. I was told 1/2 the shipment came in late and most people just went to Best Buy or a local grocery store to buy it as both were having promotions around the film...

 

[Gary Seven]

Where did you live when you had Erol's?

They started here in NoVA, so we had them from the beginning. Dunno how far they expanded...

Rockville, MD

 

[Tommy R]

I have fond memories of renting movies back in the day (pre-DVD), regardless if it was Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, or various independent stores. I went to them all to some frequency. Though after DVDs took over I eventually stopped renting all together because it was like Russian Roulette when it came to getting a disc that wouldn’t play, or play for half the movie and then not play the rest. Once at a Blockbuster I returned a DVD and asked for a refund because it wouldn’t play, which they were fine with, but while I was still browsing for something else to rent I saw the employee return the damaged/defective DVD on the shelf (it was their one copy of an older title), so I reminded the employee that it didn’t play and maybe they shouldn’t keep it on the shelves anymore, and he just shrugged and walked back to the front, leaving the DVD where he put it on the shelf for the next person.

 

[The Drifter]

Though after DVDs took over I eventually stopped renting all together because it was like Russian Roulette when it came to getting a disc that wouldn’t play, or play for half the movie and then not play the rest. Once at a Blockbuster I returned a DVD and asked for a refund because it wouldn’t play, which they were fine with, but while I was still browsing for something else to rent I saw the employee return the damaged/defective DVD on the shelf (it was their one copy of an older title), so I reminded the employee that it didn’t play and maybe they shouldn’t keep it on the shelves anymore, and he just shrugged and walked back to the front, leaving the DVD where he put it on the shelf for the next person.

Yes! This is exactly one of the reasons I stopped going to Blockbuster - but in my case I always had to argue with them when a DVD didn't work, and they wouldn't always give me credit for this. In a couple of cases, I told them that if they didn't believe me that the DVD was scratched, I could show them the exact place that it wasn't working - if they played it in front of me. They then said that the DVD players in the store were only "authorized" to play the movies they were advertising, and they couldn't play anything else....typical. Obviously, they didn't give a $#$% about taking scratched DVD's out of circulation & giving them to another customer - where the same thing would happen to them - all they cared about was renting out the DVD's, and one less on the shelf was less revenue for them - a-holes. Though the store would have gone under anyway (when streaming started taking off), this pi$$ poor customer service probably contributed to their going out of business.

For whatever reason, I rarely (and maybe never) had the same issues with Hollywood Video. Their DVD's were always in better shape (maybe they would get rid of the ones that didn't work).

 

[Vic Pardo]

I stopped renting from my local Blockbuster (now long gone) sometime in the '90s when some genius manager decided to drop the "Anime" section and interfile all the anime titles alphabetically with every other title in stock, so you had to peruse through rack after rack to find anything. I complained to a store clerk and he was just as upset as I was, but he didn't have the power to undo it. After that I only went in to check on sale titles.

 

[B-ROLL]

I stopped renting from my local Blockbuster (now long gone) sometime in the '90s when some genius manager decided to drop the "Anime" section" and interfile all the anime titles alphabetically with every other title in stock, so you had to peruse through rack after rack to find anything. I complained to a store clerk and he was just as upset as I was, but he didn't have the power to undo it. After that I only went in to check on sale titles.

I think that was corporate for anything but um Blockbuster Hits from the last 2-3 months & Children's.

 

[Tommy R]

I stopped renting from my local Blockbuster (now long gone) sometime in the '90s when some genius manager decided to drop the "Anime" section" and interfile all the anime titles alphabetically with every other title in stock, so you had to peruse through rack after rack to find anything. I complained to a store clerk and he was just as upset as I was, but he didn't have the power to undo it. After that I only went in to check on sale titles.

Oh god, I think I remember this sort of thing happened at my local Blockbuster at some point. NO genre sections at all, just a New Releases section and A-Z for the rest.

Another thing that comes to mind that I had forgotten, is when I rented from Hollywood Video, returned the DVD on time, then got a call from them several days later saying I had late fees because I didn’t return it. I insisted that I did return it and they insisted I didn’t. I suggested that maybe they put it back on the shelf without “returning” it in their computer system, and they resisted at first, but then finally checked. And sure enough, they found it on the shelf, returned it in their system and cleared my “late fee”. No apology for harassing me or anything.

Though they are becoming distant memories, and muddled by how shitty the likes of the main chains had become in the dark twilight days of rental stores, but I still remember being a little kid in the early 90’s and the excitement of when we would go out as a family to rent a few movies at the independent rental place a half mile from our house. It was called Neptune Video and located in Beaverton, OR in a small plaza that is completely surrounded by the suburban neighborhood we lived in. There’s also a good pizza place we would order to-go from on our movie nights. That plaza is still there and surprisingly with a lot of those businesses still intact, but old Neptune Video went out before the end of 1999. It was a relatively small spot, but had decent selection and even had Laser Discs to rent. My parents bought me a used copy of Super Mario Bros. on VHS from there that I still have to this day.

 

[RichMurphy]

Where did you live when you had Erol's?

