I miss mom-and-pop video stores....

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

Remember the old days when you could walk into a video store and rent something like Driller Killer or Autopsy or Three on a Meathook???? Now all that stuff is either gone or vanishing quickly. The chain stores are too new to have stocked it in the first place, and the remaining mom-and-pop places are buying more copies of new releases to compete with the big guys. Which means a lot of straight-to-video nonsense is getting moved to the old horror rack after its 60 day or so new-release window runs out and taking up valuable shelf space that used to belong to Xtro. That's right dammit, Xtro!!!! Now crap like Children of the Corn 666 is taking up space where once sat Tourist Trap!!!! Gone is Luther the Geek to be replaced by Jack Frost 2. I'm telling you, it's not a fair bargain!!!! I want back my 'Nam Angels and Naked Vengeance!!!!! Gone is Cirio H. Santiago, and we get Spartan Entertainment in return!!!!!!

[avenger00soul]

I feel your pain. The ONLY good that is coming from this is when you get to these stores early and they are selling all of their old flicks.

The mom & pop's are still the best though. I frequent them often.

[Ritualistic]

I know how you two are feeling.. Sometimes if you luck up and ask an owner of one of these mom-pops movie store if they will sale you some of their old horror flicks they will jump on it. I got the original copy (VHS) of Vamp, Cujo, Madman, I spit on your grave, The Changeling, and The Howling at this video store called Star Video.. Man I was so happy that day. I hate that they have to compete with the big guyz .... I call them all "Hole in the wall Video" :-)

[avenger00soul]

I tried that once and it didn't work. The movie was Clownhouse and they even had two copies. I'm glad they didn't sell it to me in the long run b/c it has since become my favorite video store and they have a great horror section. That section wouldn't be that great if they sold all their flicks. Video Productions is the name of my mom & pop store.

But whenever I go to other towns, I hit up their video stores big time.

[Killer Clown#1]

I had a video store like that, but ever since they moved they have cleaned out the old and came in with the new:mad:

[Sam The Egg]

yet another reason why Netflix is God. We had Video Update, but then one day it was just gone. Now there isn't anything there.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
We had Video Update, but then one day it was just gone. Now there isn't anything there. yeah a few years ago video update closed down where I live at.. But there is this really small trading post that is in Muscidine Alabama (very rural area) that rents movies, and I have found a lot of old movies there.. I too hit moms and pops in other town.. There is this one in GA called Greene Video

[abbycomix]

There are 2 near me that I like. You always know you're somewhere good when you see the faded video boxes...

[knife_fight]

I don't know what I can say other than what everyone else is saying... "yes. I too miss mom n pop video stores."

where are you from Ritualistic? I'm originally from Bama and we had several small-time video stores and they all had some REALLY weird stuff. Here's a good rule of thumb: if they don't stock any movies starring Lou Ferrigno (however you spell it), stay away.

[mudsliptones]

a few years ago I walked in to my videostore
I asked the dude if they rented out friday the 13ths movies

he said, well, we got and 2 here, I have others, but they're in the attict, I said, why man?
he said, well, we just don't have room to store them here, and everybody rents new movies
so, it sucks yeah, 4 movies release like everyday, so the popular ones stay, and the others, like most cool horrors go, since almost no one rents it

for thos who are interested,
to complete my story:
I rented part 2 (I saw 1 so...) came home, puted it in the vcr and the tape was fucked up, so I never saw it, untill I bouight the DVDs last year

[avenger00soul]

Originally posted by knife_fight
Here's a good rule of thumb: if they don't stock any movies starring Lou Ferrigno (however you spell it), stay away.

Great rule.

[Leslie Daher]

i'm total agreement..i used to LOVE going w/ my brothers to rent movies..we'd have to scrape together change and bottle returns and then we'd even rent the vcr!!! there were TONS of horror flicks to choose from-so many that i could never remember all the titles and i've said often how it bums me out that that doesn't exist anymore. i'm a little older (26) but when i worked in retail i worked w/ this girl who was like 17 and she's like, " oh, i love horror. like scream and house on haunted hill." OMG! i couldn't believe my ears. klev is so right. i want the classics back! ALL of them. i'd rather watch all of those than most of the garbage they put out now.

[freddyenglund]

We had this laundromat video store combo a few years ago in my cityy and it was the shit.sadly they are gone now.

