Gone? Yes … long gone. You may remember video rental stores of the 1980s and ’90s; perhaps watching movies that a parent brought home to get you through several sick days from school. Or hanging out with friends and cracking up over screwball comedies you’d all watched ten times before. Or delving into a discussion with your partner about the meaning of an old Italian Fellini film you never really understood.
A rental was something you’d pick up on the way home from school or work. It was fun and easy and held the promise of an escapist evening with Rambo, a weekend with John Travolta in Grease, getting up close and personal with the guys from Godfather, feeling weepy over Al Pacino in A Scent of a Woman, falling in love with Jack Nicolson in As Good as it Gets, or enjoying a good scare watching Rear Window.
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Rental videos drew us away from movie theaters. You’d find yourself searching shelves for a recent movie you just missed or wanted to watch again. You might also be hoping for the great discovery.
Documentary filmmaker Susan Farkas and historian Richard Lieberman are avid film-watchers who live just two blocks from the storefront Champagne Video once occupied at 217 West 79th Street. Susan remembers how “Going there and roaming the aisles was a pleasant ritual. Sometimes we knew exactly which VHS tape we wanted, sometimes we browsed until something caught our eye. I don’t really remember how the tapes were categorized. Comedies? Adult (ie. porn)? Foreign? There were always other people there roaming around the small store so it had a nice community feel to it, and I remember feeling sad when it closed.” Richard recalls braving long lines on weekends.
READ MORE: Remembering Amsterdam Video, the Upper West Side’s “Last Hardcore Pornography Shop”
Eventually, the craze for movies on video caused some people to buy rather than wait for high demand videos to become available. A lot of people purchased them at places like Tower Records on 66th and Broadway. ”The store has been a madhouse since Christmas,” Tower Records manager told the NY Times in a 1985 article.
Video rental shops had an understated social aspect; most people just exchanged friendly nods. But, some even ended up marrying fellow browsers while scanning the shelves for a title. Schmoozing with the usually very knowledgeable clerks was not just pure fun; it also helped avoid getting stuck with a loser. Reading brief descriptions tacked onto display shelves or checking out promotional posters displayed around the store also helped in the decision making process.
But a quick recommendation from a clerk who’d probably seen everything a million times, since movies were always playing in the store, was way better than an electronic trailer.
Some video rental stores, the smaller ones, would take your name and put it on a waiting list, calling you when the video you asked for came in. They’d leave a message on your answering machine if you weren’t home. This was all pre-cell. Odd to think you’ve out-lived the beginning and the end of a specific technology. VCR’s and VHS tapes are now something of the past.
READ MORE: Exploring Lincoln Square During the 1990s
Pluses of rental videos? They were cheap, and VCR’s were relatively inexpensive and very easy to use. In the beginning, it seemed near miraculous to be able to go to a neighborhood video store and bring home a couple or three videos of old movies, or select from a number of fairly new releases. You had lots of choices and unlike going to see a flick at a movie theater, watching a rental at home meant you could pause it. The pause was a huge advantage, accommodating bathroom breaks, snack refills and allowing space for receiving and making phone calls, or even walking the dog. Also, you could rewind to catch a missed sentence or savor a particular scene.
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Video stores varied a lot in personality, ranging from grungy to mom and pop casual, even fairly disorganized, to spic and span, brightly lit and to the point. Some shops had a modest number of selections, while others, like Movie Place on 105th and Broadway, boasted a truly staggering 24,000 titles.
Movie Place closed in 2006. Today, former owner Gary Dennis is an NYC tour guide! Check out his website at newyorktoursbygary.com.
Some video stores, like 72nd Street Photo Inc, offered perks like free delivery to those who purchased a membership.
