Video store closeout madness

[Eireann]

Alas, woe is me. My all-time favorite video store has closed. They are selling off their stock and closing. I hate it. I loved that store dearly, for its huge selection and knowledgeable employees. I even loved that it was ugly. I prefer small, ugly-carpet ugliness to black walls, neon, walls of TVs, and employees in uniforms.

So, I went there on the first day of the sale. The line was enormous. I finally got inside. The heat was intense, from all the rabid bodies of the consumers.

One of the employees made the bad tactical decision of locking the doors - not to keep us in, but to keep others from entering. Of course, nobody could then leave. Which angered several parents of kids who were having huge, screaming meltdowns.

So, some self-righteous jackass sounds off:

You're not supposed to lock the doors during business hours! It's against the law! The fire marshal will close you down!

I said in an even tone, "I don't think they're concerned about that, now."

Jackass didn't listen, but kept sounding off. Another guy told him to keep his voice down. Yet another guy, with very good people skills, said, "I don't think you need to speak so loudly."

"WELL I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THEY HEARD ME!"

Mr. People Skills said soothingly, "And they did. Good job."

The doors were unlocked, several people left, and it was quiet again.

God, I'm going to miss that place. Up yours, Netflix.

[Gawdzillers]

My favorite video store closed down a few years ago.
So now we have to go down halfway Up Our Ass to rent from Blockbuster.

The old store manager used to give me movies. Not "let me buy", he GAVE me copies of movies.

[Dawnchaser]

This wouldn't be Flicks n Pics, would it?

I was sorry to see them go too.

Hadn't been as often lately because we moved across town, but still went in every now and then.

Sigh.

All the good stuff around here closed/is closing - Flicks n Pics, Wild Duck, Pizza Pete's...soon there'll be no reason to stay.

[Eireann]

This wouldn't be Flicks n Pics, would it?

Why, yes, it was!

I was sorry to see them go too.

Hadn't been as often lately because we moved across town, but still went in every now and then.

Sigh.

All the good stuff around here closed/is closing - Flicks n Pics, Wild Duck, Pizza Pete's...soon there'll be no reason to stay.

I hate the way the big companies squeeze out small business, so instead of going to a nice, comfy, friendly place, you end up going to a giant island surrounded by concrete, park clear the hell away, end up getting pushed and shoved by crowds, get blinded by the aggressive lighting, and deal with employees who certainly weren't hired for their product knowledge. (This is not meant to slam employees at such businesses who DO know the product well; I'm referring to the hiring practices that take on all kinds of people, regardless of knowledge.)

Oh, what a grand place it was. Everyone's mourning the loss of it. So where the hell were they before? Renting from Netflix, that's where.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Such is the reality of business nowadays.

Anybody who says service and product knowledge is most important to them in choosing where to shop is likely lying. Everybody wants cheap cheap cheap and is willing to sacrifice service to get that cheap price

[Dawnchaser]

Oh, what a grand place it was. Everyone's mourning the loss of it. So where the hell were they before? Renting from Netflix, that's where.

Too true...

There's really no place to rent around here now. The Blockbusters tend not to have much that I'm interested in and I always used to end up with massive late fees. The spouse refuses to go back even with their new late fee system or whatever. I had late fees at Flicks too, but not nearly as much and I didn't mind paying them as much...They also used to have these BOGO coupons you could buy ahead of time and we used em all!

The last time I looked into joining Hollywood they had some weird deal where they wanted a deposit before I could sign up and some sort of membership fee. Had little money at the time...and now that I'm not totally destitute I really don't even want to bother.

The mom n pop places that are left...the ones I know of anyway...have barely any selection.

So I'm back to just Netflix and Greencine I guess. (Greencine is awesome but their delivery speeds are pretty slow since they come from San Fran)

Man, I remember getting started on anime at Flicks n Pics. Was able to watch all of Black Adder...found Red Dwarf soon after that, which I'd never seen before...

The older guy that worked there in the evenings found us some really good movies too that I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise...