Customer profile
What was the name of your video store?
Beta WOrld
Where was the store located?
Livingston, New Jersey (United States)
When did you start shopping at this store?
1980
Describe your video store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features?
Small place, next to 7-11. I was one of the first in my neighborhood to get a Betamax...rented just about everything they had, which wasn't much. A friend of mine had a fake ID and he went in and rented about 15 films which, of course, he never planned to return. I still have many of them...Night Shift (Michael Keaton) is one as well as Beastmaster.
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?
Then they didn't seem to use the uninterested high-school kid...the owner of this store acted as the clerk. Honestly, the guy didn't seem to know that much about movies. It was a very tedious process to rent...lots of paper to fill out...funny thing was the "membership fee" that was required...something like $100 for the privelage of renting. This was an annual thing...of ocurse, everyone paid. Stores were not on every block at that time.
What other services/products did the store offer besides the rental or sale
of videos? Did this change over time?
This place offered blank tapes and, I believe, some cables. That was it...no magazines, video games, candy, etc.
What video formats did the store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store?
Beta only...by the time VHS became bigger, this guy was out of business.
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?
There was an "adult" section in a back room....you had to go thru some bi-fold doors to go in. We were all 18-20 at the time, but still were uncomfortable renting a porn. The few times we did, we would rent like 10 other movies to take attention away from the porn flick, but everyone knoew you were getting one anyway since they had HUGE ID numbers on the spine of each case and the adult ones of course all started with an "X".
Did you tend to rent or buy videos? Why?
I rented tons of beta movies from that place...I also purchased movies, but usually from department stores...at that time, video stores got ridiculous prices for movies...hence the phrase "priced for rental".
During the period that you shopped at this store, what changes did you see?
He expanded once as more and more movies became available...other than that, same guy, same counter.
Is this store still open? If not, when did it close?
No...loooooong gone. Probably went out of business in 84 or so?
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?
My first machine (which I still have) was a Sony Betamaz...purchased at Bamburgers in Northern NJ for about $500. Top load, weighed about 60 pounds. No "real" remote, though it had a wired pause button (a little switch on a 12 foot chord plugged into the front of the machine. I was the kind of guy that always had to get something new...I still actually like beta better than VHS, and before DVD came along, I would transfer most of my home-made camcorder movies (family and stuff) from 8mm to Super Beta.
Did you ever rent a VCR or other hardware (a camera, for instance)? If so,
how often and why?
Never rented a camera...we were all in out late teens and didn't have a credit card...the deposit you needed to put down was enourmous.