Old Video Movie Rental Stores in the 80s and 90s

1. Getting to the Video Rental Store Early on a Friday

Do you remember the urgency to get to the video store as quickly as possible on a Friday afternoon after school or as early as possible on a Saturday? Arrive too late on a Friday evening and there might be slim pickings when it came to the latest releases.

Time this visit to the video store right and you could strike gold with lots of new rental movies to choose from. Get it wrong and you could end up going home with Superman 3 that you have already rented twice.

2. The Big Rental VHS Cases

Do you remember the big plastic rental cases that would be on display inside the video store? I can remember in the early 80s when you used to take that actual case home. Sadly, though it became common practice to get given a generic case branded with your video store’s name on when you took your movie home.

I loved those huge rental cases though and if I ever see one now all the memories come flooding back of visiting my local store at the weekend.

Did you know you can buy a selection of Blu-Ray movies that come in a VHS Style case? Take a look Here.

3. The Cool Video Store Cardboard Standee’s

My local video stores would of course get loads of cool movie posters to advertise the latest releases but sometimes they would have on display some cool cardboard standees too. I can remember these would usually be on display as you walked in the entrance. The horror movies ones always used to make for the coolest displays in my opinion. Just like the Critters one below.

4. Getting Your Mum to Rent Movies for You

I used to get my mum to rent movies for my friends and myself to watch on a Saturday afternoon. These would usually be the latest Arnold Schwarzenegger movie like the Running Man or Total Recall. They were always rated 18 but my mum would always go and rent what ever movies I wrote down. A lot of my other friends did this too.

5. Reserving New Releases

I can clearly remember getting my mum to reserve Batman (the Tim Burton movie) for me from our local video rental store about a week before it was being released. I don’t think many people in my town realized that you could do this, and I only found out because I had asked once.

This was a great way of securing the hot new VHS tapes to rent. I did the Same for Terminator 2 as well.

6. Having to Choose a Movie

Choosing a movie to watch now on a Friday night can be a pain. There are too many options. As a kid though you couldn’t not leave the video rental store empty handed so you had to choose, and you always did.

If there were lots of new movies to rent it was usually fairly easy. If the choices weren’t that great you would either take a gamble on a movie or rent one of your favourites that you had already seen a few times (usually Ghostbusters, Back to the Future or the Karate Kid).

7. Your Local Independent Movie Rental Stores

Before my town got a Blockbuster store we had a few independent movie rental stores rather than a bif rental chain. One was tiny and just up the road from my house. It was called Sandy’s Videos and it was literally a couple of walls shelved out with videos and a counter.

The other was 5 Star Video which was bigger and always seemed a lot more elaborate with lots of posters and a lot more choice. Both were memorable though to me and I won’t forget either of them.

8. Your Video Store Membership Card

You always had to have your video rental membership card to hand when renting a movie from your video store. If they were really organised too, they would ask for a name and check that your name was the list of allocated names for your membership number. If you forgot it though you had to hope that you would get an understanding member of staff that would let you get away with renting a movie by stating your name and address. Renting a movie wasn’t always easy!

9. The Warner Home Video Covers

Can you remember the black Warner Home Video rental store covers? I can remember them vividly especially the copies of Superman and Superman 2 that I would get my dad to rent when we got our first video recorder in the early 1980’s.

10. When Your Local Video Store Started Renting Video Games

Times always change but one good change whilst video stores were still in the heyday was the addition of video games to rent. Although tough decisions sometimes had to be made such as renting the Naked Gun to watch or going for a video game like The Revenge of Shinobi on the Sega Mega Drive.

Renting video games from my local store was a great way to try new games that back then I could afford to buy with my pocket money. The tough decision was rent a movie or a video game.

11. Blockbuster Ex Rental Sales

Back in the late 1990’s I had quite the VHS movie collection and I used to love when Blockbuster Video did an Ex-Rental sale. I had a friend that worked in the store, and he would give me the heads up and I would head straight down there. I got my first copy of the Exorcist from a Blockbuster Ex Rental sale, and my mum was not pleased with me bringing that movie into her home!

Have you seen the Blockbuster game?

12. The Drop Off Box

Do you remember the drop off box to return your videos? Years before you had to actually go into the video store to return your rented movies, but some genius came up with this great idea that meant you could save time and if you were late returning the movie you could deal with the fine at a later date. Probably the following weekend and you had forgotten about your late rental.

13. Getting the Last Copy of a New Movie

Getting the last copy of a new movie was like winning a race back in the day. To get into the video store and see one last copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade felt like a great achievement. I would race to video and grab it quickly. On the way out of the video store I would proudly announce I can’t believe we got the last copy of Indiana Jones to my dad as other customers headed inside. What a show off!

14. Renting the Same Movie Over and Over Again

When I was very young, I would get my parents to rent the same movie over and over again for me. I don’t know how many times we rented Ghostbusters, but I think it might have been cheaper for my dad to have tried to buy a copy from the video store.

Thankfully for my dad though it was shown on TV at Christmas and was promptly recorded on a blank tape so I could watch whenever I wanted.

You can find Ghostbusters on Amazon here.

15. Taking a Chance on a Movie You Know Nothing About

If you got to the video store at the weekend and there were slim pickings sometimes you just had to take a chance on a movie you knew nothing about. Sometimes this would pay off and other times it wouldn’t. I can remember renting Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn and finding it quite enjoyable and on another occasion Slipstream with Mark Hamill and finding it quite dull.

No one to five star reviews to help you make a choice inside the video store back in the day.

Video Rental Store Memories from Back in the Day

I hope my video store memories have stirred some nostalgic memories of your own from back in the day. A trip to the video store was sometimes an event to look forward to having finished a long week of school. From visiting with my parents as a small kid, to visiting as a teen and then as an adult I always enjoyed a trip to the video store. I found it easier back then to choose a movie to watch than I do today.

For more 80’s and 90’s memories, take a look at these articles…

Garbage Pail Kids – I Loved These Cards

Do You Remember Ian Weighill from Bedknobs and Broomsticks

90’s Retro Games – 15 Things only 90’s Gamers Did

80’s Christmas Memories

Onken Frufoo the Yoghurt that Came with a Toy

Do You Remember Black Jack Sweets?

Thanks for stopping by.

Darren