Tales from the 80s Video Store Culture
Rewinding Back To The VHS Days
Before there was Netflix, there was Blockbuster. But before there was Blockbuster, there was the local video store.
I worked at a local video store in the ‘80s when they were considered the central hub for movie enthusiasts—a hugely successful store located on the corner of a busy street in Queens NY.
It was at the peak of the VHS era.
It was a time when the video store membership card was used more often than the gym card and library card combined.
So I thought I would share some anecdotes to give you a glimpse of what the VHS culture was like.
A Disturbing Moment
The cost of renting a movie was $1.99 per day and it was expected to be returned the next day. It was possible to rent up to four movies at a time, and surprisingly, many people actually did so.
Some dudes would even rent 4 porn videos at a time. That’s around eight hours of video time in one day.
I tried not to make too much eye contact with old dudes renting porn so as to not make them feel like they were being judged. But there was one disturbing moment when I recognized one of the older dudes who was renting 4 porn videos.