READ MORE: An UWS Bookstore that Only Sold Murder Mysteries
Video renters had their own personal favorite shops. Looking back to the 1980s, one former customer of Video to Go on 88th and Broadway wrote into the NY Times about enjoying watching rented videos with his young children, like Old Yeller and Mary Poppins. Years later, walking down Columbus Avenue in 2018, the same customer ran into the clerk who had once managed the rentals. He asked, “Didn’t you once work at Videos to Go?” The man responded with the customer’s phone number “Seven-nine-nine, four-oh nine-oh.” This was the way video shops had kept track of renters and rentals. The former customer recalled appreciating this clerk’s leniency in regard to charging late return fees. On the subject of video returns, many will remember the stickers which encouraged renters to “Be Kind, Rewind.”
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From the small shop video rentals evolved the Blockbuster stores on 69th and Amsterdam Ave and 94th and Broadway; inflated, super clean suburban-like emporiums of video rentals. A huge plus was that copies on newly released videos were available in large numbers. You usually didn’t have to wait for a copy, because most likely your movie would be available.
What happened? The end of VCRs and VHS tapes came with the intro of DVDs and the early Netflix rentals of these feather light discs that could be ordered, delivered and popped into the mail for return in little square red envelopes. And soon, after streaming took over the world – you could watch a movie any time of the day on your phone, tablet, computer or TV.
What was your favorite UWS video store? Tell us in the comments!
Video Connection, 80th and Broadway. Closed in 2000 because of a huge increase in rent by the landlord, at the start of the nail salon craze. It has been Pinky’s ever since.
Before it moved to 79th (B’way & Amst.), Champagne Video was on B’way (77th & 78th)! Circa 1997. They used to have a section that displayed AFIs top 100 movies. I got through about 20 of them.
Movie Place, was conceived and opened by my wife, Cindy Purrington. Starting with about 100 movies it grew to become one of the best on the UWS if not the whole city. The staff was knowledgeable and could direct one to other titles of similar genre or similar actors or directors if your desired film was not currently available. Cindy sold Movie Place to her employee, Gary, and left the city in 1999 for the quiet of Vermont. She later succumbed to cancer.
Tom Purrington
Tom, I’m so sorry to hear it. Cindy’s legacy remains strong.
I remember when it first opened as a hole in the wall on 102? And broadway and Gary Dennis was a long haired employee. Lots of fun browsing titles there.
The Movie Place was heaven. Those pictures brought tears to my eyes. (Also because I miss the hell out of The Abbey Pub!) Everyone who worked at The Movie Place knew their stuff. I used to brag that I could go in there and say, “There was this movie starring blank and blank and I can’t remember anything about it but someone got married”, and they would be able to direct me to the right title. It was sublime. I miss it, and still tell stories about it to this day. There was nothing like it on earth. At least, not on the UWS. So sad that it’s gone. Sometimes I hate the internet.
I used to go to Movie Place. One time one of the $10 an hour plaid shirt hipsters working there snickered at my movie choice: Cabin Boy. I like trashy comedies, I like Chris Elliott and won’t apologize for it, but his superior attitude was everything I hated about that place. (I’m sure if I rented “Slacker” he’d have nodded his approval) It’s heaven being able to stream stuff now and not have to deal with PEOPLE.
The Movie Place was the BEST. That place developed the movie taste I have to this day. They had every foreign film imaginable and even had old Laurel and Hardy shorts. I still remember renting my favorite films there over…and over…and over. To the owners, I say your store is sorely missed by so many current and former UWSers to this day.
There was a shop… don’t remember its name… that was a combination video store, laundromat (I think) and TANNING PARLOR! And a competitor across the street with a big sign, “All WE do is video!”
Abe, i’m sitting here in Southern California visiting with my nephew and talking about the golden worth of laundry quarters for him. he is currently living on the UWS and attending Columbia and i’m waxing poetic about my days in the late 80’s when i lived on the UWS and did laundry at a place that rented videos and had screens about the laundromat where you could “wash ‘n watch.” i have it in my head that it was called “Video Laundrette.” does that ring a bell? they could have very well offered tanning as well, but i’m Black so that wasn’t a need for me 😉 i suppose in the greater context of this article, a place like this wasn’t taken as seriously by true VHS connoisseurs, but i sure loved the place!
