Growing up, there was tradition in my family. We were all cinephiles (movie enthusiasts) and once a week we would go to our local video rental store. The first video store I remember was a ma and pa like sanctum for video viewers. It was small, probably around 1200 square feet. It wasn't until my mid childhood that we started going to the bigger and better Blockbuster Video Store. In those days we would on weeknight and weekends go inside and see that familiar blue and yellow. I would stroll down the aisles looking for films and rendezvous with my father or mother. I also would go to Blockbuster for memorabilia. Often they would have collectables from my favorite video game franchises. I remember being introduced to my first FPS game at Blockbuster: 007 Goldeneye.
Videos have gone the way of the record and Amtrak. Few in Generation Y I think can recollect rewinding their movies before returning them to the store. Now we have DVD, Bluray, and Digital Downloads. The advent of Netflix, Hulu, and other digital forms of renting have destroyed stores like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster. An entire era is coming to an end. My children will never know what it is like to go to a store and pick out a movie. Likely, they will on the latest TVs just download in millisecond what they want to watch.
It is not just the closing of video stores that startles. It is bookstores too. Yes, most Barnes & Noble Bookstores on the West Coast have closed their doors. Borders already went bankrupt and is only alive in memory of us bibliophiles. I am finding the change hard to cope with. For those of us who are tactile and like to socialize; a major loss has come with the closing of bookstores and video stores. How else are you going to meet other bibliophiles and cinephiles if not at such chains? How can you have dialogue about a movie when you are alone in your homely abode ordering or downloading films or books digitally?
A new day has dawned and our world is not better for it. I make such statement not because of melancholy, but because of genuine concern. People are becoming more isolated from each other as more technology rolls out of companies. It is alarming how socializing has moved to digital and to such an extent that there is epidemic of people paying not attention to each other on dates; but instead eating and playing on their Smartphones.
Saying bon voyage to Blockbuster is not easy. I have had many great memories renting their. I knew it was inevitable; that the chain could not survive against the digital competition. Still, one hopes that some places that bare fond memories will be there. In the case of video stores, it is over. This is the end. Redbox is about all that remains and it's selection is subpar. Netflix has limited choices and there really is no warehouse left were you can pick a movie from latest release to the most ancient classics.
Bon voyage Blockbuster. You shall never be forgotten.
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