[avenger00soul]

Originally posted by freddyenglund
We had this laundromat video store combo a few years ago in my cityy and it was the shit.sadly they are gone now.

How interesting. We have a ton of video/tanning bed combo stores here.

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

I used to manage a little video/tanning store, and as a joke a girl flashed me her boobs and I thought it was funny and didn't charge her. She told all her friends and then they came up and asked if they could get the same deal. I told most of them to hit the road, but there were about three with...well, you get the idea. I love job benefits.

[Elvis_Christ]

How interesting. We have a ton of video/tanning bed combo stores here. That really is quite bizzare :confused:
I know what you guys mean there's been Blockbuster has brought out a couple of local stores here that used to have awesome horror movie selections which now have disappeared because they weren't making a profit :mad: I've been copying alot of Horror movies from a variety of different stores before they all disappear on me.

[sleepaway]

Actually when the Blockbusters in my home town first opened they had ALL the old horror movies! The horror section was HUGE it was awesome! A few months later the horror section had dwindled to like one bay! And then if that weren't bad enough Blockbusters now put their sci-fi and horror together in the same tiny section! Used to have a place called The Video Box, it was tiny but they had all the old stuff like Saturday The 14th!!! Now all we get at Blockbusters is 100 copies of like Men In Black. You can't rent old movies of any genre now. At least I have the memories!

[Elvis_Christ]

You can't rent old movies of any genre now. At least I have the memories! Yeh that's the sad truth of it. I have to go to a combination of about 5 or 6 video stores to rent horror movies. But i'm starting to get a pretty big collection of horror films of about 200+

[sleepaway]

Originally posted by Elvis_Christ
Yeh that's the sad truth of it. I have to go to a combination of about 5 or 6 video stores to rent horror movies. But i'm starting to get a pretty big collection of horror films of about 200+

If I wanna see anything older I have to buy it. Kind of annoying if it turns out to suck! If only I wanted to rent 60 copies of Down With Love - I'd be well away.

[kpropain]

Man do I miss mom and pop stores. We had quite a few in my hometown and if you couldn't find something at one chances were you would find it at one of them. And god I remember we had two visionex stores in my hometown, and rentals were a dollar. Those were the days.

[sleepaway]

I remember when you rented something you actually took the original box home with you with the sleeve in it. When they stopped doing that it really annoyed me as I liked to look at the picture art and stuff.

[Elvis_Christ]

I remember when you rented something you actually took the original box home with you with the sleeve in it. When they stopped doing that it really annoyed me as I liked to look at the picture art and stuff They still do that here at most places especially old titles that are off new release. I'm going to have to order in some of the more obsucre horror movies which is going to be expensive :( but I've found a very good online video store where I can get a lot of good stuff from.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by knife_fight
I don't know what I can say other than what everyone else is saying... "yes. I too miss mom n pop video stores."

where are you from Ritualistic? I'm originally from Bama I live in Oxford AL

[sleepaway]

On the same line. How much inflation has there been? In the UK it costs £3.75 to rent a new release! I remember renting movie movies for a whole pound back in the day! Probably why I don't rent so much now aswell as the choices being useless.

[reelmaster 73]

For the past ten years, Atlantic Video in South Oz has had the best range of movies on VHS in the country, Over 60,000 but recently they have sold almost all of their VHS and replaced with a meager few thousand DVD's and one whole section of the store is full of brand new for sale DVD's

It's just not the same place I used to go to weekly and spend a good hour going through the horror and sci fi section.

Sadly video rental stores are crap these days and I believe that there days are numbered.

[SFF]

Wow, this is a great thread!!! I wish I would have checked it out sooner. I can relate to just about everything said here. When I was a kid, me and my Mom rented from an awesome video store called Music, Movies and More. The dude who ran it was very cool. That is where I received my horror education. LOL He had EVERYTHING. I saw more Indie, cult and obscure films in the summer of '88, than I ever have in my entire life. We didn't have a VCR, so we rented that as well. The dude had a special he would run every weekend where you could rent the VCR and 4 movies on Friday night and keep them till 5pm on Monday for $19.99. I loved the way that store smelt. He had a popcorn machine, so that was half of it. But there was something else, like an electronics smell. The smell of a VHS tape, fresh from the rewinder. Did anybody else sniff their VHS tapes after pulling them from the VCR? If you never did, you don't know what you were missing. Anyhow, I just ditched Netflix for an online DVD rental store which is far superior and creates that "Mom and Pop" video store mood when browsing it. They specialize in Indie, Foreign, Anime, Cult as well as providing all of the mainstream stuff. I assure you that Netflix is not God, Sam. LOL Everyone must check out www.greencine.com NOW!!! Not only do they rent movies, they also provide members with discussion forums and all kinds of other neat features that Netflix doesn't even come close to providing. Trust me, it rules all.

