By: Joe Raedle, Getty Images
By: Joe Raedle, Getty Images
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Blockbuster has closed has their doors. The video store era is the biggest industry that I can think of that in my living memory began, thrived and faded. There a few smaller mom and pop stores still going like Alpha Video in Augusta who in my opinion should be supported as often as possible.

My first memory of video stores is from the very early 80s where many rented the VCR with the movies. Watching a movie at home was like a huge event. Many stores back then charged for their membership cards.

Kids today will never know the rush of excitement of hitting a video store at 7 pm on a given Friday night and seeing a title you really wanted to watch "in" in the new release section on the shelf. I along with I’m sure many of you remember harassing the clerks to check the return bin to see if what you wanted was in the pile. New couples will never have the debate in a video store over whether to get a romantic comedy or action flick and then after an impasse decide to get both.

One of the biggest losses with the end of the video store era is getting those obscure movies from the 80s or 90s that Redbox, Netflix and On-Demand don’t carry. For instance, right now I want to see ‘The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years’ and again bet I can’t find it without searching for it on Amazon or Ebay.

I am guilty a bit of going with the flow and using Redbox, Netflix and On Demand because of price, convenience, etc but it’s still kind of sad that Blockbuster came, in some eyes destroyed and then fell apart taking the stores they put out of business into the black hole with them.

One of the jobs in my past back in 1990-1991 was being a video store clerk. Videos generally were released and I’m sure still come out on Tuesdays and we’d have to bar code them, sort them and put the covers on the shelves. Ironically my boss at the time told me that there were three types of businesses that could thrive in a bad economy and they were grocery stores, liquor stores and video stores.

Be kind, rewind!

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