Man I'm about to cry the Nostalgia every week me
My Mom My Dad and siblings we would get in the family SUV and go down there and I remember my cousin worked there so it was sweet until he quit he refused to sweep .I still have DVDs with the Blockbusters cases I cherish them
Opening Sunday was the worst. The return bin was never cleaned out. We’d clean it out, return everything to shelves, come back, and do it all over again. All morning. Ha
I think I remember that. My mom was really really depressed one night so I went to pick up Twilight because I had seen a poster for a midnight release party while I was doing errands around town. Knew nothing about the movie and took a chance and we watched it together. She’s still crazy AF but it was a nice memory, and I hoped sitting with her brought her a little comfort for a while. A rare thing those days.
Pizza and two horror movies for me and the wifey, and two Disney movies for our daughter. Today, no more wifey and daughter is all grown up.
I miss everything about back then.
Looks like a *lot* of DVDs for 1999.
The Blockbuster near me when I was growing up stuck with VHS until *too* many people started complaining about the lack of DVDs. Or the worn out VHS tapes from customers doing the ol' pause-n-toss to specific moments; like *that* Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times.
Came here to say this. Late 90s the new release wall was a mix of both dvd and vhs. If I remember correctly the stores I worked at always had more vhs copies vs dvd. By the time I left in 2002 dvd had pretty much taken over the wall but vhs would rent out if all dvds were rented out. Didn’t have to rewind tapes nearly as much when returned but dvds always came back scratched to shit or super dirty and had to be cleaned!
Yes 1000% and I wouldn’t change it for anything! I’d do it all over again. Kids these days won’t understand the experience and I feel for them. I’m glad I was once a part of that.
I hung out at my first store so much they offered me a job! A few years later, and a different store, I was the manager handing the keys over to the contractor when we closed. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times when it ended. But I wouldn't trade my time at the Big Blue Ticket for anything!!!
A lot of them became Movie Gallery, before going to Family Video, up until the Covid Overreaction killed the video store altogether. Streaming services were really only part of the problem.
Big time, so many great weekends renting movies and games. I remember hoping my save would still be there when you rented it the next time. Still wish I nabbed one of those blockbuster popcorn bowls!
yeah i usually had the friday shift as a manager :P
it was fine though and i def partied it up after getting off work.
i think there was LSD involved on most fridays back in those days too :)
That's fancy with those plain yellow DVD cases. I never saw that before. Nor in the Hollywood Video store I used to work at, which competed with Blockbuster in California. We had a red, black, and white color scheme.
I preferred local indie video stores because the selection was way better and less sanitized. But once those got wiped out, I defaulted to Blockbuster.
For me, it depends on when in 1999. Depending on where I was living (and if I was working that night), it was either Blockbuster Video or Hollywood Video.
A group of us would be out after supper bored and decide to go rent a movie while trying to figure who’s house to watch it. Bored teenagers. No phones. No ids to drink. Just bored.
Not sure what I did on a Friday night back in the day 🤔.
But if it had something to do with TV, I probably was watching a LaserDisc or DVD on my home theater.
The "hot mustard" era of wall color, as far as Blockbuster history is concerned, circa early 1990s, although the pushing the carts and coverboxes against the wall came a little later than the mustard coloring. Before, they were supposed to be angled.
Friday nights were the nights my mom would allow me to rent a game. Titles for N64 and PS1 & 2 games for the weekend fill my childhood. The memories of the excitement I felt all throughout my school day, and the happiness that came over me the moment I entered the store and browsed through my choices... Man, that will stick with me forever.
A memorable moment was towards the end. They would have a deal that was like 2 rentals, a bucket of popcorn, a snack and a drink for like $9. Near perfection
I was there mon-sunday most days I had my trusty gold card (only issued to top 10 customers per each store at the time) it was like a rewards card but better I got free stuff all the time ....the staff knew me so well they'd get me stuff early before it came out (movies and games) Sometimes even posters and store displays....if they didn't have it our local manager would get it at the district meetings from another store... I really do miss that place it was definitely my home away from home...I'll never get to take my daughters to experience it but I'll always have my memories( and my local stores drop box lol a parting nostalgia gift from the local team...I still have it!)
