The video store provides all the advantages of a physical place. Bookstores were probably more of a popular hangout spot than video stores, at least for me, but

The video store provides all the advantages of a physical place. Bookstores were probably more of a popular hangout spot than video stores, at least for me, but record stores were great for meeting like-minded people with deep knowledge of music. Video stores were at least similar in that the staff were often pretty happy to talk shop with you. My best friend from college worked at a Blockbuster and somewhat amazingly met the singer Pink there and got us invited to a party. That's the kind of thing that could almost be the plot of a movie and it can't happen browsing Netflix.