Hi Monica,
Welcome Southern California (me too… 25 years). I remember seeing the store, but I never went inside.
Enjoy your stay!
ar
wait… maybe it said, “All WE do is LAUNDRY!”
I remember champagne video though didn’t frequent it as much as I did for tower video on 66th st. They had a rental special once a week ( I think every Wednesday) for half price.
What was funny about these video stores is that the tape required a rewind before returning or store would charge a fee
My daughter was born an old movie aficionado and lived to go browse through this store,miss those days
Movie Place on 105th was my go-to. Coming out of the subway at 103rd (104th St exit of course) after work on a Friday, calmly walking over to 105th, wondering with anticipation what movie(s) I’d rent, loving the cozy old New York feel of the place. It’s very specific to a time and place in my life.
There was a movie rental/music shop on the corner of 181 St. and Ft. Washington Ave, NY, NY. In the late 80s and early 90s this shop had got me through a whole semester of my classic movie film class in college. Its now a Starbucks. I don’t remember the name. Does anyone recall?
Hollywood Video on 86th and Columbus was a staple of my childhood from around 2001 until whenever it closed sometime before 2010. Then we were also renting like addicts from Champagne Video on 79th btwn Broadway and Amsterdam and some other place on like 77th or 78th and Columbus called Channel Video which had a lot lesser known stuff. Miss those days of picking out new things to watch.
Does anyone remember the Video Room West video store that was on Broadway between 76th and 77th Street as it was 2 doors down from Burger and Pizza Joint?
It was there from 1983-1989 as it was owner by 2 people named Nancy and Howard, it was a great video store and everyone there was so nice and I was sad when it closed in 1989 as I was told by them that they lost there lease.
My parents owned a video store called Video Motion on 89th and Amsterdam. I was born up the street. I’m told that when they brought me from the hospital there were gifts more local customers.
I remember the store real well! And I actually asked about working there as a delivery boy back in the summer of 1986 and was told there was no opening at that time but took my number in case something came up later on.
That’s so awesome to hear! I get a lot of stories from the old days.
After the store closed we moved to Delaware to a peaceful country life.. they raised me on movies. My first job when I was 15 was at a video store. I actually ended up going to film school, became a filmmaker for a time, moved back to NY, now I’m a video producer for a college. Funny how things turn out.
Thanks for your reply! I’ll tell them about it!
Just this week, a woman named Ruth stopped me on the corner of West End Avenue and 105th St. “I don’t mean to bother you, but I’ve been meaning to say something to you for, gosh, 20 years. I guess today’s the day, if you’re not in too much of a hurry.”
“I’m not in a hurry,” I said.
“Okay, so one day – this was years and years ago – I was having a terrible day. Just awful. I was feeling perfectly lousy and I walked into the Movie Place and I told you I needed a movie to make me feel better about the world. You walked over to the shelf and pulled out ‘The Shop Around the Corner.'”
“Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan,” I said.
“Yes!” said Ruth. “They were *so* great. Ernst Lubitsch! It was just what I needed that day. Thank you.”
“Thank *you* for telling me that story, Ruth. You made my day,” I said.
Earlier this summer, one block south on 104th Street, a man said he wanted to thank me for recommending ‘The Loved One’ to him. “It’s been my favorite movie ever since. And this young man standing next to me is my nephew. He’s 20 years old and he loves movies. Tonight I’m streaming ‘The Loved One’ for him and he’s seeing it for the first time. I just wanted you to know.”
There really was something special and unique about the era of video stores in general and the Upper West Side’s Movie Place in particular. We haven’t yet found anything even remotely similar to replace it, at least in this neighborhood. I have some crazy ideas, but I’m not sure I could ever bring them off. I’m not sure that moment is repeatable.
There are few things better in this world than sharing what you love with people you love.