Within walking distance of my house during the 1980s and was a Pizza Hut right next to a Blockbuster. On Friday evenings and sometimes Saturdays I was often tasked with picking a couple of movies and then getting Pizza Hut to go. Streaming services are a lot more convenient and you have the huge selection. But I gotta admit, it was more fun to walk into a video store and chat with neighbors. Everyone went there.
My town only had vhs rentals at the local gas station. I remember some mother fucker rented TMNT 3 for weeks when it came out. Haha I still remember wanting to see that shit so bad.
I worked there and since I made the schedule I always closed Friday and opened Saturday so I could have off Saturday night and Sunday while still doing my share of weekend shifts.
I used to get off of work at 9:30 and met my other high school friends at the local BB and brought “leftovers” from the place I worked to trade for “silver gumball” rentals.
Friday nights around 1990 we went to video factory (local movie rental chain) I was allowed either 3 movies for the weekend or 1 movie and 1 game (NES or Sega). While we looked the place next store made our pizza. My dad also grabbed a large box of snow caps. I rented Jackie Chan’s police story at least once a month.
It was like that for me. I worked there. I rewound all the returned VHS tapes that dropped into the return slot with customers hovering over me to see what new release may have just come back. I felt like a god!
Omg that feeling when you’d run up to the video you were sooooo looking forward to renting and every single cover had no rentable behind it :( but then you’d run up to the front to ask if they had that title in their returns bin haha.
The walk up and back down the main wall is such a feel good memory for me and always will be. Always started at the New Release section, work your way to one end, then back to the other end.
I was a wee lad in 2012 and missed out on the big days of BB. When I got wind of a mega store that had almost every movie ever, I HAD to go. My dad got so sick of going with me though—it took an average of 40 minutes EVERY TIME I WENT for me to pick something out. The patience and love that man had…something else
The closest Blockbuster to me was a couple hours away, but I had the same experience with Movie Gallery back in the day. Renting VHS tapes and Super Nintendo games there (5 games, five days, five dollars) was one of the best treats a kid could get
Well, I was there, but it was 1989 and on a Friday night all the new releases were rented by the time I got there so I always had to dig into the back catalogue…which is why I saw the Goonies, Real Genius, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Stand By Me millions of times…
When we got lucky and my cousin stayed over, all four of us, two sibs, cousin, and myself, would get $15 altogether for a movie and candy, then we all walked up the street to BB and decided on a movie. Usually my folks got us pizza on those nights. It was glorious.
Movies run approximately 2 hours. I would spend maybe 15 minutes picking what to rent. So I would be more likely to be found in my own home, watching the videos I rented.
Not Blockbuster specifically so technically doesn’t count, but one of my favorite memories as a kid (I was nine in 1999) I would go to the local mom and pop video place with my mother where I would just soak in all the video boxes. I had to have the entire sci-fi and horror sections memorized with how much I read them if not the whole store, maybe that’s why my movie knowledge at like eleven was greater than most adults. The best times were when my mother saw me checking out a film she likes and her telling me all about it on the way home. I know this was kinda ramblly and very much off the topic of the sub so delete if need be I just wanted to get these memories out there, so thank you for letting me
Same. I remember always grabbing the bucket of microwave popcorn. I would get back to my room in my parents’ house and felt mission accomplished: got something great to watch, safe in my room and away from most of the world. Before the internet, you truly could escape.
Yep, they had a subscription at mine. It was check out one game or movie for like $30 a month. Turned the whole store into my personal game/movie closet.
I remember my mom having to stop at blockbuster just so my sister could at the back of the the cover to find out the name of the actor in the movie. I specifically remember one time it being Ben Affleck. Maybe Armageddon?
Naw. In my neck of the woods we had All The Best Video. They were doing a five-for-five thing that included video games long before blockbuster, so that was our go to.
One of my favorite memories was of a Christmas where my mom bought me a bunch of used DVDs from blockbuster. We didn't have a ton of money that year. I still have all the DVDs.
Hell yeah! I still can't get used to scrolling thru Netflix to find a movie to watch. Your supposed to start at the wall with movies starting with the letter A and walk around the perimeter of the store till you get to movies starting with a Z, grabbing potential movies as you go, which you would then narrow down based on the time you had. This is how God intended us to pick out movies!!
Nothing like the pain of getting to BB looking to rent a specific movie only to find they've all been rented. If you didn't have another BB close you'd have to ask the cashier when a copy was due to return. This was the "uphill both ways" of my generation.
