# Are there still any video rental stores in business in your area?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 19, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789 "2021-10-19T21:28:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/1 "2021-10-19T21:28:55Z")
Just to be clear, I’m talking about a business that rents dvds or blurays or even VHS tapes. I’m not talking about Redboxes or public libraries. And I’m not talking about stores that sell dvds or blurays. And I’m not talking out memories of video stores that have closed.
In my area, there is one video store left: Village Mall Video in Webster, NY. It’s only open three days a week but it’s still in business. I suspect the woman who runs the store must own the building because I can’t imagine how she’s making a monthly rent payment.
There’s also Maple Avenue Videos in Victor, NY. But I’m not sure it’s still in business. It was “temporarily closed” last year due to the pandemic and it’s never re-opened.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/2 "2021-10-19T22:16:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> And I’m not talking about stores that sell dvds or blurays
Not exclusively.
We have a store a mile away that rents CDs VHS, and DVD/BluRay (i suspect they’d rent the 8 tracks and cassettes they sell, too, but I never asked.)
They market themselves as a resale place but they will happily rent you anything they have for sale.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/3 "2021-10-19T22:22:58Z")
There was up until less than a year ago, when [Family Video closed](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-video-appears-to-be-shutting-down/929738).
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/4 "2021-10-19T23:53:03Z")
South Pasadena has Videotheque–which specializes in harder to find films and more art house faire.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/5 "2021-10-19T23:55:15Z")
Not that I know of.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/6 "2021-10-19T23:55:50Z")
I’m another “family video was it” person. It closed and now there is nothing.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/7 "2021-10-19T23:59:31Z")
Looking at Google Maps, there’s no traditional video rental place near me (near western suburbs of Chicago) anymore. I can only find a few Redbox kiosks, an adult video store, and a Disc Replay (which buys and sells used videos and games, but I don’t believe that they do rentals).
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/8 "2021-10-20T01:58:51Z")
A year ago there was one - an independent - left in Australia.
[Last Civic Video shop moves Windsor premises, re-sets longevity challenge | Hawkesbury Gazette | Richmond, NSW](https://www.hawkesburygazette.com.au/story/6846938/kookaburra-finds-home-as-windsor-civic-video-undergoes-transformation/)
Hopefully Covid has been kind to him and brought him many couch potatoes.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/9 "2021-10-20T02:17:08Z")
The New Media Outlet in Ogdensburg, NY is still open.
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/10 "2021-10-20T03:09:07Z")
Just the Family Video which has closed recently. They had tried having a BBQ company takeout place in it, which seemed like a stop-gap measure before closing.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/11 "2021-10-20T04:01:19Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> I’m another “family video was it” person. It closed and now there is nothing.
Same, family video was the last option for in person rental near me.
theres probably some stores here or there run by hipsters or older nostalgic people that are run at a loss, but I don’t know what they’re named.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/12 "2021-10-20T04:29:09Z")
Do we have any San Francisco Bay Area Dopers who can tell us the current (or last known) status of Rasputin Records?
It is (or was?) a local-ish smallish independent chain with some stores in the Bay Area and a few in the San Joaquin Valley. They sell vinyl, but I don’t think that’s all they do. I think they deal in videos too. I don’t know if they only sell or rent as well. Their web site doesn’t mention, that I can find, if they do rentals.
And I don’t know if they’ve gone under, or been bought out, or something. The store that used to be in Modesto is now called The Mad Monk – but I don’t know if the original Rasputin store in Modesto is still operating at a different location.
Rasputin web site, but it’s not obvious when it was last updated:
> **[Rasputin Music](https://www.rasputinmusic.com/)**
>
> We buy and sell new and used CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, Games and Vinyl. We pay the highest prices in cash for your used music and movies, even more for collections!
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/13 "2021-10-20T08:35:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> The New Media Outlet in Ogdensburg, NY is still open
The irony is delicious.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/14 "2021-10-20T09:23:44Z")
Movie Madness, here in Portland, Oregon. Over 80,000 movies, Blu Ray, DVD and VHS. Hella collection of obscure, rare, and collectable videos.
[Movie Madness Video](https://moviemadness.org/)
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/15 "2021-10-20T09:38:10Z")
> **[CINEFILE VIDEO MOVIE RENTAL](https://www.cinefilevideo.com/)**
>
> Hard to find dvd + bluray film rentals and sales in the heart of los angeles. We buy movies!
This classic is still around.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/16 "2021-10-20T10:42:04Z")
There’s one just down the road in between the apothecary and the milliner.
“Nathaniel Cruikshank - purveyor of fine visual entertainment for the purpose of erudition and stimulation” I believe it is called.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/17 "2021-10-20T10:55:27Z")
> **[JAILED: Cruel burglar behind bars for stealing young children's birthday...](https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/14558351.nathan-cruikshank-from-slough-jailed-after-stealing-birthday-presents-from-flackwell-heath-home/)**
>
> A cruel burglar who stole young children’s birthday presents after smashing his way into their family home while they went on a dog walk has been…
Nice to see the young man turn his life around. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/18 "2021-10-20T10:58:21Z")
> [@madsircool](#):
>
> Nice to see the young man turn his life around. 🙂
It does explain why his shelves are mostly full of Tellytubbies and “Frozen”
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### Author:  [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/19 "2021-10-20T14:11:48Z")
In Toronto we’ve still got Bay St. Video, which is both a rental and sales place. It’s also right smack in the middle of downtown, near Yorkville, so unless you’re on public transit, it’s a nightmare to get to.
We used to have a plethora of indie stores: Queen Video (three branches), Suspect Video (two), The Film Buff (two, I think), plus a handful of others. Plus Blockbuster and Jumbo Video, the latter of which’s closest branch to me was actually really well-curated and had a terrific back catalog. I miss it all…streaming just ain’t the same.
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### Author:  [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-any-video-rental-stores-in-business-in-your-area/952789/20 "2021-10-20T14:15:55Z")
Memphis has Black Lodge Video although they are struggling these days. I think they specialize in genre videos such as Science fiction, and locally produced movies.
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