Farewell, Blockbuster

I haven’t been to a Blockbuster in a long time. There used to be one in Muskego, just down the road from my apartment. And then it closed, and I’d have to drive to a different location 15 minutes away. Then that one closed too, and I never rented movies the same way again.

You might accuse me of being overly nostalgic, and you might be right. It’s easy to forget the things we hated about Blockbuster – the broken rentals, the stupid exchange policy, the extremely limited anime selection. (Was that last one just me? Oh well. At least they had Appleseed, which I still hope will someday come to Netflix.)

But many good memories are within those walls. My best friend Matt and I would lose ourselves – literally for hours, sometimes – just trying to decide on a movie. I miss that. Picking something in the Netflix queue is boring, and thumbing through previews at the Redbox kiosk is heartless. We are physical creatures, after all; walking through the aisles, picking up box after box, and finally settling on one had a weight, a heft, an emotional je ne sais quoi that is missing from today’s comparatively heartless digital world.

Some of your policies sucked, Blockbuster, but you’ll always hold a special place in my heart.