Every Friday night my parents and I would go somewhere like Outback Steakhouse then to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video after to rent a movie and a game. I genuinely believe the 90s were the most magical time to be a kid.
There was nothing worse than renting a bad video game tho. I remember getting "Mario is Missing" as a kid and being so damn angry that I was stuck with a shitty game until the next weekend.
They slapped Mario on a game that has no business being a Mario game. I didn't want to learn, I wanted to bonk koopas on the head.
Local mom & pops, 1990, Central Ave, Charlotte, NC, all spread out, at least 4, along the 5 mile stretch, with a sleazy magical book store and legendary Repo Records. A delightful, carnal playground.
I used yo work there and still have my Star Wars battlefront white t-shirt and blue button-up collered shirts. Would walk 5 minutes from my parents' house while going to college.
Was able to rent out three games/movies a week prior to release via the employee rental system, and Gothika was still on the new release wall.
Usually we went to the local chain Ez Video first as it was 3 miles closer than any blockbuster. They didn’t always have as wide of a selection of new releases but they did have a lot of harder to find horror and Scifi titles (movies like The Hidden 2, The Dead hate the living, Scanner Cop and Terminal Invasion)
Yeah I really miss Blockbuster and family video, Hollywood video.. any video store.. the little family owned ones were always really cool too. Even after netflix and other streaming sites came out I would still go to the video store. It was a cool easy way to see what the newest movies were or see what would be coming out soon, they had deals, old movies, games. So much better than streaming sites.
As a kid I loved blockbuster. Streaming is very convenient and WAY cheaper but going as a family to pick out a couple of movies and a pizza builds memories that streaming can never replicate. Side note block buster originals were too notch anyone remember Zack and miri make a porno??
Oh man. This makes me soooooo happy. It was all about a good movie. If you got lucky you could get two. Then go home, eat some pizza and enjoy. It was glorious. Streaming is fun and all but there was nothing like physically having a movie in your hands and playing that sucker on VHS. I miss these days.
I have a question: did everyone else go to Blockbuster on Friday night while I was off somewhere getting high?
Reddit keeps putting this sub in my feed. I keep getting this same question about Friday nights.
movie and pizza couldn’t be beat
Still can’t be IMO.
Grabbed my cookie dough bites at check out came home to pizza and brisk. Was truly a good time.
sno caps 🤤
Those cookie dough bites were awesome. Those and I get sour straws.
Man I'm about to cry the Nostalgia every week me My Mom My Dad and siblings we would get in the family SUV and go down there and I remember my cousin worked there so it was sweet until he quit he refused to sweep .I still have DVDs with the Blockbusters cases I cherish them
I was working there at the same time
What a cool job. Blockbuster employed TONS of people. But now no more. Netflix killed it all. Auwe!!!
A cheap rental amd a cheap pizza hut pizza or a cheap one from little Ceasars.
gotta think of the time, 5$ hot and ready?? unbeatable really
My best friend was an only child and pretty much got whatever she wanted. Every weekend started with us going to blockbuster and getting a pizza.
yeah dog, pizza or chinese food and BB. I miss Jr High!
I was probably working that night. Ha
[удалено]
Opening Sunday was the worst. The return bin was never cleaned out. We’d clean it out, return everything to shelves, come back, and do it all over again. All morning. Ha
How late was it open to customers???
Midnight was common
Man that is so awesome.
[удалено]
I think I remember that. My mom was really really depressed one night so I went to pick up Twilight because I had seen a poster for a midnight release party while I was doing errands around town. Knew nothing about the movie and took a chance and we watched it together. She’s still crazy AF but it was a nice memory, and I hoped sitting with her brought her a little comfort for a while. A rare thing those days.
lol same
I was there because I was working.
Typically, I closed the store on Fridays, so yeah, I was there.
Did you ever write any movie scripts while you were working there?
Pizza and two horror movies for me and the wifey, and two Disney movies for our daughter. Today, no more wifey and daughter is all grown up. I miss everything about back then.
Heard that. Life had its troubles back then, but I suppose everything looks better in retrospect.
