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VHS or Beta
Dec. 21st, 2005 11:59 pmI was out shopping, finally getting some ideas in my head for what to buy people, and after looking in a few stores, I decided to go to Audio/Video Plus in Houston. I had always guessed that it was a good place to go for movies that might be out of print or already sold through elsewhere.
What gives me this impression? The fact that the store still has a lit sign on the outside of the building that states VHS/Beta.
For all the rush and hubbub of the season, the parking lot at Audio/Video was empty. The Best Buy down the street was full and causing a traffic problem in the area. When I entered the store, all I saw was the clerk. A rather hunky clerk, to be sure, with his chunky body, skater punk look and blonde goatee, but the punk attitude extended to his, "yeah, over there," answer to my question of "do you sell DVD's here?
I had to ask, because the small store - remember what your first video rental place used to look like? - was full of racks and racks of VHS tapes. You could tell that these tapes simply hadn't sold as they accumulated because there were the lost masterpieces of the 1980's and 90's around every turn. These were movies that not only had gone off to clearance heaven, but had probably been refused by orphanages and homeless shelters nationwide.
I turned another corner among the wire temporary shelves and spotted a whole wall full of LaserDiscs. It was an actual wonderland of these things with both big name movies and getting down to the Lyle Alzado classic, Destroyer.
Finally, there was the DVD section, put into a corner. It was small and somewhat poorly stocked, but strangely, I did find what i needed. It was a rather recent release, and seemed very out of place in the Land of Misfit Cinema. The problem was, it came at a premium, a markup that was 20% more than any other quote I've seen on the item, and it made me loose the will to buy. In fact, I placed it down, and worked on leaving.
The cubby clerk barely gave me a second look, and I knew that that DVD, and everything else in the store would probably stay there for another two video format changes.
What gives me this impression? The fact that the store still has a lit sign on the outside of the building that states VHS/Beta.
For all the rush and hubbub of the season, the parking lot at Audio/Video was empty. The Best Buy down the street was full and causing a traffic problem in the area. When I entered the store, all I saw was the clerk. A rather hunky clerk, to be sure, with his chunky body, skater punk look and blonde goatee, but the punk attitude extended to his, "yeah, over there," answer to my question of "do you sell DVD's here?
I had to ask, because the small store - remember what your first video rental place used to look like? - was full of racks and racks of VHS tapes. You could tell that these tapes simply hadn't sold as they accumulated because there were the lost masterpieces of the 1980's and 90's around every turn. These were movies that not only had gone off to clearance heaven, but had probably been refused by orphanages and homeless shelters nationwide.
I turned another corner among the wire temporary shelves and spotted a whole wall full of LaserDiscs. It was an actual wonderland of these things with both big name movies and getting down to the Lyle Alzado classic, Destroyer.
Finally, there was the DVD section, put into a corner. It was small and somewhat poorly stocked, but strangely, I did find what i needed. It was a rather recent release, and seemed very out of place in the Land of Misfit Cinema. The problem was, it came at a premium, a markup that was 20% more than any other quote I've seen on the item, and it made me loose the will to buy. In fact, I placed it down, and worked on leaving.
The cubby clerk barely gave me a second look, and I knew that that DVD, and everything else in the store would probably stay there for another two video format changes.
