Farewell to the Video Store

rogerebert.com ^ | 2/12/21 | Collin Souter

[Borges]

It’s time to say goodbye to a beloved institution. By the end of February, all Family Video stores will be closed. The announcement came early last month that they would remain open until February 28th, or when all the stock has been sold off, whichever comes first. Upon hearing this news, for three weekends in January, I trekked out from Chicago to many remote locations to try and score some good deals, but also to savor the video store experience one last time. The final days of Family Video represent not just the closing of a beloved chain, but the very end of a piece of film history.

With the exception of Facets Videotheque in Chicago and the now-famous “Last Blockbuster” in Bend, Oregon, the video store as I know it is gone. I’m sure others are out there just barely hanging on, but I only know about these two. The rare video store has become a kind of specialty boutique. Predictably, COVID all but killed Family Video’s chances of survival. With most movies going to streaming and many not even getting a proper physical release, there’s no way a video business can survive. It’s rather remarkable they lasted as long as they did, with hundreds of stores located across 17 states.

[MikelTackNailer]

I frequented a Family Video for quite a while - built a nice collection of used DVDs they always had on sale. One time I knew for a fact I didn't deserve a late fee they were trying to lay on me so looking deeper they found they'd been mixing up charges with another Mike who had nearly the same phone number. Their system auto-filled when they typed part of a number in and...

They made good with a batch of free rentals, but the best part was asking what the fella's full name was. Moe Slizlak tells it better:

"Hello, you've reached Moe's Bar. Uh huh. Hold on; I'll ask."

"Michael Hunt! Hey, has anyone here seen Mike Hunt!?"

[SamAdams76]

Memories of high school. We used to try to get Dick Hertz paged over the intercom as well at one of the local department stores. Sometimes it would work.

[xp38]

I have it on a dead format (HD DVD). One would need to find an old used HD DVD player which granted can be had pretty cheap. Mostly Toshiba but there were some other brands too.