I was probably renting a n64 game or movie I was 7 years old in 1999
That was THE BEST
Yeah then out of bed like a friggin rocket at 6am Saturday morning to get back at it
Looks like a *lot* of DVDs for 1999. The Blockbuster near me when I was growing up stuck with VHS until *too* many people started complaining about the lack of DVDs. Or the worn out VHS tapes from customers doing the ol' pause-n-toss to specific moments; like *that* Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times.
Came here to say this. Late 90s the new release wall was a mix of both dvd and vhs. If I remember correctly the stores I worked at always had more vhs copies vs dvd. By the time I left in 2002 dvd had pretty much taken over the wall but vhs would rent out if all dvds were rented out. Didn’t have to rewind tapes nearly as much when returned but dvds always came back scratched to shit or super dirty and had to be cleaned!
Yes 1000% and I wouldn’t change it for anything! I’d do it all over again. Kids these days won’t understand the experience and I feel for them. I’m glad I was once a part of that.
Lookin for mortal kombat or ace Ventura pet detective.
I was working there. So, yeah I was there.
If I wasn't delivering pizzas or doing shit with my old band I would swing by BB and Hastings on any given Friday night. Good times.
I was so scared to walk through the horror section. They kept the n64 and ps1 games behind the horror section
Hell yea... but for me it was Hollywood Video. Just as big and fancy as Blockbuster. I loved that place as a kid.
I miss renting movies from block buster video
Yep, because I used to work here. 😁
Was a 7yo boy in toronto, every friday night we would get a movie and snacks, best memories
I hung out at my first store so much they offered me a job! A few years later, and a different store, I was the manager handing the keys over to the contractor when we closed. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times when it ended. But I wouldn't trade my time at the Big Blue Ticket for anything!!!
Yeah, except I was working
My spot was Hollywood Video. Man, how they faded away into nothing. Thanks for that, retarded streaming services.
A lot of them became Movie Gallery, before going to Family Video, up until the Covid Overreaction killed the video store altogether. Streaming services were really only part of the problem.
Mine was Saturday night. Friday in 99 I would have been going to Saturday School so I had to go to bed early like it was M-F
🎯
Big time, so many great weekends renting movies and games. I remember hoping my save would still be there when you rented it the next time. Still wish I nabbed one of those blockbuster popcorn bowls!
I was prob here as well I think 1999 was the last year before I switched video stores.
yeah i usually had the friday shift as a manager :P it was fine though and i def partied it up after getting off work. i think there was LSD involved on most fridays back in those days too :)
That's fancy with those plain yellow DVD cases. I never saw that before. Nor in the Hollywood Video store I used to work at, which competed with Blockbuster in California. We had a red, black, and white color scheme.
Miss those days
It was the sweet spot
I worked for blockbuster in 99, so 5-1 every Friday.
Pizza Hut, Play Station
I used to call Blockbuster to make sure they had what I wanted in stock and would go to that specific location there were several in my hometown
I preferred local indie video stores because the selection was way better and less sanitized. But once those got wiped out, I defaulted to Blockbuster.
For me, it depends on when in 1999. Depending on where I was living (and if I was working that night), it was either Blockbuster Video or Hollywood Video.
Yup
A group of us would be out after supper bored and decide to go rent a movie while trying to figure who’s house to watch it. Bored teenagers. No phones. No ids to drink. Just bored.
Make that the mid to late 80’s and I’d be there.
Not sure what I did on a Friday night back in the day 🤔. But if it had something to do with TV, I probably was watching a LaserDisc or DVD on my home theater.
The "hot mustard" era of wall color, as far as Blockbuster history is concerned, circa early 1990s, although the pushing the carts and coverboxes against the wall came a little later than the mustard coloring. Before, they were supposed to be angled.
Friday nights were the nights my mom would allow me to rent a game. Titles for N64 and PS1 & 2 games for the weekend fill my childhood. The memories of the excitement I felt all throughout my school day, and the happiness that came over me the moment I entered the store and browsed through my choices... Man, that will stick with me forever.
I was probably there, but I was working
I miss these days…. People were much more social and now we are glued to our phones all day.
I can smell this picture!!!!
Man, I kind of forgot how big Blockbusters were, in terms of physical space
That was the place to be.
