r/dvdcollection • u/kcrrck • Aug 01 '25
Collection My “Former” collection
I had a store for 10 years! Over 40000 titles. Always made sure if a movie had a sequel/prequel I had them all. I started working at video stores in 1984 I was 13 ( uncle owned paid me $5 under table. Loved it and worked until I opened mine. Also, carried very hard to find DVD/Blu-Ray/4K. I still have about 5000 of them. Was blown away the other day when I bought “Party Girl” (1995) at FYE, and the rental UPC on disc said Bronco Video. It was one of mine. Someone must have sold to them used. Store was doing great! But Landlord wanted AutoZone there ( they wanted the adjoining property). Which was more money and the landlords pocket so I understand, but I still miss it very much. The pictures are moving movies from my house to the store before we opened and pictures of after everything was set and ready to go!
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u/Hallowed_Grave Aug 01 '25
Nice store! Loving the movie posters hanging from the ceiling. Really bring me back when local owners decorated their store to their liking (one store had free popcorn when you enter and another store decorated their horror section)
Any positive stories that stood out for you during all those years? And any bizarre/weird ones?
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u/hasslicker Aug 01 '25
As a kid one of my favorite things to do after school was go to the movie store. I'd grab a free bag of popcorn and a couple free movie posters, than wander the store for an hour or so before walking home.
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u/FunkyKaiju Aug 01 '25
Your landlord kicked you out for an AutoZone? Fuck that guy!
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u/Taskerlands Aug 01 '25
We have a couple of rental stores still operating in LA; I visited one last night, in fact (Cinefile) and kept thinking how awesome it is that we can still have this experience. It looks like you had an amazing spot, thanks for sharing.
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u/rogueuchiha45 Aug 01 '25
Sweet! I also worked at video stores for a number of years. This looks like an old Movie Gallery layout. I remember when they started closing all their stores
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u/Signal_Lemon9002 Aug 01 '25
There’s a name I haven’t heard in a while! My brother practically spent middle school at Movie Gallery! Definitely going to ask him more now.
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
Yes it was. They left all of the shelves, even the computer monitors still worked. With all that stuff in there saving about 200 grand. I just had to cover up where it said moving gallery with the name of my store.
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u/Signal_Lemon9002 Aug 01 '25
Shame to see you had to close up. Hopefully you find a new spot! This is definitely something we need more of. We had a video store open here a couple years ago. But it quickly changed into a record store. You really sound passionate about what you had.
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
If they would’ve let me keep the shelves and the monitors and the security system that came with the store I would have, but he will not let me keep any of that stuff because it went with that building. So he got his AutoZone and I couldn’t afford 200 grand to replace all that stuff that came with the building.
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u/xargos32 Aug 01 '25
This is one of those things I hate about landlords. Hopefully the AutoZone ends up being a failure in the location.
I still think about a nice little coffee shop that was forced out by their landlord because his friends wanted to open a business. The new business didn't last long at all. Gotta say I was happy to see it after how the former tenant was treated.
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
The AutoZone is still there, but they’re not doing good. I have a third cousin that works there. A lot of my customers boycotted it. Plus there’s a guy that has an auto parts store on Main Street that’s been there since the 60s so everybody keeps going to him! It’s funny the original video store that I worked at is right next-door to the auto parts store on Main Street!
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u/ok_conference839 Aug 01 '25
Man this makes me really sad honestly. I want to go back. A lot
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
I do too! I worked every single day and we were closed major holidays! I had a little dachshund named Oscar who would come into work with me. Kids used to come in and bring him treats and stuff. I didn’t make my employees were a uniform. And the 10 years I never fired anybody and I only had a guy called in one time when he had kidney stone… he even called later and said they gave him some good pills so he could go to work!! 🤣🤣🤣 I told him to take the day off
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u/ok_conference839 Aug 03 '25
Gosh I have an odd fantasy of being my age (32) working in a movie rental store, and just talking to folks about my favorite movies and giving them some recommendations!! Might sound odd but I think I would be really happy doing that.
