The video rental store as “third place”. “Decades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of taste-making.”
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Comments 3
Absolutely love this.
I have fond memories of jawing with our local VHS jockeys about what was edgy, or who was the auteur of the moment.
many friendships forged there and comics shops.
My childhood video store (which somehow has managed to stay open for the past 40 years by more recently transitioning into a film archive and event space) had stickers with a little drawing of each store employee that they could put on the boxes to recommend their favorite movies. Maybe only every 10-15 or so movies would have an employee's pick sticker, which made the recommendations feel meaningful. And after a while, you would start to figure out that you aligned more closely with some folks' preferences than others. And if a movie had multiple stickers then you knew it was GOOD.
Although my parents never took us to Blockbuster, we did go to the local Indian store every Friday afternoon on the way home from the business to pick up whatever vegetables and sundry items my mom needed, and rent Hindi movie VHS tapes for 50 cents. The uncle behind the counter would let us walk around and choose movies based on the flashy covers, and my sister and I became ultra-fluent because of this exposure in addition to speaking the language at home. I often drive by the shop, which is long gone and is now a liquor store, but I remember that place and where items were on the shelf like it was yesterday.
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