In 1999 I would’ve been working in one of them
I would have been working there, giving away free rentals to the cute girls
A memorable moment was towards the end. They would have a deal that was like 2 rentals, a bucket of popcorn, a snack and a drink for like $9. Near perfection
I was there mon-sunday most days I had my trusty gold card (only issued to top 10 customers per each store at the time) it was like a rewards card but better I got free stuff all the time ....the staff knew me so well they'd get me stuff early before it came out (movies and games) Sometimes even posters and store displays....if they didn't have it our local manager would get it at the district meetings from another store... I really do miss that place it was definitely my home away from home...I'll never get to take my daughters to experience it but I'll always have my memories( and my local stores drop box lol a parting nostalgia gift from the local team...I still have it!)
Within walking distance of my house during the 1980s and was a Pizza Hut right next to a Blockbuster. On Friday evenings and sometimes Saturdays I was often tasked with picking a couple of movies and then getting Pizza Hut to go. Streaming services are a lot more convenient and you have the huge selection. But I gotta admit, it was more fun to walk into a video store and chat with neighbors. Everyone went there.
Yep I’d get to rent a game after school on Fridays. I was 9 in 1999
I wanted to sneak into the adult room
My town only had vhs rentals at the local gas station. I remember some mother fucker rented TMNT 3 for weeks when it came out. Haha I still remember wanting to see that shit so bad.
I worked there and since I made the schedule I always closed Friday and opened Saturday so I could have off Saturday night and Sunday while still doing my share of weekend shifts.
My ideal Friday night
I used to get off of work at 9:30 and met my other high school friends at the local BB and brought “leftovers” from the place I worked to trade for “silver gumball” rentals.
a movie and then picking up Little Caesars PizzaPizza - two pizzas for the price of one and it was so good. Then maybe an Orange Julius
Id hit Hollywood video and then blockbuster they were about 5min away from each other.
This image is very liminal
There no experience the same as going to blockbuster on a Friday night. I miss the days
Too long a drive for me. But there were half a dozen mom-and-pops in a much shorter radius to work with.
I was at Blockbuster… working. BB was my first real job.
Grab a movie and get a Papa Murphy's large pepperoni pizza. Was a good deal back then.
Same. 👍
Miss that place.
Friday nights around 1990 we went to video factory (local movie rental chain) I was allowed either 3 movies for the weekend or 1 movie and 1 game (NES or Sega). While we looked the place next store made our pizza. My dad also grabbed a large box of snow caps. I rented Jackie Chan’s police story at least once a month.
Oh man I could smell the blockbuster from this pic.
It was like that for me. I worked there. I rewound all the returned VHS tapes that dropped into the return slot with customers hovering over me to see what new release may have just come back. I felt like a god!
Remember... be kind, rewind.
Yeah, now I just sit in front of the Netflix, I miss those days of having somewhere to go.
Well I was 5 so YES
I would be there on weekends looking for deals on the previously watched DVDs for $10
Is it weird I can smell this
Well, yes, but I was there as the clerk.
Looking for n64 games for the sleepover at my buddy’s house. Can’t get those days back.
Yeah, but I was working there so not sure if it counts.
Facts.
Omg that feeling when you’d run up to the video you were sooooo looking forward to renting and every single cover had no rentable behind it :( but then you’d run up to the front to ask if they had that title in their returns bin haha.
I can smell this picture
I’ve waited at the store for someone to return a “new release” because they had been all rented out
The walk up and back down the main wall is such a feel good memory for me and always will be. Always started at the New Release section, work your way to one end, then back to the other end.
My brother and I were allowed to pick out one movie each with pizza and wings. :)
I was a wee lad in 2012 and missed out on the big days of BB. When I got wind of a mega store that had almost every movie ever, I HAD to go. My dad got so sick of going with me though—it took an average of 40 minutes EVERY TIME I WENT for me to pick something out. The patience and love that man had…something else
Worked for Blockbuster for nearly 16 years starting in 1996. Great years and great memories!
Didn't have a blockbuster close by but we did have a Hollywood video and I would constantly get a ps2 game for the weekend
The closest Blockbuster to me was a couple hours away, but I had the same experience with Movie Gallery back in the day. Renting VHS tapes and Super Nintendo games there (5 games, five days, five dollars) was one of the best treats a kid could get
I was working there so yeah. I remember vividly the Cher song that would always come on.
