# How close are you to a video store? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156 "2016-04-14T01:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/1 "2016-04-14T01:26:40Z")
When I went back to my hometown in eastern Washington last week, we passed through a town of about 5000 people–and had an honest to goodness video store. This stunned me because in my current town of Tacoma (about 200 thousand people) we only have one video store, about two miles away from me. . How close are you to a video store, and do you have any idea how it stays in business? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/2 "2016-04-14T01:42:08Z")
I am as surprised video stores still exist as I am that the printed Yellow Pages does. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/3 "2016-04-14T01:58:15Z")
There’s a little one a few blocks from my apartment in NYC called We Deliver Videos so I guess the delivery bit helps keep it afloat. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/4 "2016-04-14T02:01:23Z")
There’s a Jumbo Video two blocks from me. It’s one of, I believe, ten left in Canada. I imagine a good portion of their business comes from renting video games, since that section is what’s up front when you enter the store. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/5 "2016-04-14T02:34:25Z")
There are a few independent stores left in my city (Austin TX) - it’s been years since I’ve rented anything from one myself, but I think they stay in business by stocking specialty/hard-to-find stuff, which there’s a good market for here - indie, foreign, arthouse, classic, documentaries, “cult”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/6 "2016-04-14T02:43:44Z")
I know where a video store used to be. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/7 "2016-04-14T02:49:35Z")
There are quite a few Family Video stores in my city, but they also have pizza delivery (pretty good pizza, too) and I understand that they usually locate in strip malls that they also own, so they get that rental income too. What about Redbox? Those are all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/8 "2016-04-14T03:08:56Z")
I think there’s only one left in Santa Barbara, but it happens to be less than a mile from our house. I can’t imagine it will be around much longer, but I never would have expected it to make it this long, either. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/9 "2016-04-14T03:25:18Z")
None where I live. (Tuscaloosa, AL pop. 100,000). Several Redboxes and one DVDXpress box. There doesn’t appear to be any left in Birmingham either. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/10 "2016-04-14T04:36:44Z")
There’s a Family Video about a block from me. As **Nearwildheaven** mentions, they now do pizza delivery and will bring your movie with and the company itself is involved in property management. They also have a bunch of perks and offers such as always having free kids movie rentals and a free rental of an older movie with every new release rental. Rates are reasonable as well from what I remember. I almost wonder if they haven’t been doing better recently with the fragmenting of the streaming market. Used to be that you could stream a lot more from Netflix before all the studios either jacked up their rates or else held stuff back for their own services. Frankly, it feels like it might be easier to just rent something sometimes than figure out which of the umpteen services will stream it for you. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/11 "2016-04-14T05:15:43Z")
There’s a Family Video half a mile from me - I could walk there if I weren’t terrified of being flattened by a tractor-trailer. The video store is not much different from the old Blockbuster, a zillion copies of the newest releases and several racks of older movies. There are some surprising titles, but they seldom have the surprising titles _I’m_ looking for. ☹ But it’s better than nothing. I have better luck renting from the public library. (And speaking of old fashioned, I have a brand new Yellow Pages phone directory, I put it in my car since I have only a primitive Trac Phone. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/12 "2016-04-14T05:27:43Z")
The weird thing in my area is video stores seem to being surviving better in the small towns. There are video stores still open in Albion, Brockport, Dansville, Lockport, Medina, Warsaw, Webster, and two in Batavia. But Rochester, which is bigger than all those towns combined, doesn’t have one general video store left. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/13 "2016-04-14T10:26:23Z")
There was a Korean video place less than 1 km from our house, but I think it closed down in the past year. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/14 "2016-04-14T11:26:59Z")
Not counting redbox, we live in a video store desert. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/15 "2016-04-14T11:31:41Z")
I wouldn’t really know. I haven’t noticed one in some time, but then again, I’m not sure I would notice. I can tell you there isn’t one on the route of my daily commute. There is an empty building near our house, that was finished about 8 years ago and never occupied. It looks like it may very well have been designed to be a video store. They’ve been trying unsuccessfully to lease or sell the place since it was built. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/16 "2016-04-14T12:34:48Z")
There’s a Family Video store about a mile from my office. Never been there. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/17 "2016-04-14T12:43:58Z")
There’s one (can’t remember the name of it now) a handful of miles away from me here in Florida ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/18 "2016-04-14T12:54:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The weird thing in my area is video stores seem to being surviving better in the small towns. There are video stores still open in Albion, Brockport, Dansville, Lockport, Medina, Warsaw, Webster, and two in Batavia. But Rochester, which is bigger than all those towns combined, doesn’t have one general video store left. If it doesn’t have to be completed dedicated, there’s also one in [Middlesex](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7047893,-77.2715417,3a,75y,138.9h,89.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sC3aNbtLI68HFUYNv8wVOAA!2e0!7i3328!8i1664). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/19 "2016-04-14T13:00:24Z")
There’s one downtown - probably a 15 minutes by bicycle. I’ve been inside once or twice. They’re basically a brick and mortar version of a Redbox - you pay a buck or so per night that you keep the film. The guy also buys/sells used books and I believe he just started doing occasional indy film screenings. Downtown Gainesville has a thriving hipster population and I am 100% certain that is the only reason it is a viable business model. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156/20 "2016-04-14T13:01:51Z")
I can’t think of a one. There used to be a 21+ porn video store on my old commute to work, about 12 miles from my house, but I’m not even sure it’s there anymore. There’s a _former Blockbuster_ (now a Papa John’s and mattress store) and a _former_ Hollywood Video (now a 24-7 Workout Anytime) not far from my house though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-you-to-a-video-store/752156.md?page=2)