THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Movie Shoppe and Video Gallery
Nothing brings back memories like heading to the video store with your mom on a Friday night. You spent what seems like hours looking for the perfect movie and that Nintendo game you would stay up all night playing. Of course, you had the big chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Studios. If you were a true OG from Victoria, you remember renting videos from the 'video store' portion of Albertson's. I still remember renting a VCR from that Albertsons.
However, you can't call yourself a Victorian, you rented moves from the Movie Shoppe on Airline or Movie Gallery on John Stockbauer among many other local video stores. Most of us started with video rental cards at the local places and as you accumulated a fine you made your way to bigger chains or was I the only one? I still can see the sign that was posted on the wall of the Movie Shoppe: Be Kind Rewind. I always wondered what room was behind the curtain when I was a kid LOL.
At one point, I probably had fines at most of the video places in Victoria, I usually try to remember which fine was the lowest and rent there. Then came along Hastings and that changed everything. They allowed you to pay down your late fees while continuing to rent movies. Today's kids will never know the excitement that led up to a trip to a video store. I hope one day, that someone can bring back a 'video store' experience using today's technology.