Could Wichita Falls Support a Video Store Again?

Do you miss roaming the aisles of your local video rental store on a Friday night? Apparently, many folks here in Texas do, and honestly, I get a bit nostalgic when I think back to the good old days. 

I’m an 80s kid, and like most people, I have many fond memories of my childhood. One of those memories is when my family got our first VCR. It was a VHS player, which was state-of-the-art at the time. I was easily the biggest movie buff in my family, so I put more miles on that thing than anyone else.

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Back then, it felt like there was a video store on every corner, even in my little ol’ hometown of Vernon. I would get my allowance on Friday and would usually allocate at least a couple of dollars to renting movies. I would rent older movies, which only cost a dollar, so I could get more for the weekend and watch each of them a couple of times. 

Fast forward to the early 2000s, when I got my first DVD player as an adult, and it was pretty much business as usual, only with a much cooler format. I would get my paycheck on Friday and head straight to the movie store. 

Here’s where I have to own up and admit to being part of the downfall of video stores. I was one of the first people I knew to sign up for Netflix when it was a mail-order-only company, prior to becoming a streaming giant. Even then, I would still regularly rent DVDs from the local store, because I loved the ritual of stocking up on movies for the weekend. 

So, I recently came across a poll by MarketBeat asking Texans which defunct retail chains they missed most, and Blockbuster topped the list. This made me wonder if Wichita Falls would support a local video rental store. 

Keep in mind that there was a time when record stores and arcades seemed headed toward extinction due to changing times. Nowadays, we have both here in The Falls. Maybe someday a video rental store will make a return.