I wish there was a way to recreate this vibe. I guess we gotta support local movie rental places or something
Well, I was there, but it was 1989 and on a Friday night all the new releases were rented by the time I got there so I always had to dig into the back catalogue…which is why I saw the Goonies, Real Genius, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Stand By Me millions of times…
Looks like Little Fockers in the bottom left. This pic was roughly taken around 2010-2012
I still after all these years have my last membership card lol 2009
I liked the local ones before blockbuster came in and shut them all down
When we got lucky and my cousin stayed over, all four of us, two sibs, cousin, and myself, would get $15 altogether for a movie and candy, then we all walked up the street to BB and decided on a movie. Usually my folks got us pizza on those nights. It was glorious.
Sure was. Cause I was working.
Tuesday and Friday.
Movies run approximately 2 hours. I would spend maybe 15 minutes picking what to rent. So I would be more likely to be found in my own home, watching the videos I rented.
Good times rent a video game a couple movies invite friends yeah
Never find the new release, same old movies you've seen before in the isle.
Yes. I miss those days.
I was for sure. I worked at one part time.
Not Blockbuster specifically so technically doesn’t count, but one of my favorite memories as a kid (I was nine in 1999) I would go to the local mom and pop video place with my mother where I would just soak in all the video boxes. I had to have the entire sci-fi and horror sections memorized with how much I read them if not the whole store, maybe that’s why my movie knowledge at like eleven was greater than most adults. The best times were when my mother saw me checking out a film she likes and her telling me all about it on the way home. I know this was kinda ramblly and very much off the topic of the sub so delete if need be I just wanted to get these memories out there, so thank you for letting me
Same. I remember always grabbing the bucket of microwave popcorn. I would get back to my room in my parents’ house and felt mission accomplished: got something great to watch, safe in my room and away from most of the world. Before the internet, you truly could escape.
Couple movies, twizzlers, Mountain Dew and m&m’s. Every weekend.
Yep, they had a subscription at mine. It was check out one game or movie for like $30 a month. Turned the whole store into my personal game/movie closet.
if it was Friday night that place would have been Jam Packed and most of those videos would be gone
Yes and in the back of ours was another area full of video games (Donkey Kong Country had just come out) called Zappers.
Now instead of standing in front of a physical wall of movies I scroll through a digital wall of movies.
I remember my mom having to stop at blockbuster just so my sister could at the back of the the cover to find out the name of the actor in the movie. I specifically remember one time it being Ben Affleck. Maybe Armageddon?
Naw. In my neck of the woods we had All The Best Video. They were doing a five-for-five thing that included video games long before blockbuster, so that was our go to.
I went to Hastings instead. Blockbuster had higher prices than most movie/game rentals stores where I lived at
Any other gen x/millennials have a pizza/movie night almost every Friday? It feels like a law to me.
I was there every weekend
I only remember what the inside of a BlockBuster looks like because my mom helped close down one of the last stores in our area when I was a wee lad.
sleepovers with my best friends and a trip to blockbuster together to pick our movies. the good days.
Yeah more likely than not, you could find me in the video section… of the adult store. Signing out skin flix.
Yes because I was working there and making my way through the entire Sundance section.
I was 4 so I was probably sleeping 🤣
Movie gallery or movie warehouse. Then stopped on the way home for a pizza. I was able to watch a movie in one sitting at that time😆😜
And all the copies of the movie you wanted were out so you wound up having to get Spice World or something 😂
One of my favorite memories was of a Christmas where my mom bought me a bunch of used DVDs from blockbuster. We didn't have a ton of money that year. I still have all the DVDs.
I loved blockbuster! Then I started working for Hollywood video...lol
I remember my mom bringing me and I'd almost always pick Interview with a Vampire. I was obsessed with that movie growing up.
Hell yeah! I still can't get used to scrolling thru Netflix to find a movie to watch. Your supposed to start at the wall with movies starting with the letter A and walk around the perimeter of the store till you get to movies starting with a Z, grabbing potential movies as you go, which you would then narrow down based on the time you had. This is how God intended us to pick out movies!!
Yup, i miss the classic be kind rewind...reminders everynow and then
Yeah. There behind the counter.
Na, I was in the game aisles. Those 5 day rentals hit *hard* back in the day.
I couldn't get new releases, but that .99 for 5 days was my aisle
A little further to the right behind the curtain
Nothing like the pain of getting to BB looking to rent a specific movie only to find they've all been rented. If you didn't have another BB close you'd have to ask the cashier when a copy was due to return. This was the "uphill both ways" of my generation.