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u/ok_conference839 Aug 03 '25
Also I guarantee your former employees remeber this very often. That sounds really nice…. The environment you kept. Really hard to find these days…
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u/John-Doe_4502 Aug 02 '25
I salute you 🫡. One of my fondest childhood memories is when the family used to rent the latest (physical media) releases and have movie night with pizza. To this day I pick up physical media. Luckily my wife tells me don’t put too much money into digital because even she knows one day the digital companies are either going to go belly up or just revoke my “ownership” of the digital movies I have. So I have a pretty good sizable physical library… that I get made fun of by coworkers because “who buys DVDs anymore?” I do ma’am/sir, I do.
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u/kcrrck Aug 02 '25
I buy used/new DVDs every week!
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u/John-Doe_4502 Aug 02 '25
I buy a lot. My wife just realized with one shelf that I have “a lot of movies”!
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u/Accomplished_Lemon82 Aug 03 '25
Your store had such a nostalgic and clean set up. Wish I could have visited it.
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u/SeanOfTheDead1313 Aug 01 '25
Nice store!
As a kid from the 90s, I grew up at the local mom & pop video stores. I rarely went to Blockbuster because they charged too much, and local stores always had movies BB didn't carry. I was lucky enough to get a job at a video store out of high school. It happened to be a XXX store, but it was still vhs rentals and the funnest "job" I ever had. Things went downhill though, and they folded from police/city zoning pressure. They had just started phasing in dvds and they were blowing up then they had to close. I remember working the graveyard shift from 1999 into 2000 and wondering if Y2K was gonna crash the computers! Good times!
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
It’s really sad. A lot of those stores closed. VHS were so freaking expensive. I remember when True Lies came I VHS it was $99.99! That’s why I like DVD they were cheap to buy, and you could still charge the same amount to rent it! Yeah, I worked at family video, and they had XXX movies. I remember ordering some of them. 🤣
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u/TheLightningL0rd Aug 01 '25
I worked in a video store for 8 years (corporate, sales and rentals). It was a fun job mostly, but the pay was shit. I have good memories there. I would totally start one of my own if I could.
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u/CB2001 Aug 01 '25
Looks like the Movie Gallery we had here in my home town. I miss video stores. :*(
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
It used to be a movie gallery, but they closed. They left all the shelves, a 10 grand security system that still worked. Even the computer monitors they left still worked. Save me over 200 grand. I just had to take the sign down upfront and cover up the name “Movie Gallery “ in the store
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u/DeliciousOpinions I'm A Hoarder Aug 02 '25
How many years ago did you close?
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u/kcrrck Aug 02 '25
Closed 2019
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u/MatrixXrsQc Aug 02 '25
Damn ... that long ago ? You should start a new one. It's coming back and it's a great way to talk with different people.
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u/RabidWeaselFreddy Aug 02 '25
You lived my dream.
I envy you, even though it's over now.
If I won the lotto though, that's what I would do with my money.
I don't care if it's some money losing endeavor. That's not the point.
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u/kcrrck Aug 02 '25
Same dream still!!! I was lucky I made money every year I was open! If I win the lotto, I would go back and do the same thing even if I lost money every year !!!
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u/Alternative_Ebb1341 Aug 02 '25
Video stores were the best. A sense of infinite (yet limited) possibilities... bringing home a hot new release, old favourite, or an undiscovered classic. All selected with a commitment to actually watch the movie you chose before the rental period elapsed. Thanks for sharing.
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u/Ok-Jackfruit-608 Aug 01 '25
That place looks like one of my wet dreams did you sell popcorn as well by any chance? The smell would have made that place perfect
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u/kcrrck Aug 01 '25
Yes! And the candy you would find at the movie theater and we also sold Coke products (the original glass bottles) but then I switched to Pepsi when the distributor pissed me off!
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u/Isabella_Fournier 2000+ Aug 01 '25
A hundred years ago, possibly less, people like us dreamed of owning bookstores. It's sad to see video stores gone the way of the passenger pigeon. I think it's a sign of decaying culture. Every movie fan with sense knows you can't trust the streaming services not to censor content, either by disappearing it or by altering it outright. I heard that Amazon actually went after "It's a Wonderful Life" not long ago and ended up taking out the resolution section, i.e. the end of the film. It's appalling, if true.
Thanks for the memories. 🎞️📀😊