R.I.P Blockbuster and Movie Gallery: Thanks for the Memories!

Can you imagine getting dressed , jumping into your car, and driving a few miles out of your way, late on a Friday evening , all because you wanted to rent a movie you been dying to watch for weeks? Oh wait, I'm not finished. You also have to take that same movie right back to the same place, where you rented it, in one or two days or you will be fined a few dollars extra for a late fee. You see back in the day, there wasn't any on-demand services at your finger tips or any other way you could watch your movie, unless you left your home and drove to your nearby video rental store. These were crazy days right? Well that’s how life as we knew it, before new technology brought Netflix and Redbox into our lives. But before they changed the look and delivery on how we watch our movies today, we had our faithful friends -Blockbuster and Movie Gallery- to satisfy our movie watching appetite 

Basically, Blockbuster and Movie Gallery have seen better days in the early and late 90’s but now in 2010, their stores are closing around the United States at an alarming rate. Both former video rental giants have filed for bankruptcy and many are predicting a grim end to American’s former favorite pastime of  movie watching.
Netflix , boasting around 12 million subscribers and over 100,000 movie titles has emerged over the years and is the sole reason for the collapse of Blockbuster and Movie Gallery. Netflix, not only offers their DVD mail-to order option, but also allows their customers to stream video over their televisions, personal computers, and laptops. Redbox on the other hand, is also contributing to the demise with its stand alone red kiosks that only charges their customers $1 to rent their movies. The kiosks can usually be found outside McDonald’s, Walgreens and other stores throughout the eastern part of the United States. Redbox also has a great surplus of movie titles for their customers to pick from, ranging from over 500 million DVDs. Another reason for the fall of Blockbuster and Movie Gallery are those on-demand services I refer to earlier in this article, but thats another story for another day.

My favorite memory of going to Blockbuster and Movie Gallery, consists of late night trips (usually both places in the same night) in search for the latest movie releases, because my dad and I usually stayed up all night watching movie marathon of whatever I brought home for us to watch, which usually was 4-5 movies at a time. Another memory takes me back to those lazy Saturday date nights, where my girlfriendl and  I choose to stay in for the night and rent the weirdest or scariest movie we could find. Although, sometimes in those hecky trips, I would find a “diamond” in the rough movie that was even better than the original movie I intended to rent in the first place. So do you have any fond memories going to Blockbuster or Movie Gallery that you still can cherish? If it wasn't for the Blockbuster and Movie Gallery experience, you probably would have never discovered your favorite movie (that still moves you even today everything you watch it) or even seen some of the worst movies ever made that still makes you ask yourself-"Why did I rent that again?"