25 Photos That Prove the Video Store Was the Greatest Place on Earth

Out of all the things we left behind in the early 2000s - dial-up internet, frosted tips, CD towers - the one I miss the most is the video store. It started small, with those cozy Mom-and-Pop shops that had three copies of Beetlejuice and a mysterious "Adults Only" curtain in the back. Then came the big chains, like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, and suddenly there were aisles upon aisles of choices. Walking into a video store on a Friday night was an event. You'd wander the shelves, scanning those oversized VHS boxes, flipping them over to read dramatic synopses and squint at blurry screenshots that told you absolutely nothing.

It was a place to argue about what to rent, to run into your high school crush by the horror section, to beg your parents for just one more game. The video store wasn't just where you got movies - it was where you discovered them, talked about them, judged them by their cover art, and maybe even rewound them (if you were decent). Streaming might be convenient, but it doesn't come with a plastic clamshell case and a late fee. These 25 nostalgic photos are a love letter to the greatest place we lost.