There are now no DVD rental stores in my neighborhood. Saddo.

Check out the “adult” section in the back. I used to run past that part of the store because it creeped the hell out of me. Especially when I could see the shoes of some guy in there.

It’s depressing to see one of your favorite childhood haunts turned into such a ghosttown.

I frequented the family owned Video Town twice a week. They added another section  named Laserdisc Town about the same time Dad upgraded our entertainment system. It was the only place in the city where you could rent laserdiscs. That section was smaller though, so I felt like a privileged kid walking around the store with that big, flat square in its plastic sleeve while other kids had those lame rectangular boxes. “What? You don’t know what surround sound is? You’re really missing out.” The worst thing though about laserdiscs was turning the disc over. No one wanted to get off the couch to do that.

They had several frames along the windows of the store that held the movie posters of films about to be released. You know those frames, the ones with the flashing white bulbs that caught your attention. Whenever we drove past, we’d see what was coming soon and plan accordingly.

Netflix really did a number on video rental places, huh? Maybe my kids will never know what it’s like to step into a video store, browse all the titles, read the info on a film. Hold two (or more) films in their hands and debate which one to take home. I guess you could do it all online, but it’s not the same.

I didn’t have the time to take a photo of the last movie poster still in its frame in the window, but it was for Mama’s Boy (2007) with Jon Heder. Really depressed the shit out of me.