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Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

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Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#11

Post by rubyn00bie »

kerblang wrote: post #3

It's sort of bizarre that an entrenched, widely despised corporate behemoth thoroughly deserving its own demise has turned into an anachronistic mom-and-pop shop that just gets by. But isn't this the worst of both worlds? It's dystopian nostalgia. Maybe I just have too much of a grudge against the 1980's...

Yeah I personally hated blockbuster because they sent me to collections over like $9 in late fees I didn’t know I had. People have fond memories but I have nearly none of video rentals. Long lines, poor selection, and over priced… along with bullshit “late fees,” I can say I am happy they failed. Truly video rental stores were not great, and I dunno why people remember them like they were.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#12

Post by overthemoon »

kerblang wrote: post #3

It's sort of bizarre that an entrenched, widely despised corporate behemoth thoroughly deserving its own demise has turned into an anachronistic mom-and-pop shop that just gets by. But isn't this the worst of both worlds? It's dystopian nostalgia. Maybe I just have too much of a grudge against the 1980's...

It is weird. I think it's a stand-in for nostalgia for lost media formats and the experience they engendered. I have a lot of fuzzy feelings about it, because it was an event on Friday when my parents would take us there, or my dad would stop by after work and get movies or video games. I would just about shit myself when he finally got a copy of Super Mario All-Stars or Earthbound. When I was a little older it was close enough that I could ride my bike there.

But for me, it's not really about Blockbuster. It's about the format of home video. All the ritual, the excitement surrounding a new release that everyone wanted, sitting down to watch it together. It's about the object of video, the thing you can hold, and is similar to why I like to collect vinyl. I like the artifact in and of itself, along with what's encoded on it.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#13

Post by legitster »

artificial wrote: post #7
karaterobot wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, ironic because Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores it now stands in for in our collective memory of the 90s. I actually liked our local Blockbuster, and have fond memories of it, but only because it was run by the same employees from the independent video store it drove out of business. I liked that one even better.

This reminds me of smaller bookstores prior to the era of Borders and Barnes and Noble dominance. pours one out

Smaller bookstores are actually doing pretty okay these days: https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/02/18/indie-bookstores-com...

Mostly because Amazon decimated corporate chains, which freed up more market for independent stores.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#14

Post by dj_mc_merlin »

roywashere wrote: post #10
metadat wrote: post #2

Un-paywalled: https://archive.ph/jotV3

Thanks. Not only is the original link paywalled it is also not accessible from EU because GDPR and they think it is easier to block us than to not have so much third party cookies or such :sad:

Weird, from EU also, not paywalled nor geofenced for me.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#15

Post by LegitShady »

legitster wrote: post #9
karaterobot wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, ironic because Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores it now stands in for in our collective memory of the 90s. I actually liked our local Blockbuster, and have fond memories of it, but only because it was run by the same employees from the independent video store it drove out of business. I liked that one even better.

> Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores Is there a source for this? Usually, both rise and fall together with consumer demand. When I grew up, Blockbuster was one of a dozen options in town. As an example, there are more independent coffee shops today than before Starbucks expanded.

the wikipedia article for blockbuster contains a quote/source about this (search it for "mom and pop") but the citation no longer exists due to link rot.

essentially blockbuster operated at larger scales than many small video businesses and so had smaller unit costs while also having more selection.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#16

Post by omar_alt »

legitster wrote: post #9
karaterobot wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, ironic because Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores it now stands in for in our collective memory of the 90s. I actually liked our local Blockbuster, and have fond memories of it, but only because it was run by the same employees from the independent video store it drove out of business. I liked that one even better.

> Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores Is there a source for this? Usually, both rise and fall together with consumer demand. When I grew up, Blockbuster was one of a dozen options in town. As an example, there are more independent coffee shops today than before Starbucks expanded.

I distinctively remember around 1994 two family run stores in the UK town I grew up in disappearing and the reason was the same, Blockbuster.

I didn’t play games much but I recall them also renting out Japanese nintendo games and also sold the necessary cartridge converters to play Starfox.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#17

Post by ghaff »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #11
kerblang wrote: post #3

It's sort of bizarre that an entrenched, widely despised corporate behemoth thoroughly deserving its own demise has turned into an anachronistic mom-and-pop shop that just gets by. But isn't this the worst of both worlds? It's dystopian nostalgia. Maybe I just have too much of a grudge against the 1980's...

Yeah I personally hated blockbuster because they sent me to collections over like $9 in late fees I didn’t know I had. People have fond memories but I have nearly none of video rentals. Long lines, poor selection, and over priced… along with bullshit “late fees,” I can say I am happy they failed. Truly video rental stores were not great, and I dunno why people remember them like they were.

Mostly rose-colored glasses nostalgia probably. Being able to rent a movie whenever[0] you wanted to and watch it at home was extremely transformative in a way that someone who grew up with streaming (not you I realize) would find difficult to appreciate. A lot of movies weren't even purchasable as a practical matter (priced to rent) at the time.

[0] Well, if they had it and it was in stock.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#18

Post by ghaff »

legitster wrote: post #13
artificial wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of smaller bookstores prior to the era of Borders and Barnes and Noble dominance. pours one out

Smaller bookstores are actually doing pretty okay these days: https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/02/18/indie-bookstores-com... Mostly because Amazon decimated corporate chains, which freed up more market for independent stores.

Though independents are still a pretty niche business. Around where I am there are certainly far fewer of them than there were before the big chains became dominant.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#19

Post by bluedino »

artificial wrote: post #7
karaterobot wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, ironic because Blockbuster is what killed off the mom and pop stores it now stands in for in our collective memory of the 90s. I actually liked our local Blockbuster, and have fond memories of it, but only because it was run by the same employees from the independent video store it drove out of business. I liked that one even better.

This reminds me of smaller bookstores prior to the era of Borders and Barnes and Noble dominance. pours one out

How are they still in business, by the way? It seemed like they were just a Starbucks location with a ton of overhead, I thought we'd seen the last of them when pandemic shut everything down.

I loved B&N by the way, more computer-related books than WaldenBooks, but not as many as Borders.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#20

Post by rascul »

In 2007 I was in the US Army, deployed to the Middle East. (My memory is a bit hazy, it could have been my 2009 deployment instead.) Netflix was shipping DVD's to rent but they wouldn't ship to my APO AE address. I discovered that Blockbuster had a similar program, and they would ship to my APO AE address. So for six months or so, I was renting movies from Blockbuster on the other side of the world.
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