One post about movies is all it took for me to have this rush to the forefront of my mind. I am one of the lucky ones to be alumni of that great establishment. In Camilla, in the early to mid 90’s, there was really only one place for a teenager to work and be happy. That was the Video Superstore. They had one in Pelham too but come on, it was Pelham…..sorry Pelham folks, it’s just how I was raised. Let’s be clear about the timeframe too – 1992-1995 was absolutely the heyday. It was around a while later too but so was Saved By The Bell, The College Years.
VS was nestled in the Wal Mart shopping center between Subway and Winn Dixie. That was prime real estate during that time period and the video business was at the top of the entertainment game. There was no Netflix, no Redbox, no YouTube. I’m pretty sure the Internet didn’t hit the scene until 1995. Before all of that, there was the video store. And VS was a shining example of one! It was the small town version of Empire Records. We had so much fun there that most of the time it felt like we were getting paid to goof off. Which I guess is a fairly accurate assessment too.
Sure there was work; dusting the shelves, vacuuming, window cleaning, checking the box and movie to make sure they matched up. The managers even went through and jumbled movies from time to time to make sure we were doing the job. “The Man” always has a way of dragging you down. However, I knew those shelves like the back of my hand and they would’ve had to get up pretty early to get one over on me. But back to the fun. Friday and Saturday nights at VS were absolutely nuts! Those were the nights everyone came to rent a video and those were also the nights that all of the other teens were riding back and forth through the Wal Mart parking lot. The place was hopping and the doors were usually crowded with friends who would come “sit around” and just people watch. I can still see my boys just hanging around the front door, in and out, making jokes and flirting with girls. Usually, that last part went unrequited. Still good times though.
There were other perks of the job too. The T Shirts were a prize commodity. All of my friends wanted a VS T Shirt, which came in short and long sleeve versions with the VS in the shape of the Superman logo. We could also select any movie, below R Rating, to watch on the 3 TV’s scattered throughout the store. During slow times, mostly mornings, you could watch entire movies between customers and catch anything that you might have been wanting to see for a while. But perhaps the greatest perk was early viewing. When movies came out on Tuesday, they would arrive at the store on Monday and the employees could take them home, provided they had them back before the store opened at 10 the next day. Don’t underestimate the power of having a VHS tape in your possession before it was even released at 17 years old.
The customers were also a plus. For some reason, most people going out to rent a video in those days were generally happy when they were in the VS. Twenty-one years later, I can still remember one customers account number strictly based on the way he said it. I even remember Alicia coming in the store pre-relationship. She made it a point for me to remember. She would ask a question like “can we come in without shoes” just to talk to me (her words not mine) and then just walk around the store and position herself so she could still see me (again, her words). This was all after they would do a drive by to see if I was working. I’m tellin you, that VS T Shirt did wonders for my social life. But don’t worry, all of that infatuation dissipated during my umpire days. But that’s another story for another day.
There are a ton of memories that I carry with me today that involve that hallowed place; Steven’s stirring rendition of Sammy Kershaw’s “Third Rate Romance”, Black Belt Jones, Lightning Jack, Shaq Fu, Munt watching movies with me on slow days and the gum ball machine that spit out tinfoil gum balls that represented a free rental. Even the night I flipped a golf cart, bleeding all over one of the greens at Pinecrest Country Club started at the VS. I guess that’s yet another story for another time.
Sadly, the run had to end at some point. Of all the great aspects the store had to offer, one of the downsides was being open 365 days a year. As it would work out one year, I had to work on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. That was enough to send this 17 year old packing in search for a more laid back schedule. Little did I know, that would be the most laid back workplace I would ever see. I have since joked to my friends that in high school I had envisioned living a life like that in the “Clerks” movie, working at a video store and my best friend working next door. Eventually, the store closed and the industry as a whole disappeared as more accessible and convenient ways to watch movies emerged. But as easy as it is to turn on Netflix, they will never be able to replace the feeling of hanging out at one of the most popular spots in town on a Friday night, watching movies and trying to get phone numbers. Oh, and getting paid for it the whole time. I love you VS!
Joey
Throughout our lifetime, most friends will come and go. People change. For better or for worse, we all evolve and wind up either leaving people behind or we are left behind ourselves. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone and everything serves some purpose in our lives. It’s just that sometimes the road comes to an end. A dead end doesn’t have to be a car crash. Sometimes, the car just crawls to a stop at the end of the pavement, you get out and start walking. I’ve experienced friendship car crashes as well as dead ends. What is consistent in both cases is that there are memories that always survive.
Of course, that led to many spinoff’s; Return of the Living Dead 1, 2 and 3, Video Dead, Evil Dead, Dead Alive, Dawn of The Dead. Basically, movies about the dead were our forte. What’s weird is that I haven’t seen or spoken to that friend in probably 15 years but I think if I ran into him, the first thing he’d say would be something along the lines of “They’re coming to get you Barbara” or “I don’t think I can do this Bert.” I would laugh uncontrollably and feel like I was 16 for a moment again. Those are memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life regardless of our absence from each other’s lives. Some things will never fade: movie quotes, horrible baseball card trades where we took advantage of each other, owning many a basketball court and hodie wedgies will forever be a part of who I am. I won’t even begin to explain the hodie wedgie but trust me, it was devastating.