10 Things We'll Miss About Blockbuster Video Stores

90s Blockbuster Video Wooo Video Tape 13756567934 Gif First, I'd like to start off by saying that I have an unhealthy relationship to the ever diminishing Blockbuster franchise. It was where I had my first job when I was a lowly sixteen year old who had an obsessive mentality when it came to selecting the perfect movie for a Friday pizza night. To this day, it was my favorite place to work. There was just the right amount of structure and plenty of wiggle room when it came to professionalism. Helping misled customers to their perfect movie was fun, switching the headquarters assigned commercial loop tape out for the latest hit movie when there were no customers in the store was fun, hell, even the grunt work was fun. I'm not sure if there is anyone on this planet that will miss Blockbuster more than I will, but I've managed to whittle down my personal reasons to a top ten list of reasons why the franchise will be missed. Feel free to share your condolences in the comments below or your favorite Blockbuster memory!

10. Cover Art

April Fools Day Vhs Now, this mostly pertains to horror movie buffs, but I think everyone will agree when I say that seeing a movie's cover art is, like, 50% of the reason we get it, especially if it is a movie we have never heard of. When you walked into a Blockbuster Video store, you immediately gravitated towards a movie on the wall just because of the way it looked. Yes, you can still see cover art when searching through Netflix or Redbox, but the pictures are more like icons than viable representations of the films behind them. I am a very visual consumer and, I'm sorry, but a one inch by half an inch pixelated image just doesn't cut it for me. Another point on the cover art is that, as a child, it was almost like a library. I remember being seven years old and staring at all of the horror movie covers, knowing I would never be able to watch them, but that the pictures were scary enough. I believe it was the cover art for "April Fool's Day" that intrigued me the most. That braided hair noose looking thing. Spooky. A few years later, I would come to find out that in some cases the cover art is better than the actual movie, but that wasn't Blockbuster's fault. Moving on.
Contributor
Contributor

I am a college graduate of Penn State with two bachelors in the arts. When I'm not writing or performing, I am an SFX make-up artist for local up and coming films in the Houston area. I love horror movies, James Spader, and will watch anything suggested to me.