Movie Rental Stores Disappear in Christiansburg, Va
If you live in Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Radford, or anywhere else in the NRV, you may have noticed that nearly all of the movie or DVD rental stores have gone out of business. I don’t know the reason behind all of the closings, but I do know that it has stripped the convenience out of finding a few hours’ worth of entertainment.
Sure, you might be able to find one of those RedBox kiosk that offer $1 DVD rentals, but if you plan on getting a movie out of one of these things, you might find it to be a lot more trouble than it is worth.
When I first noticed these RedBox vending machines, I thought it was the greatest thing ever invented. I thought DVD rental couldn’t get any more convenient, but boy was I wrong. You have to stand in line while the people in front of you decide what they want to watch—which isn’t too big of a problem if you’re the patient type—but when you finally get your turn to decide on a movie, you have to deal with the pressure of the impatient people waiting behind you.
Update:They have been adding several more of these DVD vending machines, so renting a movie from one is now a little easier.
Now, after standing in line for a good 15-minutes, you find that the movie that you wanted to see isn’t even there. So, in attempt to make the better of your wasted time, you rush through the movie titles to find another movie to watch. And after renting and watching the movie that you really didn’t even want to see in the first place, you find that you have to stand in line all over again just to return it.
So, if you’re not into the whole RedBox thing, how do you expect to rent a movie around here? Well, the only other way I have found to rent a movie is by turning to the world-wide-web, and I have found that Blockbuster.com and Netflix are the best sources for that. Through these movie giants, you can rent movies online and watch them immediately on your PC, or you can rent DVDs and have them delivered directly to your doorstep.
All you do is simply choose the DVD movies that you want to see, and in only a few days, you will receive them in your mailbox. You can keep the DVDs as long as you want, and when you are ready to return them, simply slip them inside the postage-paid envelope, they provide, and drop them back in to the mail. It’s that simple.
Through Blockbuster.com and Netflix, you will end up paying somewhere around $1.00 per rental, providing you drop the DVD back in the mail as soon as you are done with it. This is a pretty good deal. As an added bonus, you can even put movies in your queue that are still in theaters, and as soon as they make it to DVD, they will automatically be sitting in your mail box.
DVD rental by mail is fairly decent, but I would love nothing more than to see some of these mom-and-pop movie stores make a comeback in Cburg. I don’t know about you, but I always thought that searching through the movies at an actual movie store was part of the fun. But I suppose, if I get to missing it too bad, I can visit Crossroads in Blacksburg or Hollywood Video in Radford.
As far as I know this is the only remaining DVD rental store around here:
Crossroads Music & Movies
210 Prices Fork Road Suite C
Blacksburg, VA, 24060
540-951-4226
Update: A new movie rental store has arrived in Christiansburg, please click on the following link to learn more: The Only Movie Rental Store in Christiansburg
I totally agree with your blog. I too, have turned to Netflix, but miss going into the store to “Browse”. I hope someone will see this and decide to open a video store in C’burg. I would doit, but unfortunately I don’t have the capital to do so.