The Video Rental Store: The Friday Nights We Got to Choose

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There was a particular kind of excitement that came with being told you could

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rent a movie on a Friday night.

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It usually started with the same question, what are we going to watch?

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And then came the trip to the video store, walking through the aisles,

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looking at the covers, picking up a case, turning it over to read a synopsis,

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putting it back and moving on to something else.

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Maybe you'd already decided what you wanted, maybe you'd seen a trailer on television,

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or a friend at school had told you about a film.

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Or perhaps you just picked something because the cover looked interesting.

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Of course, there was always a possibility that the film you wanted just wasn't there.

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Someone else had got to it first. So you'd have to find something else,

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negotiate with whoever you were with, and eventually settle on a film that might

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turn out to be brilliant or a complete waste of an evening.

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And that was all part of it. Because renting a movie wasn't simply about getting

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something to watch. It was an experience in itself.

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When video rental shops began appearing in the 1980s, they helped change how we watch films at home.

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Owning a VCR was becoming more affordable, but buying a pre-recorded movie could still be expensive.

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Renting gave families access to films they might never have bought,

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and the local video shop became part of the weekly routine.

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Some were small, independently owned stores, often with someone behind the counter

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who seemed to know everything about films.

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Others became much bigger chains, with blockbusters eventually becoming one

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of the most recognisable names in home entertainment.

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But regardless of where you went, there was something quite different about

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choosing a film in person.

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You didn't have an algorithm studying your viewing habits, you didn't have a

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row of personalised recommendations waiting for you when you switched on the television.

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Instead, you had shelves, covers, descriptions, and sometimes a member of staff

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would watch the film and could tell you whether it was worth renting.

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And that human element mattered. Video store culture made these shops social

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spaces, where people talk about films, exchange recommendations and develop

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relationships with the people who work there.

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They weren't just retail outlets, they were places where film fans could find one another.

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Looking back, one of the things I think we've lost is the process of actually

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choosing something to watch.

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Today, you can spend longer scrolling through streaming services than you do

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watching a film you've eventually selected.

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But back then, you're a physical collection in front of you.

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You could browse horror, comedy, action, science fiction, drama.

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You could stumble across something you'd never heard of simply because its cover caught your eye.

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And there was a particular skill involved in judging a film just by its packaging.

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Sometimes the artwork was fantastic, the description sounded brilliant,

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and the actual film was absolutely dreadful. But that was part of the gamble.

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There was also the question of availability. New releases were popular,

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and stores didn't always have enough copies for everyone who wanted one.

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You might arrive with a particular film in mind, only to find the shelf empty.

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Some stores would let you reserve a copy, or come back when it was returned,

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but others simply left you to find something else.

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In fact, early rental stores sometimes deliberately stocked fewer copies of

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the needy to meet demand.

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Customers would rent a second choice, bring it back, and return for the film

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they originally wanted.

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It was a very different relationship with availability, and one that would be

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almost unthinkable today.

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But it also meant you occasionally discovered something wonderful by accident.

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And then there was everything around the film itself. You might go with your

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parents, your partner, your friends, or your kids.

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There'd be a discussion about what everyone wanted to watch and sometimes a

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little negotiation about how many films you were allowed to take home you'd

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pick up some popcorn or sweets maybe rent a game as well and head home with

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your choices tucked under your arm.

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There was a deadline too. You had to remember to take the films back,

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usually within a day or two, and if you didn't there could be late fees waiting for you.

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And of course there was that little reminder printed on a cassette case,

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please rewind before returning.

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But I think the thing that really made the experience special was that it was shared.

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You weren't just choosing something for yourself, you were choosing something

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for the evening, for the family and for the people you were spending time with.

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The film almost didn't matter. What mattered was the routine,

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the anticipation and feeling that Friday night had officially begun.

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Eventually though, that experience started to change. DVDs replaced VHS tapes,

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online rental services meant you could order films without visiting a shop and

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streaming began to remove the need to rent physical media altogether.

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Netflix started out as a DVD by mail rental service in 1999 before moving into

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streaming in the years that followed.

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Blockbuster and other rental chains struggle to adapt as the way we watch the film has changed.

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And the convenience is undeniable. We can now watch films on demand,

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browse enormous catalogues and pick up where we're left off on another device.

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We don't have to leave the house, worry about returning anything,

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or discover that the film we wanted has already gone home with someone else.

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But something disappeared. We lost the browsing, the recommendations from someone

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who actually knew the films,

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the unexpected discovery the sheer decision about what everyone was going to watch.

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We also lost a little of the anticipation When almost everything is available

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immediately there's less of

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a sense that watching something is an event we've been looking forward to,

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And perhaps that's why we still talk so fondly about the video store Not necessarily

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because VHS was better than streaming or because having to rewind the tape was

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some wonderful experience but because the whole process gave us a reason to

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slow down and make an evening of something.

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It makes me wonder how many people still remember the last video store they visited.

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Not the chain, or even the name of the shop, but the actual place.

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The shelves, the layout, the person behind the counter, the section you always headed for first.

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Maybe you remember going there with your parents as a child,

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or taking your own kids years later.

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Maybe there's a particular film you discovered because the one you wanted wasn't available.

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Those shops were never just about renting movies. they were about the little

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rituals that grew around watching them and the people we shared those experiences with,

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We have more choices than ever today. But sometimes, I think what we miss isn't

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the movies themselves, it's the feeling of going out to find one.

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I'm Danny Brown, and this is Artifacts.