Customer profile
What was the name of your video store?
C & M Video
Where was the store located?
Macomb, Illinois (United States)
When did you start shopping at this store?
1988
Describe your video store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features?
The store was set up in some old office space in a quaint, long white building. It had a pretty standard look to things: wood and wire racks of titles, large white checkout counter flanked by an entrance door and an exit door, and huge windows running over most of the perimeter of the store.
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?
Nothing was incredibly glossy - and that includes the employees. In fact, most workers had no real knowledge of the industry or older titles - even though the store had a nice stock of new and old VHS.
What other services/products did the store offer besides the rental or sale
of videos? Did this change over time?
There were Nintendo games and Sega Genesis games - but the store didn't keep up much beyond that. No laserdiscs to speak of, either.
What video formats did the store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store?
VHS only. The size of the town simply did not demand it. Macomb is somehow proportionally always 80% elderly folks - and the rest local college students or farmers. Not a big breeding ground for cinemaphiles.
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?
All types except adult titles were available. No titles were generally sold - new or old - as if the management wanted to squeeze every dollar out of the stock.
Did you tend to rent or buy videos? Why?
Rent. But what made C & M Video so popular in town was the "CinemA+" program they had for years. All local kids in school (population of the town - 15,000 or so) from grades 1-12 could bring in their report cards at the end of every quarter and earn a free rental for every "A." Getting 6 "A's" in 4th grade is no challenge, so you can imagine how reputable the store became for these giveaways. Parents consistently milked out rentals from their children (I remember my own mother using my Mathematics "A" to get "The Predator," which she then refused to let me watch). So with 2 or 3 kids each pulling decent marks in grade school, a parent could easily have a rental coupon income of 70 free rentals a year. (New releases were valued from $1.50 to $2.00)
During the period that you shopped at this store, what changes did you see?
The store was open for about 8 years (~1984 to 1992) before it just faded away. No real changes in product, but the store implemented a computer checkout system in the early 90s that replaced the "library card" type of process. And boy, was that computer slow.
Is this store still open? If not, when did it close?
No, it got bounced around with some competition. For years it was the only real rental store around, but a "Star and Stripes Video" and a local grocery store started to ram it into the ground.
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?
The VCR was around as long as I was, so I assume my parents got it in the late 70s.
Did you ever rent a VCR or other hardware (a camera, for instance)? If so,
how often and why?
Never any rentals.