[Ann Bowman]

Originally posted by SFF
The dude had a special he would run every weekend where you could rent the VCR and 4 movies on Friday night and keep them till 5pm on Monday for $19.99. I don't remember the place I used to go to rent my horror movies before Blockbuster, but there was a deal sort of like that. 4-5-6. 4 movies, for 5 nights, for 6 dollars. And their new releases didn't stay too new for long. In fact, that's exactly HOW I got to see all the Friday the 13ths, Halloweens, Nightmare on Elm Streets, Children of the Corns, and all those series before I started buying VHS.

For me, working in a video store almost all my life was a dream come true. My boss was a friend of my parents, and I was an only child. At first, yeah we rented out a lot of cult and older horror titles. Now, we don't even have the classic Universal monster movies anymore. My boss sold them all. The only reason I rent from Blockbuster is because they keep mailing me TONS of free rental coupons. In fact, everytime I use 1- I get like 2.5 in return, statistically about that much.

[Cereal Killer]

Before, when I lived closer to civilization and not here out in the sticks, I used to go to this old video place that just sold movies. It was a warehouse of movies from all eras of all genres for $2-$15. I was about 5 or 6, but I remember that you could find everything. Now it's closed down and all the good video stores are like, 40 minutes away. And I don't have a car. No movies for moi.

The video store here where I live is not very nice at all. I can find the occasional good movies, but it's rare that I get to see the classics. I ask them about some film or another and they're like, "Oh, we ordered it, but it won't come in until Christmas." And then Christmas comes and goes and no show of said movie. No cult classics, what so ever. A store in our mall sells old Sci-Fi and horror b-movies and indie flicks, so that's nice. But they're so expensive! Like, 30 dollars!

[SFF]

Yeah, there used to be a really kick-ass movie rental place here called Kaleidoscope Video. They had EVERYTHING, and I do mean EVERYTHING. They went out of business though. If a movie exsisted, they had it! The selection was unbelievable. Most of the movies I rented from there, can now only be found on E-Bay for 80 bucks a pop! So depressing. :mad:

[KRUGERKID13]

i finally came to the conclusion that used video stores rock. I went to this place called dave video over in muncie, indiana and i got so many great movies:
1.exorcist (vhs) $2.00
2.american werwolf in paris (vhs) $2.00
3.candyman(vhs) $2.00
4.halloween extended edition (dvd) $8.00
5.hills have eyes part 2 (dvd) 8.00
6.Return of the living dead (dvd) brand new 7.00
7.frightners (vhs) 4.00
8.wolf (vhs) 4.00
9.'salem's lot (vhs)2.00
10.wickerman (vhs) 4.00
11. cats eye (vhs) 4.00

[bloodrayne]

We had Video Village and West Coast Video, before Blockbuster took over everything...We have one Movie Warehouse and one Hollywood Video still hanging on...But, it has become so expensive to rent a video that we don't rent them anymore...We just buy them...It actually ends up being cheaper and we don't have to worry about getting them back on time:)

[jay o2 waster]

Originally posted by Dr.Kelvinstein
Remember the old days when you could walk into a video store and rent something like Driller Killer or Autopsy or Three on a Meathook???? Now all that stuff is either gone or vanishing quickly. The chain stores are too new to have stocked it in the first place, and the remaining mom-and-pop places are buying more copies of new releases to compete with the big guys. Which means a lot of straight-to-video nonsense is getting moved to the old horror rack after its 60 day or so new-release window runs out and taking up valuable shelf space that used to belong to Xtro. That's right dammit, Xtro!!!! Now crap like Children of the Corn 666 is taking up space where once sat Tourist Trap!!!! Gone is Luther the Geek to be replaced by Jack Frost 2. I'm telling you, it's not a fair bargain!!!! I want back my 'Nam Angels and Naked Vengeance!!!!! Gone is Cirio H. Santiago, and we get Spartan Entertainment in return!!!!!!
AMEN