re: Making it a Blockbuster night in 1993

One of the greatest feats was going to the store and finding that there were no movies left on the shelf but then you go to the counter and get the employee to go through the Dropbox and low and behold there was the one you were looking for.

Pro tip, check out the returns cart before heading to the back...

Man I've seen 100 of these threads and thought about the blockbuster nostalgia theme 1000 times (picking out games/movies, etc., looking through the recent returns for hard-to-get stuff)

But you posting that photo flashed me back to my dad bringing home unknown videos in his hand on a Friday night and me and my sister noticing and racing to see what he'd gotten.

Probably haven't thought of that in 20+ years. Thanks.

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We actually paid for our first VCR in installments. Circa 1981. This post was edited on 3/23 at 1:18 pm

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My parents were dirt poor and did this shite at Service Merchandise on the regular

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Blockbuster missed the boat on streaming. Massive brand value wasted.

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Agreed. One of those institutional inertia things. I don't know if you remember, but they started flirting with mail-order rentals when Netflix came on the scene and had success with it, but it was too little, too late. While they were trying to play catch up with that, Netflix was already getting its VOD platform up and running.

Remember how every time you wanted to get a new release you’d have to look behind the printed case of the movie, only to find no copies available to rent? And all the video games were on the shelves next to the window and were bleached out from the sun? Good times

Anyone remember Major Video on Vets next to Sizzler in Metairie? If you hung around the Adult Section, you could catch a glimpse when some perv walked out.

Dose edited NC-17 Blockbuster movies, ftw.

And rent 3 for $5 at Video Palace.

I worked at several video stores as a young adult. Great times.

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I also remember one of the video rental joints in our town had a separate room that had a sign on the door saying “MUST BE 18 TO ENTER”. That’s where they kept the XXX movies.

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Ours just had a curtain. Large enough to hide most of what was in that room, but small enough where it left enough open space on the sides that you could see in from the right angle. 11 year old me must have walked past the curtain a dozen times (without going in) to catch quick glimpses of the bounty within...until I saw a friend's mom coming out of that room one time with a couple of movies to rent.

At 11 you are embarrassed that a friend's mom caught you peaking into a place you aren't supposed to be looking and are hoping she won't tell your parents. But now viewing that interaction from the perspective of an adult, there was no fricking way she was going to say anything to my parents. How embarrassed was she that one of her child's friends busted her picking up a couple of pornos for she and the hubby to watch later that night

When I grew up in Marrero, we were lucky enough to have not only a Blockbuster, but also a Video Plus and Paramount all around the same vicinity on Barataria.