The ’90s-era video rental store of your dreams still exists—in some guy’s basement
A few years ago, a VHS obsessive overflowing with more suburban nostalgia than a season of Stranger Things turned his entire basement into a video store, one that flaunts his massive VHS collection as it embodies the staples of your bygone Blockbusters. That nerd is Nick Collins, a man who realized that an adult paycheck could help him to build a preserved-in-amber ode to nostalgia under his home, given two months of labor and roughly $1,200. The results are impressive: Huge boxes of candy; old toys, posters, and promotional cardboard cutouts; enough old magazines to make your local dentist blush; a foam board ceiling; and an ugly, slightly dizzying ’90s carpet. As you’ll see in the below tour, the videos are sorted by genre—from horror to comedy to old professional wrestling pay-per-views.
Collins’ Instagram account allows an even deeper look, as well as updates on the VHS tapes from his collection that are for sale at his online storefront. He also sells VHS-tape packaging of newer movies, as well as movies in their original packaging. Basically, this is everything On Cinema’s Gregg Turkington wants his Victorville Film Archive could be. Take notes, Gregg. This collection of “Popcorn Classics” will be hard to beat.
Lately, Collins has been decorating his storefront to celebrate holidays for the season. Here was the store for October:
And here it is now, all decked out in yuletide finery:
Unfortunately, you can’t visit the storefront as it’s Collins’ actual residence and that’d be kinda creepy. But, you can follow his Instagram and dream of the Friday nights you spent browsing your local Hollywood Video for hours on end.