Customer profile
What was the name of your video store?
(something) Video
Where was the store located?
Hoffman Estates, Illinois (United States)
When did you start shopping at this store?
1984
Describe your video store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features?
It was a small store, a typical shop in a strip mall. It might have been about 15 or 20 feet wide by 50 feet deep. The walls were covered with videos and there were a couple of free standing shelves. The sign was a single sheet of painted plastic or glass that was lit from behind. The color scheme in the sign had black, purple, and I believe yellow. The store was generally clean. The tape boxes were on the shelves and the tapes were in black plastic boxes behind the counter. There was also some memoribilia on top of the shelves on he walls (star wars and star trek toys, a figure of the robot from Lost in Space, and some other things that I couldn't identify).
What were the employees and/or owners like, and what kinds of interactions
did you have with them? What particularly memorable exchanges or events
do you remember?
The owner/manager was a nice guy. The teenagers who worked there ranged from helpful to useless. I was 10 to 14 or so at the time we frequented the store, so my memories are a little fuzzy in that regard. The most memorable event was my mom and brother renting some kids movie and ending up with some porn movie or the like that had accidently been placed into the wrong box. My mother caught it by its name (which I cannot remember).
What other services/products did the store offer besides the rental or sale
of videos? Did this change over time?
They sold old tapes, some new tapes, blank tapes, cleaning tapes, and the same kind of black (and sometimes brown) plastic tape boxes that they used for their rentals. These things may have changed after we moved away from that area, but I think it went out of business sometime around 1989 or 1990.
What video formats did the store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store?
They primarily had VHS, which was at the front. There was some laserdisc in the far back, I think, as well as some beta, which was also in the back half of the store.
In addition to mainstream Hollywood movies, what other kinds of videotapes
(for example children's, exercise, or X-rated) did the store rent/sell? Where were these
videos found in the store, and how often did you rent or purchase them?
Mainstream movies were in the front, then children's and exercise (there were a few, but not many). There was adult fare, but it was in a separate room in the back. we never (intentionally) rented those videos.
Did you tend to rent or buy videos? Why?
We rented. At the time (late 1980s) buying videos was less common due to cost, and cashflow wasn't so great at times.
During the period that you shopped at this store, what changes did you see?
Not many, aside from the normal shuffling of movies as new ones came out.
Is this store still open? If not, when did it close?
I believe it closed around 1990. It might have moved. I had moved out of the area before that time.
In your own words, tell the story of your first VCR/video player. Where
and when did you buy it, and why did you decide to make the purchase?
It was an RCA top loading VHS player that we still have and still works! I think we bought it at Sears or Service Merchandise. It was bought so that my brother could be entertained (other uses were secondary considerations).
Did you ever rent a VCR or other hardware (a camera, for instance)? If so,
how often and why?
We rented a vcr a couple of times before we bought one. The primary reason was to entertain my brother, who was being treated for leukemia. We never rented a camera, though we did borrow the camera that the family business had bought (which was purchased, I believe, so that the family could tape itself rather than any use it would have at the business itself). The camera is also still functional and quite nice, even compared to current models. It uses VHS tapes.