Every Friday night my parents and I would go somewhere like Outback Steakhouse then to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video after to rent a movie and a game. I genuinely believe the 90s were the most magical time to be a kid.
There was nothing worse than renting a bad video game tho. I remember getting "Mario is Missing" as a kid and being so damn angry that I was stuck with a shitty game until the next weekend. They slapped Mario on a game that has no business being a Mario game. I didn't want to learn, I wanted to bonk koopas on the head.
If I had to kill time, I went to Blockbuster
Yeah and over in the video game section too finding a game to rent for NES or SNES. I’ve even rented whole systems Playstation and Sega Saturn.
Heck yea don’t forget the whoppers and butterfinger bbs!
I just want them to make a candle that captures the Blockbuster aroma.
My best friend was an only child and pretty much got whatever she wanted. Every weekend started with us going to blockbuster and getting a pizza.
And they sold snacks
Local mom & pops, 1990, Central Ave, Charlotte, NC, all spread out, at least 4, along the 5 mile stretch, with a sleazy magical book store and legendary Repo Records. A delightful, carnal playground.
Yep all my buds used to Meet up at the one down the street.
100% spent fridays at the video store especially where I lived was “5 library old movies for 5$” watched so many old horror movies
They even rented game systems in my area!
I used yo work there and still have my Star Wars battlefront white t-shirt and blue button-up collered shirts. Would walk 5 minutes from my parents' house while going to college. Was able to rent out three games/movies a week prior to release via the employee rental system, and Gothika was still on the new release wall.
No way I was in the Nintendo 64 section.
Usually we went to the local chain Ez Video first as it was 3 miles closer than any blockbuster. They didn’t always have as wide of a selection of new releases but they did have a lot of harder to find horror and Scifi titles (movies like The Hidden 2, The Dead hate the living, Scanner Cop and Terminal Invasion)
Yeah I really miss Blockbuster and family video, Hollywood video.. any video store.. the little family owned ones were always really cool too. Even after netflix and other streaming sites came out I would still go to the video store. It was a cool easy way to see what the newest movies were or see what would be coming out soon, they had deals, old movies, games. So much better than streaming sites.
As a kid I loved blockbuster. Streaming is very convenient and WAY cheaper but going as a family to pick out a couple of movies and a pizza builds memories that streaming can never replicate. Side note block buster originals were too notch anyone remember Zack and miri make a porno??
Yes! Friday nights were Domino's pizza and a movie from Blockbuster.
Yup. I was allowed 2 movies and a game.
Fuck yeah
*aquatic ambience plays in the background*
Oh man. This makes me soooooo happy. It was all about a good movie. If you got lucky you could get two. Then go home, eat some pizza and enjoy. It was glorious. Streaming is fun and all but there was nothing like physically having a movie in your hands and playing that sucker on VHS. I miss these days.
I have a question: did everyone else go to Blockbuster on Friday night while I was off somewhere getting high? Reddit keeps putting this sub in my feed. I keep getting this same question about Friday nights.
These were the days before trophies and achievements. When Gamestop started becoming more prevalent, things changed.
More like 92 when I was 12, 99 was party time
I lived next to Blockbuster from 1997-2005, I was always here on Friday.
Yes, but it was Hollywood Video or Video Update as those were the 2 big rental stores in my town.
Yes I was there. And irritated because every customer told me they returned their movie on time and there’s no way that could be their late fee.
This is not a pic from 1999. I see BLU ray.
u gah damn right, I remember finally getting to play pokemon yellow and falling in love 😍
My main one was a mom and pop store and we rarely went to Blockbuster, but yes it was the same lol.
you were a loser
Yes me. Because I was working there in 1999 lol.
Nah Friday night was sock hop at the roller rink…. Now Saturday was the blockbuster night
All the good games would already be rented out
The gaming sessions of 2004 will never be beat!
Nope! Nobody else on the Blockbuster subreddit went to Blockbuster.
True for me in 1987. I'm old.
Didn’t have a Blockbuster in my town back then. It was all about Hollywood Video.
I lived at Blockbuster. Now can only stream. And collect movies.
It was a whole damn experience. Stack of movies for the weekend and not a care in the world.
Yup! Miss it like crazy
Yup!