When I was a little boy, I remember very well the day that our first Blockbuster opened up in town. I was very young, and excited to see such a super video store, compared to the ones we had. In hindsight, I can see that Blockbuster was the shark that came to town and ate all of the little fishies (like 'Just New Releases', that place rocked!), and on that note, I guess I'm seeing it as a bit of a negative, but today, I was shocked to find out that both of the Blockbusters here in town are going out of business.
As a boy, I remember very clearly, walking down to Blockbuster on Main St. here in Fredericton, to look around. Let's be honest I had no money, I was a stupid kid, but it was always an adventure. They had aisles upon aisles of games to look at and fantasize about playing, and they had movies everywhere, wall to wall. I learned at a young age that getting mom to rent movies, was a much easier sell than games, so lots of movies were watched in those days. I also remember, being very young and sneaking in with my best friend, Clayton, and looking in the show box for Megaman 8 (PS1), which had a neat little book inside with pictures of every single villain in all of the Megaman games up to that point. One day, we dared to take it. To put it into perspective, we literally cried about it later on cause we felt so guilty. Looking back though, it's just one of my many great memories of a place I'm really gonna miss.
Fast forward, many years later, I'm burnt out from working at a terrible call centre. I'm broke, and I need money, bad. Low and behold, I managed to, with the help of some friends who were working there at the time, get a job there. At the time, I was pumped about the ten free rentals that I would get in the course of a week. I was also pumped to finally be able to bring all of those games home, like I'd always dreamed! In that phase of my life, I made some great life long friends, fought some brutal battles, had my heart broken, made some terrible mistakes, and found myself progressing towards growing up. Blockbuster, on Main Street, is one of the most important times of my life, and they are 2 years I'll remember fondly, as I see the big yellow letters being taken off of the front of the building.
I knew for many years now that the business couldn't last. Netflix is cheap as hell, and has a pretty decent selection (though a little dated), and digital downloads seem to be growing in popularity. I'll always love the tangibility of a physical movie, be it Blu Ray, or DVD, or LASER DISK (HELLS YES!), but it feels like that age is passing. Even though I knew it couldn't live forever, I'm surprised to find myself genuinely depressed, both for fear of not having a place to walk around and look at movies, and ask questions about them, and the knowledge that I myself, have barely spent any money there in the last few years, meaning I am also in part responsible for it's death.
In closing, to all of the people who made that place so special to me, I hope life is wonderful for you. I hope that you look back on the days we all worked at a good video store with fondness, and have a laugh at some of the silly drama that passed. I also, hope you realize that with the exception of a guy with the initials of J.V., I am better off for having met you. It's a testament to how the world will change around us, whether we want it to or not. Nothing stays forever, so enjoy it while you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment