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The lost civic life of movie rental stores

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Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#161

Post by mc32 »

benvanderbeek wrote: post #149

This week I found a book called “let’s go all around the neighborhood” and read it to my 3 & 4 year old sons. It’s from 1982. A girl and her mother walk around doing errands. Mailing a letter at the post office. Buying shoes at the shoe store. Playing at the park. Eating at a restaurant. Going to the library. Buying an eggbeater at the hardware store. Stopping at the fruit and vegetable stand. They interact with huma…

A bit tangential, but I think something similar to what we see here happen (time saved by modern convenience does not result in pursuit of "personal interests" other than wasting time with technology-enabled entertainment.

People think UBI will unleash creativity and people will engage in their true calling in life. I don't see that happening. I see people sinking more of their lives into things that are at war for their eyeballs.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#162

Post by alex0015 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #119
afavour wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn’t, really. If it’s the expected norm in your job then there’s a real chance you’ll lose your job if you don’t do it. And particularly the kind of jobs market we see today that’s a real risk.

Actually not for most people. This is a peculiarity mostly of the tech industry. Most people don't read their work email after 5:00.

In my experience in white-collar and tech jobs since 2019, nobody I've ever worked with has been expected to be reachable after hours. Same goes for my wife, all tech jobs as well. If someone messages me and I'm online, I'll answer, and it's about 50/50 that they say "Oh you didn't need to respond this late, just work on this tomorrow!"

Sample size of six jobs total, three per person.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#163

Post by Loughla »

steveBK123 wrote: post #4

The end of interest-based 3rd places is one of the many things contributing to the compartmentalization / socioeconomic bubble of modern society. People used to frequent in person things like specialty retailers, arcades, hobby clubs, religious groups, etc. When you meet real life people in person based on shared interests, you make connections across socioeconomic groups. I just don't see nearly as much of this in t…

Join a club. Lions, Masons, knights of Columbus, Oddfellows, woodworkers guild, something like that. They're dying for lack of youth membership and they're still around.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#164

Post by chrisco255 »

benvanderbeek wrote: post #149

This week I found a book called “let’s go all around the neighborhood” and read it to my 3 & 4 year old sons. It’s from 1982. A girl and her mother walk around doing errands. Mailing a letter at the post office. Buying shoes at the shoe store. Playing at the park. Eating at a restaurant. Going to the library. Buying an eggbeater at the hardware store. Stopping at the fruit and vegetable stand. They interact with huma…

Even in 1982 you could mail a letter from your house, order shoes from a catalog, and order delivery food to your house. Admittedly, your choices were basically pizza, subs or Chinese for that type of delivery, but still, DoorDash mostly competes with cooking at home not with going out to restaurants (in fact, it has become more common to dine out than it was in 1982).

I do lament the decline of brick-and-mortar retail somewhat, but I think it is holding on stronger than what I would have assumed in some cases.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#165

Post by Loughla »

ohyoutravel wrote: post #126
swat535 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a societal problem, mainly in the West. Many cultures around the world don't have this issue. When I was living in Iran, we didn't need a hobby club to meet people, you just picked up the phone and everyone came over. I have vivid memories of going on trips with 5 cars filled with people When I went to Peru with my wife to meet her extended family, it was very similar. Heck you can just randomly talk to people a…

You picked up the phone and everyone came over, that’s cool. What number did you call? Was this a public service of some sort?

I'm not sure if you're joking, but I think it was implied that OP called the people.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#166

Post by chrisco255 »

brightball wrote: post #43
steveBK123 wrote: post #4

The end of interest-based 3rd places is one of the many things contributing to the compartmentalization / socioeconomic bubble of modern society. People used to frequent in person things like specialty retailers, arcades, hobby clubs, religious groups, etc. When you meet real life people in person based on shared interests, you make connections across socioeconomic groups. I just don't see nearly as much of this in t…

Yea, agreed completely here. I spent so many hours at our local mall with my friends growing up. It had an arcade, a movie theater, book store, game store, place to eat. Our parents could just drop us there for hours. Skating rinks and bowling alleys were also a solid option. It's one of the things that make it worth the time investment to follow sports, even if you're typically not interested in it. Getting people t…

Small town malls have suffered the most but a lot of large cities still have vibrant malls to shop at and hang out at if you happen to be a teen. Dave and Busters and other similar arcade/mixed entertainment centers are also way more common now plus random things like climbing gyms, trampoline places, etc.

From what I can tell skating rinks and bowling alleys are still reasonably popular especially when you factor for entertainment centers that have mini bowling alleys (much more common now).

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#167

Post by chrisco255 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #107

This seems counter to my experience and memories. I'm old enough to remember the pre-VCR days so lived through the entire rise and fall of video rental. These stores were never a community gathering place or anywhere that you really met people. You'd go in, browse for a bit, pick a movie, pay and leave. This was the same at the locally owned shops and later when Blockbuster arrived and put all the local shops out of…

They weren't necessarily a place to meet people but they were definitely a nice place to visit after a date out or for a family to discuss and pick their entertainment for the weekend. Occasionally a passionate movie fan would encourage you to try a movie when they noticed you were glancing at the cover. Some of the staff members were actually knowledgeable and would discuss suggestions or favorites in detail.

I worked at a GameStop-like store for my first job. We had regulars come in to trade games all the time and they would chat it up with us (the clerks) for long periods of time about various games. It had a similar function. Across from us was the music store and their employees were generally quite passionate about music and loved to discuss it. Rarely did it create an enduring friendship but that kind of social interaction has declined for sure.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#168

Post by chrisco255 »

nater5000 wrote: post #138
SoftTalker wrote: post #107

This seems counter to my experience and memories. I'm old enough to remember the pre-VCR days so lived through the entire rise and fall of video rental. These stores were never a community gathering place or anywhere that you really met people. You'd go in, browse for a bit, pick a movie, pay and leave. This was the same at the locally owned shops and later when Blockbuster arrived and put all the local shops out of…

I think people forgot what the experience was actually like and are just recalling commercials where the experience was obviously over romanticized. If Wal-Mart went away today, you'd have people a decade from now reminiscing about how great going to Wal-Mart was and how sad it was we lost a "third place" when they went away.

Nobody typically took a date to Walmart and Walmart employees were rarely the most knowledgeable about any of the million things they sell. Still, I have some nostalgia for the Walmarts of the 90s. I remember being mesmerized by Super Mario 64 demo in the electronics section for months before I finally got an N64 for Christmas. I remember playing arcades while my mom shopped. I remember reading magazines there I couldn't buy. I remember staring at the fish tanks, playing with the loose hula hoops, checking out the latest super soaker designs, having a meal at the cafe (later replaced with a McDonalds) with my grandpa, etc.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#169

Post by nekusar »

BjoernKW wrote: post #133
steveBK123 wrote: post #4

The end of interest-based 3rd places is one of the many things contributing to the compartmentalization / socioeconomic bubble of modern society. People used to frequent in person things like specialty retailers, arcades, hobby clubs, religious groups, etc. When you meet real life people in person based on shared interests, you make connections across socioeconomic groups. I just don't see nearly as much of this in t…

> The end of interest-based 3rd places Whatever happened to pubs and the shared interest of drinking beer (and getting drunk in the process ...)? ;-)

Inordinately loud, reflective rooms. They just encourage drinking to excess, absolutely no talking (or hearing), paying, and leaving.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#170

Post by chrisco255 »

panzagl wrote: post #3

Article should be titled 'The Lost Civic Life of Mom and Pop Stores'- no kid making $4.50 an hour is cultivating a third space atmosphere at Blockbuster, whereas any Mom and Pop place can do that, no matter what they sell.

I made $6 an hour working at a video game store in the early 00s and most of our employees would chat it up with other gamers all the time. We had lots of regulars.
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