They started here in NoVA, so we had them from the beginning. Dunno how far they expanded...

I know I am aging myself, but I believe I was member #17 when Erol's had one rental location, on Columbia Pike in Arlington Virginia, and their selection of videos (mostly Fox titles from Magnetic Video) fit on some shelves mounted on a door toward the back of the store.

I really should try Redbox some day.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I know I am aging myself, but I believe I was member #17 when Erol's had one rental location, on Columbia Pike in Arlington Virginia, and their selection of videos (mostly Fox titles from Magnetic Video) fit on some shelves mounted on a door toward the back of the store.

I really should try Redbox some day.

Damn - you're old!

We didn't get our first VCR until early 1983, so there were a handful of Erol's rental locations at that point. I still remember going to the one over off Braddock near 495 - which was their HQ, IIRC - and just being so excited about the whole thing.

I mean, we could watch movies whenever we wanted! It's amazing to think how revolutionary that was!

 

[Brian Kidd]

I was in college when the first Blockbuster opened in town. At the time, I was excited, thinking it would just be another option (we already had a pretty decent independent store within walking distance of campus). Sadly, it quickly became apparent that the more-eclectic selection at my local rental shop far outweighed the benefit of not having to wait as long to see a new release. Blockbuster's selection was uniformly terrible. Sadly, as was the case pretty much everywhere else, the average renter only wanted new releases, so the independent store went under within a couple of years of Blockbuster's opening.

I was glad to see Blockbuster finally go under. Some of my best memories growing up were of going to the Mom & Pop video stores and finding something classic or unusual. Blockbuster killed that experience.

 

[MatthewA]

Chapel Hill, NC where I grew up had not one, not two, not three, but four independently owned video stores, some with multiple locations. One of them even rented laserdiscs!* I'm sure the surrounding cities of Durham and Raleigh (the state capital) had at least as many. Blockbuster came to town in 1990. We did go to Blockbuster in the rare occasion that they were the only ones who had a title I was looking for, but these indie stores were genuinely unique. The staffers knew your name and knew something about film. Their selection of mainstream new releases was almost as good even if they didn't have a zillion copies of the latest Tom Cruise movie. For classics, cult movies, foreign films, musicals, and non-current animation, the indie stores had it beat. Sitting around browsing for something to watch on Netflix or Hulu isn't the same, just like an Amazon search isn't the same as walking through a bookstore. You lose the whole aspect of physical exertion and contact with other human beings.

And for better or worse, the video store** made Quentin Tarantino's career possible. Who comparable is going to come out of the streaming generation?

*Including but not limited to the late 1980s Japanese digital sound re-issue of Song of the South.
**And Rose Nylund accidentally mixing up the guest list for Sophia Petrillo's wedding to Max Weinstock with that of the Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love Unauthorized Elvis Presley Fan Club on The Golden Girls.

 

[JQuintana]

I didn't enjoy the human interaction at places like Blockbuster. It was annoying fighting the masses to (if lucky) get the newest release. I much prefer browsing the huge library or movies and other shows on Netflix and Hulu, Tubi and other streamers.

 

[The Drifter]

I didn't enjoy the human interaction at places like Blockbuster. It was annoying fighting the masses to (if lucky) get the newest release.

Agreed. I hate driving anywhere, and the hassle involved in having to rent videos & then return them, stand in line, etc. was a lot of trouble; having to return the video doubled the trips that you had to take to the store. I tried to go there Thursday nights after work, since Fridays were always very busy.

To avoid having a situation come up where the store would call me & state that I didn't return a DVD (when I knew I did) I ended up returning the old videos in the front (and making sure they checked them in) right before checking out the new ones.

These days, I do sometimes watch DVD's/Blu-ray's that I've bought for a good price. Going along with this, it's worth noting that you can get some DVD's/Blu's on sale @ places like Big Lots, etc. for as much as a Blockbuster rental cost back in the day

 

[Mike Frezon]

Guys:

One guess as to what this thread is NOT about.

Spoiler

Streaming vs. Physical Media

Take those comments to the appropriate thread, please.

 

[Ruz-El]

Not blockbuster specific, but I can't be the only one that enjoyed going to the video store?!?! The excitement of a new store opening up, exploring the shelves to see if they had any oddities. Blind renting some catalogue title you never heard of. Insane 7 movies for 7 days for $7 deals at Video Station? C'mon! there was a lot of charm to the video store years!

 

[PMF]

Guys:

One guess as to what this thread is NOT about.

Spoiler

Streaming vs. Physical Media

Take those comments to the appropriate thread, please.

Or, to be topic and Blockbuster specific, what you're really saying is "Be Kind - Please Rewind", right?

 

[Worth]

Not blockbuster specific, but I can't be the only one that enjoyed going to the video store?!?! The excitement of a new store opening up, exploring the shelves to see if they had any oddities. Blind renting some catalogue title you never heard of. Insane 7 movies for 7 days for $7 deals at Video Station? C'mon! there was a lot of charm to the video store years!

I still go to the video store about once per week.