blockbuster video finally closing in my area

[mas]

Hollywood video is gone. I remember one video store way back in 85 or 86 when you had to pay 50.00 for a membership. My parents just got a vcr and my dad waited and got wrestlemania 2 on vhs and he even rented wrestlemania 1 so we can see for the weekend.
The other time he surprised me was thanksgiving day in 1989 got Batman from 89 "maybe the best batman movie still". We all watched the movie ater thanksgiving dinner and the we watched wwf survivor series. One hell of a thanksgiving day that year. Hell At that time I remember playing the sega master system i just got 3 days earlier and having a nes also and playing shinobi and ninja gaiden and thinking that was the shit before dinner and then my dad does the rental thing with batman and survivor series. Thanks dad or a great memory.

[Luke]

^Does your Dad post here?

When I was around 15 I walked into my local Blockbuster not knowing that I had a copy of Prince of Persia (snes) that I had bought from Blockbuster in my winter jacket. Didn't find anything to rent so I proceeded to walk out of the store. *BEEP BEEP BEEP*

"Please empty your pockets".

I did. My pants pockets. "Please walk through again". *BEEP BEEP BEEP* I promised the guy I didn't have anything, took off my coat, walked through, and no *BEEPS*. That's when the clerk pulled out my game, which still had a shiny silver Blockbuster sticker on it.

"How can you explain this?". My face went pale. I knew right then that it sure as hell looked like I was trying to steal the game. I told the clerk that I knew it looked like I was trying to jack them, but to check the video surveillance. When he said "I'd rather call the authorities" I gave him my driver's Permit (wish I held onto that) and told him I would be back within a half hour with the receipt for the game.

I got my game back as well as an apology, but the ordeal was terribly embarrassing.

And I have another alleged Blockbuster theft story.

One of my good friends in high school accused me of stealing his wallet during Senior Week and using his Blockbuster card to rent and keep movies. Yes, I was a bit mischievous in my younger years, but I've never, ever been a thief.

So instead of calling me, my "friend" called my parents and threatened to sue. At this time I was now in undergrad, so my parents arranged a three way call. "I have you on tape, I know it is you, and I plan on suing you for every penny" I was told.

Bull.

I responded with "One, I don't steal. Two, you should have called me directly and not my parents. Three, I haven't been in Caldwell County since I started college. Lastly, if you try to sue me you'll only be wasting my time and your money but go for it if you must".

The very next day I get a call from a mutual friend (my pal who lost his wife last year) and get this; he says "Luke, I know who stole the wallet. It was Tom Hatfield" (another mutual friend).

"So Tom is going to set things straight right?" I asked.

"Nope".

So my friend didn't sue, Tom didn't fess up, and I didn't "snitch" because I was still ticked at being accused of theft and that my friend called my Parents.

I still have no clue if the issue was resolved, but I did receive an apology. Still kind of irks me that he thought I would steal. I'm one of the brutally honest people you'll ever meet, and although I got an apology for him to even think I would be dishonest doesn't sit well.

[indecks]

I used to rent NES games and SNES games from a place called MovieLand Video. They had (for the early 90s) a HUGE selection games, and Anime as well. And this is back when anime was awesome. None of this Hikari-Ku Drives Her Car!!? OK GO! shit. It was stuff like Patlabor, Akira, Genocyber, Macross, Area 88, A Wind Named Amnesia, Wicked City, Devilman, Bubblegum Crisis (the original, not 2040) etc. The good anime before everyone looked like gay vampires. They eventually got bought out by Blockbuster, and for a time, they still had the great selection.

It was awesome back in the day. But you know what? Fuck blockbuster. Im glad they are/were going out/went out of business. A couple years after they took over MovieLand, they never stocked anything good. They had 900 copies of some crapass movie and they were all there. Not one checked out, but if you wanted something good, all two copies were checked out. Then their selection of 10 Saturn/PS1 games just sucked. It was ridiculous. Then, rental times went down to 2 days, but "two days" meant if you checked it out Monday, it was due Tuesday at noon. What the hell is that shit?

I'm glad Netflix Amazon Instant and Redbox have murdered Blockbuster.

[Bagel]

In my younger years, I actually worked for a mom n' pops video store. I handled keeping inventory in check and picking games to order. They ended up closing because the owner of the building wouldn't come down on rent and it got to the point that we stopped breaking even. I also had a short stint at Game Crazy too (still have my summer of games shirt too) but I left after they dropped the retro games.

One of the big perks of working at the mom n' pops place is I'd always get first dibs on games before they were going out for sale or if we got too many in a shipment. I ended up getting some pretty awesome stuff this way (including Street Fighter Anniversary, a Mega Man X3 that we got one too many of, Xenogears etc.) and they were -dirt- cheap. When we got the extra MMX3 we weren't billed for it and I was like, "Are we gonna put it out or are you gonna sell it?" and she ended up selling it to me for $4 bucks (the price of pre-owned games). Never opened it because I ended up buying the shelf copy and Mega Man 7 when they went up for grabs.

I miss that place

[BurningDoom]

^Does your Dad post here?

When I was around 15 I walked into my local Blockbuster not knowing that I had a copy of Prince of Persia (snes) that I had bought from Blockbuster in my winter jacket. Didn't find anything to rent so I proceeded to walk out of the store. *BEEP BEEP BEEP*

"Please empty your pockets".

I did. My pants pockets. "Please walk through again". *BEEP BEEP BEEP* I promised the guy I didn't have anything, took off my coat, walked through, and no *BEEPS*. That's when the clerk pulled out my game, which still had a shiny silver Blockbuster sticker on it.

