RIP Blockbuster Video (at least in the USA, 1985-2013)

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http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/tech/gami ... es-impact/ - Sorry this is a week late, but there goes my childhood. The 90s were a bit colorful with them around. This is one more piece of my glory years I'll never get back.

So long Blockbuster, it was one helluva ride.

We used to rent here all the time when I was a kid from when I was 10-12 years old and then it was Hollywood video just before we moved.

We had Blockbuster here in Australia as well but its closed where I used to hire DVDs its now Video ezy. but I didn't have to sign up again thank goodness.

It's deader than a doornail here in Canada, too. I never rented videos from there anyway. You'd need like 3 pieces of photo ID and a blood sample in order to rent anything! It first opened in the city where I lived in the mid-late 90's and there were plenty of other stores where you could rent for less money and didn't even need photo ID.

My mom and I loved going to Blockbuster (we had one in Berea) so we can rent movies from there. I also remember how quiet and dead it can be there.

The decline (they are not dead yet in Denmark, but the life support is failing) of Blockbuster invokes a feeling of nostalgia in me.

I remember how it was *before* Blockbuster. Insanely priced video stores with a very small selection. Blockbuster revolutionized the business by driving down prices and giving smaller niche titles a chance in the home video market (they are often completely ignored by cinemas).

Alas, Enter The Eliminator: iTunes.

And with Netflix now conquering not just the US, but Europe as well, physical video stores are increasingly becoming obsolete.

I wonder. Are there places where you can still rent or buy VHS movies?

We still have a few places here. We have Redbox and a place called Movie Madness and they have DVD's and VHS tapes. It's an awesome store and they seem to have everything, classical movies, foreign movies, old movies and DVD seasons and they are open late. I can't think of any other video stores that are here sine Blockbuster had closed. Now you can just rent movies on Comcast and it goes on your next bill and I knew video stores will be out of business since we have online stream now and Comcast and Satellite that allows you to rent movies from home and we have Netflex.

there is an old abandoned blockbuster video building near my house. they sell fireworks there sometimes.

The blockbusters all closed down here about two years ago.

I never liked the one day movie rentals or the five day video game rentals to be completely honest, it never seemed like enough and to get punished with a late fee always felt awful, so I am kind of glad that this trend is coming to an end due to increasing popularity of companies such as Netflix, Hulu and gamefly that allow for much more flexibility and control for the customer.

Nevertheless, I am still thankful for Blockbuster. It played a big role in my happiness as a little child. Some trends need to die out though and this is one of them.

The stores were clean and well light. The new releases were along the outside walls. And, they seemed to have two dozen or so copies of the really hot new releases(although they probably sometimes missed it both ways).

Sigh. Remember the days when you went to a cobbler to buy shoes or have it repaired? Or the days when you ran out of typewriter ribbon and you had to purchase it from a typewriter store? I remember those.