CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio: Whether it was a reward for a good tab or for a part of the family’s weekly routine, brick-and-mortar movie rental stores like Family Video are included in American culture. In a matter of weeks, almost all of them will disappear. This week, parent company Family Video announced it would launch credits at the remaining 250 stores. For the remaining employees, ongoing liquidation sales are the final act of dedication.
On Tuesday, Family Video’s parent company, Highland Ventures Ltd., announced that the end of the 42-year mark would come. What started as a handful of small stores selling Betamax tapes four decades ago had been transformed into 800 locations during the company’s heyday. The chain of stores that characterized the Midwest went through successfully and adopted all major media iterations, from Betamax to VHS, to DVD and later Blu-ray. Once the broadcast began to gain popularity, Family Video adjusted its business model to focus on smaller communities in the Midwest, using a sister company, Marco’s Pizza, as a claim to get more people in the door.
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The family video survived a decade longer than the “Big 3”: Blockbuster, Movie Gallery, and Hollywood Video. Highland Ventures CEO Keith Hoogland said in a statement that it was the pandemic that ultimately caused the company.
“I have to make the difficult announcement that we are closing all family video locations. The impact of COVID-19, not only on foot traffic, but also the lack of movie releases, pushed us to the end of ‘an era,’ Hoogland said at the launch. “I am very grateful to our employees and customers who contributed to the success of Family Video. Without you, we would not have been the last man in our industry.”
If the crew of the Cuyahoga Falls site is an indication, Hoogland is right.
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All but three parking spaces are empty. The lights are dark and the door is locked. Perfectly parallel lines of rectangular boxes wrap the window like a belt. From the latest blockbuster to a classic from decades ago, each and every one of the hundreds of movies that roam the shelves of Family Video have a sticker.
You can take one home, but you can’t return it. Rental days are over.
“Family video has been able to last about ten years longer than other video stores,” said manager Annette Haynes. “I think that says something about the company. We did our best to stay.”
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They did their best to stay and are now doing their best to say goodbye.
Haynes and two other employees, Gillian Adams and Rachel Sommer, are working to get the store ready for the rush of people looking for highly discounted movies, games and tricks. The first day of “everything has to go” is always non-stop.
“We were here from opening to closing on Wednesday and we weren’t even open,” Sommer said. “We did it just to get ready for today.”
All three women can speak from experience. The former Sommer and Adams store was liquidated late last year. This is Haynes’ third liquidation.
“Especially after the memories I’ve made here both working and not working, I don’t know what else I can do to fill that gap,” Adams said.
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For Adams, closing the Cuyahoga Falls store is especially difficult because it was the store she and her family often frequented. This deep connection to the location and its loyal customers is why you want to send it well, he said.
“There’s nothing else I would want to do right now,” Adams said. “I loved it every day.”
At twelve o’clock in the afternoon, the doors are unlocked and the line of people gathered outside begins to flow. Bid hunters collect movies and games for sale, building 10, 15 and 20 movie towers. One customer thinks out loud, “It’s a shame it took me so long to close the store to get so many cars in the parking lot.”
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For those of a certain age, sites like Family Video contain keys that allow you to unlock memories that had previously been forgotten. Gathering the family to go rent a movie was rooted in American everyday life. Family members had to commit and agree on just a couple of titles. If the movie was already checked out, you had to be patient and wait your turn. The practice that now seems archaic was really quite harmonious at the time.
“This is where you come from, where everyone would come. You’d go out to dinner and come get a movie. You’d come home and watch it together as a family. The whole family would come,” Haynes said. “On Friday nights and Saturday nights, we had four people working. We were so busy.”
Still, the movies were just the icebreaker. In many small towns, the family video store would be the de facto neighborhood meeting place. There was always the chance to see your neighbor, your friend, or your teacher (for better or for worse). When Haynes kills the lights and closes the door once again, the most ingrained connections with her customers will be the highlight.
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“I would know families and their children. I saw how mothers were pregnant and had their children,” Haynes said. “Your kids would grow up in my store. Now, once that [store] it’s gone, there’s no place to go. No other job is coming. “
Haynes said her job at Family Video, her “fun job” as she calls it, will cease to exist in a matter of weeks. It’s a daunting proposition, sure, but Haynes doesn’t stop there in any way. Also, he has some friends to say goodbye to.
“We became friends with many of our customers. It’s important to say goodbye to all of our customers to make sure they know we’ll miss them,” Haynes said.
You can’t speed up time and you certainly can’t slow down. All you can do is press Play and be kind when you rewind.