I stepped back in time at the Blockbuster pop-up in Soho in New York City. The store was set up with VHS tapes on the shelves and although you couldn't actually rent them it was fun to peruse the "classics." In this day of Netflix and the many other streaming services it was fun to remember how we did it in the old days.
I remember getting our first VCR in the 80's. In those days, you could actually rent one before owning it and I can still picture my Dad setting it up in the corner of the living room. We had a movie night themed birthday party and showed the movie Herbie on VHS on a rented VCR. Our local video store was called Video Exchange and on Fridays and Saturdays it was the destination in town to go with your friends or family. It was divided in sections for Drama, Comedy, Action, etc. You'd turn the back of the VHS box over to read about the movie and hope it wasn't "sold out" by looking to see how many tape boxes were behind it. You'd then bring the case to the counter to get the actual VHS tape. Videos were returned in a big slot and late fees were charged if you missed the deadline. When I moved to New York City, Blockbuster was my local video store. My boyfriend and I would spend many a date night in the aisles trying to decide on what movie to watch in our old school version of "Netflix and chill."
As much as it's nice to now have the convenience of video on demand from the comfort of my living room couch, I still miss the old days of when selecting a movie was an activity in itself. Although it is nice to not worry about "be kind and rewind" anymore!