Death of the Video Store

I read today that two Iconic video stores in Canada (both of which I used to rent movies from) have announced that they are going Bye-Bye.
Downloading and the internet have delivered a death blow to the great video stores of old.


VIDEOMATICA in Vancouver B.C. is closing it's doors and it's a terrible loss, as that store had more rare and obscure films than any other I've ever been in. Hell, Johnny Depp used to rent movies there back when he was an actor on 21 Jump street. (I heard he racked up a lot of late fees)
It's not a complete wash-out, as Videomatica is donating it's entire collection of films to two Universities: Simon Fraser and UBC.
Excellent idea.
It might have been better to sell them to customers or film buffs, but I can't be upset with deciding to give them to a Univeristy.

And SNEAK PREVIEW VIDEO in Edmonton Alberta is closing up too, another victim of the modern age.
That's the store where I rented Sam Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR and I AM CURIOUS: YELLOW for the first time.
They also had a killer selection of films. It's not known what they will do with their stock.
Hopefully those old classics and genre-specific titles will find good homes...

I don't like Video stores closing up at all.
An era is definitely over. The days of browsing for upwards of an hour looking for a good film or two to set your night right are gone.
Now you have to browse by staring at a computer screen.
Yay.
Collectors now have to look for remnants of days long gone!
What else is new?
I'm glad Nicolas Cage is a purist- he was in the news recently to express disgust at losing the impact of a film by releasing it early, as is what happened with his latest film. He was right on the money to slam that. They take the life out of EVERYTHING nowadays. It sux!
What idiot would enjoy watching a feature film on their cell phone?

WHO?
Ashton Kutcher?

We gotta speak up about this cultural shift/LOSS.
But who listens?
Nobody.
SAD.

Yes, it is sad.This closing of video stores is happening everywhere I'm sorry to say. Independent video stores are not simply places to browse and rent movies but meeting places for cinephiles, places where you can meet people with similar interests and discuss movies. The best stores have a certain vibe, an atmosphere that is rare to find these days.

More fracturing of society. We are are becoming 100% computer zombies.
Pretty soon going for a coffee and having a chat will be labelled as "weird" or "alien".
People are already starting to say: Why doesn't he text?
Why does he want to meet face to face?

R.I.P. Video Stores

Maybe a new form of the video store will appear, a clubhouse or something where you become a member and rent/share movies with fellow film kinsmen.

It will almost have to happen, just out of sheer necessity. The internet is awesome, I won't deny that.
But we have to be aware of what we've lost in the process.