Who Will Wear My VCR Button On A Chain Around Their Neck?

A neighborhood institution is gone.

My local Lakeside video store has packed it in and sold their stock to their competitor.

Is it stupid in this day and age to be upset by these things?

I walked into the store a couple days ago and the lights were turned off and there were strangers taking dvd's off the shelves. A simple sign thanked customers for shopping there and told us that we could go to "the competitor" for our video needs.

Ahhhh, no. I will not.

When we first moved here, we had a membership at both places. "The Competitor" was always what I refer to simply as "dumb". They might sell ice cream but when it comes to movies, they didn't know jack. They certainly catered to the lowest common denominator and wouldn't know an intelligent movie if it bit them in the ass. There was also the fact that they had a tendency to hire mouth breathers and bubble heads. If I inquire about a movie that is either older or "artsy" and you have determined that you don't stock it, it really isn't good customer service to say "God! I've never even heard of THAT one!" And then blow a big pink bubble before flitting away.

MY video store would never do that. MY video store would greet me warmly when I entered, ask if they could help me find anything, AND get to know me enough that they could actually recommend movies that I liked.

That is known as "customer relations".

I KNOW I have fussy tastes when it comes to movies. I love watching movies that crawl under your skin and wrap around your brain and make you THINK. Alternately, I like movies that can make me laugh without a single fart joke or derogatory comment.

I even had a membership to Netflix which I only used to get movies that I couldn't get at MY video store. I appreciated the good service and didn't want to take my business else where. The few times that I would wander into Blockbuster, I felt like I needed a shower after wards.

Blockbuster also doesn't understand me.

I'm going to miss them terribly. I'm going to miss walking in and asking about obscure movies and having the counter person say "Hey! I saw that when it was in the theater! I had to drive three hours to see it in the cities but it was really good! Do you want me to order it in for you?"

I will continue to go to the competitor for their dairy treats. I will also continue to look around at their stock and roll my eyes at the fact that they have four year old movies under "new releases" and they don't have the time to add "/Fantasy" on their "Sci-Fi" sign. Finding Lord of the Rings in Sci-Fi is wrong. WRONG.

I'm now surrounded by amateurs.