Remembering the Days of Be Kind, Please Rewind

  • Sunday, May 26, 2013
  • Harmon Jolley
Blockbuster sign at Highway 58 store
Blockbuster sign at Highway 58 store
photo by Harmon Jolley

As I drove past the Blockbuster store on Highway 58 the other day, I noticed a “store closing” sign.  This is the last Blockbuster store in the Chattanooga market.  Other major video rental chains such as Movie Gallery have already closed, just like the locally-owned stores before them.  “The end of an era,” I thought.  No more trips to rent a video, and even better, no more frantic trips to return a video by its due date and time. 

Still, knowing that I had witnessed both the rise and fall of a much-loved type of business caused me to reflect on the era of home video rental.  If this were a video-based Memories article, you would see me support my chin like The Thinker, roll my eyes, and then the screen would go into waves.  “Ah, yes, I remember it well…”

I first heard of someone owning a home video recorder in 1979.  Some co-workers were talking about their new cable television service that included HBO and Showtime.  One person had just added a Sony Betamax VCR to his home electronics suite.

I joined the Betamax owners the following year by purchasing a unit at the Circuit City store in Hixson.  Home video rental was a new offering.  I recall that Circuit City had a small video rental area inside their store.  They must have converted a closet, because only one customer at a time could stand in the area to review the video choices.

The VHS tape format began to overtake Beta in the market.  At the same time, video rental stores were beginning to appear in nearly every shopping center around town.  The 1981 Chattanooga city directory carried a new listing, “Video Recording Equipment Sales and Service.”  Two stores were listed – Home Video Center at 5787 Brainerd Road, and Wonderful World of Home Video at 5971 Brainerd Road. 

In the early years of video rental, almost all stores were locally-owned.   Some grocery stores also had video rental sections.  The number of video rental businesses continued to increase during the 1980’s.  Some stores added video games to their rental inventory.

The national Blockbuster chain was first listed in the city directory in 1989, with a store at 3716 Ringgold Road.  Blockbuster opened its first store in 1985 in Dallas, TX.  The chain used considerable computer automation in distributing and renting videos, all driven by a customer membership card that was shown at the check-out desk.

Friday and Saturday evenings were peak times at Blockbuster.   It was common to have to stand in line to rent videos.  Blockbuster’s marketing employed features of movie theaters, with lobby posters and cardboard stand-ups promoting the latest movies.   Microwave popcorn and candy were available for sale, so that one could have the theater experience at home.

Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video entered the Chattanooga market as competitors of Blockbuster.  For a while, there were enough customers to keep all in business.  DVD’s replaced video tapes as the format of choice.

The advent of cable, satellite, and Internet services allowed movies to be ordered and viewed without a trip to a store.  The May 11, 2010 Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that Movie Gallery was closing its Chattanooga stores, part of a corporate-wide liquidation.   Blockbuster has faced bankruptcy and acquisition, and continues to close unprofitable stores nationwide.

If you would still like to experience home video rental, with real media to take home, stop by the Public Library.  They have a large inventory available, including some classics that were never available at the local video store.

If you have memories of the home video rental era, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.

 

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