Where in Berkshire County Did You Rent Your Videos Back in the Day? (photos)
Remember, what feels like decades ago, when you actually had to pack up the family on the weekend and make a trip to the video store to rent a movie? There were several VHS/DVD rental stores located all throughout Berkshire County and renting a movie was an event. As I write this, I'm chuckling to myself as some readers will probably ask "What's a video rental store?" Time marches on and nowadays we're spoiled with online streaming options but back in the day, physically going to the store to rent a video was the way to go.
Where in Berkshire County Did You Rent Your Movies? Growing Up, I Rented Many Movies in the Northern Berkshires.
I'm originally a Northern Berkshire boy, so for my family, we rented our videos primarily from Adams Video which was located in the 85 Main Street Plaza in North Adams along with Video Studio (later Movie Gallery) which was located in the L-Shaped Mall also in North Adams. As time went on, when I would join my mother for grocery shopping, we would rent movies from the video store connected to Stop & Shop in North Adams. I believe there was a Stop & Shop video store in Pittsfield as well.
Once I started driving, I would travel around to other towns to seek out video stores. One of my favorite places to rent movies was the Video Studio in Adams. They had a special offer where you could rent 7 movies for 7 days for $7.77. When my wife and I started dating in 2001, we would go to this location and take advantage of the deal. It was so much fun and it kept us entertained especially on school vacations.
There Were Two Video Rental Stores in Southern Berkshire County That I Absolutely Loved?
My wife and I moved into our first apartment in Lee back in the winter of 2006. We were thrilled to discover Lee Video (in Lee of course) along with Impoco's Alice In Videoland which was located in Great Barrington. Impoco's in particular, would not only let you rent videos, but some titles were also available for sale. Of course, this was getting toward the end of the video rental era but it was still very fun to explore these stores and come across new titles that we hadn't seen before. I was actually pretty shocked and excited to see that these stores existed in 2006 and furthermore that they remained open for a couple of more years after my wife and I discovered them.
What Were the Names of the Video Rental Stores in Pittsfield and Where Were They Located?
Since I grew up in the Northern Berkshires, I didn't really rent many movies in Pittsfield other than the occasional trips to Blockbuster Video(later Hollywood Video). So, I'm curious as to some of the video rental stores that existed in Pittsfield, specifically the independently owned stores. What were your experiences at those stores? What was the variety like?
Times Have Certainly Changed
Steaming is certainly convenient especially in today's fast-paced lifestyle. You don't have to worry about paying a late fee and/or a fee for not rewinding the tape that you rented. Plus, you don't have to drive to more than one video store in the Berkshires due to the movie you were looking for being out. Now it's all the tap of a button and bam, you have tons of titles to choose from. Still, the VHS/DVD rental market had a certain charm. Wouldn't you agree?