All of the video rental stores in my area have gone out of business, leaving us with Redbox as our only rental option. We don't watch enough movies to make Netflix or some sort of monthly plan or streaming worthwhile. Am I just out of touch with technology (and I'll be the first to admit that's a possibility) or does anyone else miss the video rental stores? My soon to be 13 year old is having a sleepover birthday party tonight and I've been to three Redbox locations looking for movies for tonight. The selection is horrible, it varies by location and there aren't any older movies available. Some of the new releases that are out in the stores aren't available either. One of them wasn't functioning properly so I found a movie I wanted, but I couldn't pay for it and get it. Grr. Am I alone here? Is it time to look into some other way to watch movies? We do have a Wii and PS3 we could run them through.
Library--good idea! Although I doubt that new releases will be available. I forgot about that option for old classics. We do have cable, but I don't really like on demand for a few reasons. Maybe I'm a little sensitive right now because we had a family owned video rental store that went out of business just a couple of weeks ago. The selection and the customer service were great. No long lines (maybe that's why they went out of business), always one of two guys working and they gave great advice about movie selections. Oh well.......
I don't miss waiting in lines with bad customer service, getting charged an arm and a leg, late fees, only having one or two of each movie, and all the dang teenagers in video stores. We hardly ever watched movies, because going to the store was so irritating.
Sorry, I have totally embraced Redbox, online streaming, and on demand!!
I miss going through the racks and finding some old gem at the local store. We also kept Blockbuster in business with video game rentals for SS. I am simply not a big fan of everything automatic. There are some things that are just nicer with people involved. By the time I get through pushing all the buttons to speak to a person, I'm already angry.
We have not tried Redbox. Occasionally we get shows OnDemand, but Verizon's menu is horrible. And if you kicked a RedBox, you would not be the first person. Someone outside 7-11 was screaming at it the other day. Did not inspire confidence to try it.
I sort of miss having Blockbuster right down the road. But not the fees, etc etc everyone else has described.
I know you can go online and reserve some movies in the RedBox...maybe give that a try for next time!
We still have plenty around here. I won't shop at Redbox (long story). Maybe next time check with the library? You may be surprised.
Sooooo Muuuuuch!
You can't get the classics from a red box like you could from a video store.
I miss video rental stores. Netflix in Canada is all old movies I've already seen, so it's not worth it. Our video on demand is $5.99 a movie or $6.99 for HD. I think I paid $3.99 for a new release at Blockbuster, and I usually had coupons too. Red Box doesn't seem to have a very good selection, although the price is right($1.50).
I feel the same way! I have never used red box. I didn't even know what it was until about a year ago. I will have my husband go and pick something up, but I won't use it myself. I really miss just being able to walk into blockbuster and picking out a movie there. I mean, what if I wanted to watch an older movie like the wizard of ozz? I have been wanting to have my daughter watch it because I LOVE that movie, but I can't rent it anywhere, and I don't know where I could even buy it either except for maybe online? Soooo annoyed!!!
I am with you..................... whatever happen to going out and renting a movie, grabbing a pizza and heading back home for an evening of family movie fun..
The good news, in the last few years, a video rental place with ALL types of movies from foreign to current has now cropped up about 20 minutes from out house.. .. THANK YOU store owners.. if we didn't have this store, movie night definitely wouldn't be as much fun...
I am with you. And then last night my baby broke our DVD / VHS combo and I can't seem to find another one. Well, I still have tons of VHS tapes and our library mostly has VHS so I really need that capability still. Plus, I won't pay a monthly fee for the DVR service to be able to record!!!
Netflix is charging ridiculous prices, redbox sucks, I miss video stores! Oh, and Blockbuster online made Netflix look good - and I was sober!
C.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe that it was easier to see a movie in 1995 than in 2012!!! Seriously the red box sux so bad, netflix streaming has nothing that great and is a pain and netflix mail is not immediate. Oh yeah-and On Demand is $4.
I hate that I can't just go to the store and rent an older movie that I would like the kids to see. There are a ton of movies that will not be seen again because they aren't visible by browsing the aisles of a store.
If you are up for a bit of a drive:
I have been told they rent videos.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/movies-on-35th-street-minneapolis
3447 Bloomington Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55407
###-###-####
I do miss the stores. I liked being able to go in and look at the various choices. Usually I'd end up with something unexpected simply because I saw it there. Kinda like the difference between reading a book and using my Kindle.
