I do feel a bit of nostalgia for video stores, both the big chain ones and the cool little indies. There was a certain pleasure to be had in wandering the aisles looking for something intriguing to discover, or for an old favorite to watch again. Scrolling the menus on Netflix or Amazon Prime isn’t quite as satisfying, and somewhat more frustrating: at least you would eventually run out of options at Blockbuster or Kim’s and would have to settle on something.
Do you miss video-rental stores? If you’re too young to have had experienced them, what do you imagine you might have missed?
I miss the two (count'em, 2!) independent shops we had in Boston - they, like branch libraries had knowledgeable employees who liked their jobs & were interesting to talk with. The little shops had a much wider range of not blockbuster films AND a better quality point of sale snack. uh-oh, now I want to rewatch Be kind, Re wind ... where am I gonna find that :) Thanks for the reminiscences.
I miss Blockbuster about as much as I miss Starbucks when it failed in Australia. Both are franchises that present a bland homogenised offering that is the same the world over.
But I do miss the quirky little video stores that specialised in particular genres - such as science fiction - or eras or in foreign language titles. Even with modern streaming services, we still only have access to a fraction of the world's films.
Living in rural Norfolk, we didn't have a video store, but a man with a van (not even a transit van, it was about the size of Delboy's van, but with four wheels not three). I wish I could say I miss browsing through the box of kids videos, but while I was grateful at the time for access to something other than the four TV channels, I much prefer the modern world!
question of the weekend: do you miss video-rental stores?
I miss the two (count'em, 2!) independent shops we had in Boston - they, like branch libraries had knowledgeable employees who liked their jobs & were interesting to talk with. The little shops had a much wider range of not blockbuster films AND a better quality point of sale snack. uh-oh, now I want to rewatch Be kind, Re wind ... where am I gonna find that :) Thanks for the reminiscences.
I miss Blockbuster about as much as I miss Starbucks when it failed in Australia. Both are franchises that present a bland homogenised offering that is the same the world over.
But I do miss the quirky little video stores that specialised in particular genres - such as science fiction - or eras or in foreign language titles. Even with modern streaming services, we still only have access to a fraction of the world's films.
Living in rural Norfolk, we didn't have a video store, but a man with a van (not even a transit van, it was about the size of Delboy's van, but with four wheels not three). I wish I could say I miss browsing through the box of kids videos, but while I was grateful at the time for access to something other than the four TV channels, I much prefer the modern world!