I bought a t-shirt somewhat recently. A t-shirt that plays straight to nostalgia, specifically the nostalgia of the video store. The shirt, you ask, is just a blue t-shirt with a Blockbuster store in front of a sunset with text that reads “Make It A BLOCKBUSTER Night”. So yes, I bought it out of nostalgia and love for this era.

It is incredibly strange to me that we are already at a point where video rental stores like Blockbuster are considered nostalgia now; a breed of film consumption that is now almost completely extinct. Yes, I think there’s technically one or two Blockbuster stores still out there, and depending where you live, there is Family Video, and in some places, there’s some little mom-and-pop video stores. But needless to say, the era of the video rental store has passed.

For most of my life, this was not the case. I grew up going to Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. I grew up renting movies and games weekly. It was just a part of life. As I told in a previous post before, I thought “going to see a movie” meant we were gonna sit in chairs and watch a movie at Blockbuster, until I was introduced to my first movie theater. Going to the video rental store was so embedded in who I am and how I consumed so many films growing up.

Now let me make clear: I am not someone who is anti-technology and thinks streaming is some sort of technological evil. I relish the convenience and choice that various streaming services offer. In many ways, it allows us to see more from the comfort of our own homes. It is an innovation that I enjoy and am grateful for. At the same time though, it can’t replace my trips and experiences at places like Blockbuster.

Upon reflection, it’s also important to make sure we’re not looking at the era of video rental stores through rose colored glasses. Of course, places like Blockbuster weren’t always these heavenly experiences. You actually had to get in your car and travel there, and depending on the distance, it wasn’t always convenient. Searching through all the choices in the store, you were of course, limited to the selection they had in-store AND if they had any copies of the film you wanted in stock. You also had to deal with actual people and employees, which depending, could be a challenge of its own. And of course, compared to playing a flat monthly rate for streaming, you had to pay fees and daily rates for each movie you rented. So depending on how much you rented, you’d be spending a pretty good amount of money.

But all of those realities aside, I still love and miss the video store. I miss being able to go to a physical place and walk up and down physical aisles as I browsed physical choices as to what physical films I wanted to bring home. And while there are many options with streaming, they don’t have everything. I can’t count the number of times I’ve searched for a film on multiple platforms and couldn’t find it, but known that if I was at a Blockbuster, I could find it. I also will take the consistency and quality of physical media over streaming compression any day.

I guess if I boil it all down, what I truly miss is the experience. In this time of convenient home technology, the one thing it can’t provide us with is the experience of actually going and walking in a place to find what we’re looking for. This part of me may be old fashioned, but I want to be able to walk around and look and hold and decide what I want, as opposed to just endlessly scrolling through with a remote or controller. I want to see walls of films to choose from and talk about movies with other human beings in person. I want a building devoted to the housing of movies for any and everyone to come and enjoy.

But with any time and era, things come and go. Technology moves forward and society adapts. Who knows, much like vinyl records became outdated by newer media for a long time and now has made a huge comeback, maybe the same could happen for video rental stores? I have no idea and it’s completely dependent on what society longs for as film consumption moves into the future. Maybe the video store will stay a “retro” way people used to find movies to watch.

To all those reading this post, I guess this serves more as a reflection of an era that informed so much of my life and love and education in film. And while I’m grateful for what we have now, a part of my heart still longs for the wonderful things the video store gave me.

So, I will wear this nostalgic t-shirt, not sorrowfully, but gratefully, as a reminder of a place that brought me so much joy in my filmic life. And maybe, just maybe, if enough of us hold on to that joy, maybe the video store won’t have to always stay dead.