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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

#251

Post by JKCalhoun »

rightbyte wrote: post #216
joe_the_user wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it matters where you grew up. I grew up in LA and was a young in the Bay Area. I experienced none of what you describe and I was often in shops. Me and a friend would go to Rhino Records near Westwood. I understand it was a legendary record store. But even being there wasn't particular social. The only hang-out shop was Epicenter Zone in SF - but that was specifically intended to not be like your usual shops,…

I think it has to be a somewhat smaller sized shop with the same 3 staff on rotation for the social thing. Applied to both my video store and game store in the 90s early 00s.

Yep. Streetside Records in Kansas City, not that Tower Records crap.

Employees got to put on whatever music they wanted.

I should ask my friend who worked there—but there was a lot of fun they had with that. Perhaps, with their musical selections playing on the store speakers, they were even trolling some customers from time to time.

(I know they enjoyed playing John Foxx's single "Endlessly" when Ann Lassley was in the store since it sounded like Foxx was singing her name.)

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#252

Post by Grombobulous »

I don’t agree at all that the video store was a third place unless you lived in the kind of small town where you knew everyone in town (and if you lived in a town like that, you pretty much automatically have more third place opportunities than suburban or urban dwellers).

I never had conversations with employees or patrons in the video store.

The time spent in that store was enjoyable enough but nothing to write home about. It was mostly a functional experience to get something to watch. You could even argue that it was a waste of your time on a Friday evening when you were ready to start your weekend.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#253

Post by rodet »

roysting wrote: post #239
darth_avocado wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of cheap real estate is the root of all problems. Some will point to private equity buying up everything and ruining (baseball, bowling etc.). If you had cheap real estate, you can still operate a business and compete, but once your landlord raises rent every year regardless of how your business is doing, even the successful ones have to pack their bags. So many successful businesses in my city and the neighbori…

[flagged]

How many homes did China build since the 1990?

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#254

Post by throwaway2037 »

joe_the_user wrote: post #211
enobrev wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss the neighborhood officianados. The movie buff at the blockbuster. The music fiend at the local record shop The gamer at the mom & pop game store. The guy at Egghead Software who would let me play battle chess for hours. Of course there are millions of them online these days, but that face-to-face interaction with the local officanado was a different thing. It wasn't a forum. And oddly, it wasn't a library eith…

Perhaps it matters where you grew up. I grew up in LA and was a young in the Bay Area. I experienced none of what you describe and I was often in shops. Me and a friend would go to Rhino Records near Westwood. I understand it was a legendary record store. But even being there wasn't particular social. The only hang-out shop was Epicenter Zone in SF - but that was specifically intended to not be like your usual shops,…

I found some info about the Epicenter Zone in SF here: https://www.foundsf.org/Epicenter_Zone

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#256

Post by williamcotton »

chrisco255 wrote: post #184
brightball wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dave and Busters and other similar arcade/mixed entertainment centers are also way more common now One thing that I've realized as I have gotten older, arcades have changed a lot. Dave and Busters and other arcades are designed to extract money as quickly as possible. When I was younger, if you were good at a game you could keep playing so my friends and I got very good at these games.

There are arcades in Austin that charge a cover and just allow free play (typically subsidized by beverage sales). But some have the Dave and Busters model. The games are definitely more expensive than they were. In 80s and early 90s a $2 or $3 stack of quarters would grant a fair amount of entertainment.

Do you mind sharing which ones?

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#258

Post by mvdwoord »

We used to have what I think must be one of the last video rental places in The Netherlands around the corner from me. For some reason that always sparked a little nostalgia in me when walking past. The owner owned the building outright and lived above the shop... in one of those Ye Olde Shopping streets in NL. He still had some customers as there were plenty of senior citizens which happily went to him on a Friday to pick out a movie to watch in the weekend. I don't think he made any money in those last 10 years or so, and it was very often closed at random, but as he lived above and owned the building outright I do not think he cared in any way. The owner passed away two years ago or so... and now it is some mortgage shop.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#259

Post by mmh0000 »

steveBK123 wrote: post #237
enobrev wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss the neighborhood officianados. The movie buff at the blockbuster. The music fiend at the local record shop The gamer at the mom & pop game store. The guy at Egghead Software who would let me play battle chess for hours. Of course there are millions of them online these days, but that face-to-face interaction with the local officanado was a different thing. It wasn't a forum. And oddly, it wasn't a library eith…

There's still some record shops if you know where to look. Physical media is making something of a resurgence including with GenZ. I was half joking with a friend that I want a everything-middle-aged-man-store open weekends (and maybe 5-8pm thursday/friday) that carries a hodge hodge of physical media, used hobby kit and maybe serves espressos/teas, does hair cuts.. and maybe do some basic EV car maintenance like tir…

You’re not going to like this answer. But I think you’ve just described a Walmart Supercenter.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#260

Post by jonhohle »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #251
rightbyte wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it has to be a somewhat smaller sized shop with the same 3 staff on rotation for the social thing. Applied to both my video store and game store in the 90s early 00s.

Yep. Streetside Records in Kansas City, not that Tower Records crap. Employees got to put on whatever music they wanted. I should ask my friend who worked there—but there was a lot of fun they had with that. Perhaps, with their musical selections playing on the store speakers, they were even trolling some customers from time to time. (I know they enjoyed playing John Foxx's single "Endlessly" when Ann Lassley was in…

I worked at a mall chain video store in the 90s. We’d play Star Wars on the mall facing screens which would inevitably bring people in. Sorry, it’s out of print. The employee recommendation endcap always contained quirky and unique titles as well.
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