"How can you explain this?". My face went pale. I knew right then that it sure as hell looked like I was trying to steal the game. I told the clerk that I knew it looked like I was trying to jack them, but to check the video surveillance. When he said "I'd rather call the authorities" I gave him my driver's Permit (wish I held onto that) and told him I would be back within a half hour with the receipt for the game.

I got my game back as well as an apology, but the ordeal was terribly embarrassing.

And I have another alleged Blockbuster theft story.

One of my good friends in high school accused me of stealing his wallet during Senior Week and using his Blockbuster card to rent and keep movies. Yes, I was a bit mischievous in my younger years, but I've never, ever been a thief.

So instead of calling me, my "friend" called my parents and threatened to sue. At this time I was now in undergrad, so my parents arranged a three way call. "I have you on tape, I know it is you, and I plan on suing you for every penny" I was told.

Bull.

I responded with "One, I don't steal. Two, you should have called me directly and not my parents. Three, I haven't been in Caldwell County since I started college. Lastly, if you try to sue me you'll only be wasting my time and your money but go for it if you must".

The very next day I get a call from a mutual friend (my pal who lost his wife last year) and get this; he says "Luke, I know who stole the wallet. It was Tom Hatfield" (another mutual friend).

"So Tom is going to set things straight right?" I asked.

"Nope".

So my friend didn't sue, Tom didn't fess up, and I didn't "snitch" because I was still ticked at being accused of theft and that my friend called my Parents.

I still have no clue if the issue was resolved, but I did receive an apology. Still kind of irks me that he thought I would steal. I'm one of the brutally honest people you'll ever meet, and although I got an apology for him to even think I would be dishonest doesn't sit well.

Ouch, that sucks. What a friend.

The only problem I ever had was when Blockbuster started renting systems for a short time. I forget what it was at this point. Maybe a PS2, maybe an XBox. But what had happened is that this is when it was all new. There was a deposit they'd take out of your account and hold onto from whatever credit card was on your Blockbuster account (mine being my debit card from my bank account) of $200. The problem with that was, nobody told me this. My account was well under $200 as it was just before pay-day and I was just out of high school on my own at the time, so naturally it overdrew my account by a bit. When I went back to Blockbuster to take it back, they told me it was "policy" and they had to hold the deposit for the entire rental period regardless. And they claimed that I agreed to it when I signed the rental agreement, an agreement I had signed years before they even started renting consoles.

I was pissed because I was gonna have to pay a butt-load of bank fees for something that was never told to me and I never actually agreed to despite them claiming I had by signing the rental agreement years back. I then pulled a huge jerk move (which I normally don't because I'm kind of non-confrontational), and I refused to leave the counter until they put the money back into my account and held up their entire customer line. Eventually after the manager started shouting and I started shouting right back at her, they put it back in my account. But back then, I was living check to check, and usually not making it to the next without going broke. So that was a big deal.

[Ziggy]

^ That sucks. I've had similar problems with overdrawing and bank fees before, I know what a headache that can be.

I remember when Blockbuster started renting consoles. I rented an N64 when it first came out. It was actually the first time I saw and played an N64. Didn't have enough money to buy one, but was too eager to play one.

[BoneSnapDeez]

There's still a Blockbuster in Bangor, Maine.

I went in a few weeks ago and they didn't appear to be renting anything - looked like they were selling/liquidating their entire stock.

[CRTGAMER]

There's still a Blockbuster in Bangor, Maine.

I went in a few weeks ago and they didn't appear to be renting anything - looked like they were selling/liquidating their entire stock.

Jump on it, you might find some good posters or unique displays. I picked up some Playstation plastic signs and God of War Rental Placards.

^ That sucks. I've had similar problems with overdrawing and bank fees before, I know what a headache that can be.

I remember when Blockbuster started renting consoles. I rented an N64 when it first came out. It was actually the first time I saw and played an N64. Didn't have enough money to buy one, but was too eager to play one.

Holy crap I remember those Rental Consoles, VCR and DVD players in the brief cases! There is a seller at the Swap Meet that had a PS2 with matching Blockbuster brief case. I so wanted to buy just that heavy duty custom case, but he wanted $60.00 for everything so I passed.

One advantage Blockbuster had in their used rental game sales over Hollywood Video was no repackage involved. Although the clear plastic protector on the game carts and discs hurt the value. Gaah I hated the Game Crazy used games that came from the Hollywood Video side of the store, that silly rental case cover with the blue on the back.

[Betamax001]

There's a video rental place in Chicago on Belmont that is still around...the entire downstairs is porn so that is my guess on how they stay in business!

I remember renting videos with my grandparents at Blockbuster when I was a kid. My sister would get mad at me when I would pick a Pokemon tape. It was a real treat when we used to rent things from Dollar Video back in the day. I remember renting lots of Dragon Ball tapes and DVDs in their little anime section. They had a old Streamline Lupin III tape with a naked lady on the back and a NC17 and Not for kids sticker on the tape box! that was surprising and I liked it back in the day. I have seen the episode later on that was on the tape. Nothing NC17 worthy. I would love to go back in time and troll through their VHS tapes and video games now. When I was 10 I probably had no idea what half of the stuff was. They probably had some neat stuff that I had no idea what it was!

[stickem]

along the lines of luke's story my wife got arrested for theft from blockbuster. her sister returned a movie she borrowed that we rented. except she put the wrong vhs movie inside the case. thought it was returned and gtg until my wife locked her keys in the car. called the police to slim jim it. they always run your dl number on a call and he said she had a warrant for theft. went to court and the judge dismissed it but of course we were out the bail money. the dam movie was some elmo show for our kid she got arrested over.