I have Netflix and I'm considering canceling it. We pay $20.85 a month for 2 DVDs and unlimited "streaming" through our Wii. The streaming selection isn't that great unless you like watching TV series back to back. We've had the same 2 DVDs sitting on the counter for a month. When we want to watch a movie, those 2 aren't usually the ones we'd choose.
I have found some great old DVD's at our local library. Go on their website and see if they have what you're looking for. You can borrow them for a couple weeks then go get more.
We always do Redbox online and reserve before we leave the house. Then you get all the time you want to pick out the movie you want...and only go to one redbox? Ta-da!
I miss everything. I hate how the world is on such a fast track toward 'progress'. I am a nostalgic person and like A L, going to the Blockbuster and having each one of us (hubby, son and I) chooe a movie for the weekend and then having a contest over who picked the best one after we watched all three.
Don't miss them at all because I was that person who got the movie kicked under the TV only to find it when it had 50 dollars in fines. I just buy the darn movie, I have been trained that this is cheaper. :(
Do you have cable at all? Most of them have a pay per view option.
Sorry your family rental store went out of business.
I hated the video rental stores. The biggest one in our area charged $3.95 and $5.95 for a three day rental. If you came back in to return your video, and were 5 minutes late, they charged you a late fee. (Yes, that happened to me several times.)
There seemed to be more employees in their break room than behind the registers. Several times the ones behind the registerers were talking about who was dating who or other such things. They treated us customers like we were an interruption to their conversations.
I use redbox. There are 4 redbox kiosks with in 3 miles of us. I've only had all four out of a video I wanted to see twice or three times in the last 4 or so years.
Good luck to you and yours.
I hear you on the Redbox. We've given it a go a few times. The selection is so hit or miss that we choose to forget it. What I miss are the non-big box rental stores. You know the place owned by real live people and run by the same with reasonable prices? Yeah, those. I had this place I used to go to in college. It was great. There were sticky notes on the movie boxes with comments/reviews from fellow customers. I loved that. Reading the commetary was half as interesting as selecting an actual movie. I also liked the selection of non-Hollywood blockbusters. I found many an odd foreign or indie to scratch my head over. I may not have been enlightened but surely befuddled counted for something.
We have Netflix for my stepdaughter who is a TV addict. We watch very little TV (mostly PBS and YouTube for documentaries and opera) so I can't comment on streaming one way or the other. For our needs the nine bucks a month for Netflix suffices. The longer we live under our rock and the further from the clutches of mainstream media we find ourselves, the happier we remain. Good luck.
You are right in that Redbox is only good for newer releases. I usually reserve my Redbox selection online and then go pick it up. Otherwise on weekends the selection is horrible!
Our main source of DVDs is the pawn shop. It takes some patience. You won't find new releases. But the price is great and we are picky about which movies we get so that they are ones worth watching over and over. Otherwise the library is good, my husband gets a ton of stuff from there...I don't watch many movies so I don't go there.
We are blockbuster online members. There are a few DVDs we have had on our list for many months, they say "very long wait" which I think means "you are never going to get this movie dumb*ss, so you might as well take it off your list.
I would email customer service, but I might as well bang my head against a brick wall.
Amazon.com rents new release movies. You can stream through your PS3.
Once in a while I miss our video store, but not really that much. They put themselves out of business with the high fines. $4 to rent a movie and $10 to rent a game? You can get On Demand for $4 and see the same movie without the trip to the store and the trip back to return it on time (to avoid a fine!)
We have 3 Redboxes all within walking distance of our house. The only thing I dislike is the line for the Redbox! I tend to rent it in the afternoon when the line is shorter and I rent on my phone and just pick it up at the Redbox. One time we did forget to return a Redbox movie and it cost us $7 :(
We've been happy with Netflix. So I only miss our video store when there is an obscure movie we want to see right away.
Not one bit. We have both Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming (no cable or other TV) and it works just fine for us. I HATE to drive somewhere to get a movie and then drive again to take it back, then I forget for a couple of days and the movie gets expensive.
You could have rented those movies from Amazon and streamed them through your Wii, for less $$ than you spent on gas driving to Redbox locations. And that's not even counting the time and frustration.
I miss them too. I have netflix on my iPad and can watch movies on my break, but I don't. I miss browsing the shelves and reading the back cover.
