Growing up and living in ______ there was a video rental store named "video plus" and that was our to go game/movie rental store. Every now and then my dad would ask me if I wanted to go to video plus and of course I wanted to go. I remember especially when The Ring came out they had a cardboard cut out and I was pretty scared to walk near it while they had some sort of promo play next it. I remember the Blockbusters and reading the news of our last Blockbuster closing in Mcallen. What hit me the most was about two years or so I lost my wallet and my Blockbuster ID card was in there. I've had since high-school. Since then watching movies was either through streaming services, sketchy online websites, movie theaters, and sometimes DVDs. For a little while now I've been collecting DVDs. I enjoy buying a random DVD and just watching it. Just the way I would rent my games by judging the art cover. Hanging out with my friend Fidel he told me about Movie Night in Mission and it hit me with nostalgia of my childhood renting movies and games with my dad. I was able to speak with one of the owners Homer Garza who has his personal collection up for rental or to purchase at his store. Here's a little more about Movie Night which you can also find them on Facebook.
I'm always driving through Mission, but maybe I just never really looked to my left or my right when I'm driving. Especially because this is really close to the Trufit on conway! So I ask how long has this establishment been open for as Homer says "December 27 will be twelve years. So we actually were able to sustain for twelve years. What killed us was the pandemic, because we had the lockdown. Do you remember the lockdown? We were shut down for six months. So during the six months, there was a lot of concern over the handling and sharing of the movies, how nobody wanted to touch anything back then. So my customers had always said that they knew about Netflix, they knew about streaming, but they really preferred this experience over anything like that. So we had them. They were so loyal to us, but when they had no other choice, they had to learn how to stream. So once they learned how to do that, when we reopened six months later, we just couldn't get them back. So ever since then, we've done everything under the sun to try and keep it going, but we're just kind of like at the end of it. We're hoping to make it to December 27, so we can say that we officially lasted the twelve years." Wow 12 years and especially with Movie Night carrying some movies the streaming services may not have due to their rotations. I mean the first day I went I found The Night Of The Living Dead, REC (2007), Y Tu Mama Tambien and so much more. Especially just walking around and looking at their inventory it can be overwhelming, but it made me rather nostalgic. I was collecting DVDs in 2019-2020 because I also had to "learn" about these streaming services. I didn't even watch movies to begin with until then! I was randomly watching movies on my friend's Netflix account and on Hulu then.
You know with so many movies how do they rotate? or do they just keep adding onto theirs as Homer says "we started the inventory with 3500 movies, which was just my personal collection from home." 3500 personal movies? I met someone yesterday at Barnes who mentioned they have a collection of 300 movies. I had a coworker at my old tv station job and he would lend me action movies I've never seen or heard of. He would mention he had boxes full of movies that he still hasn't organized because it's just too much. It's interesting to know just how many movies are out there as Homer continues " today we have like 25,000. So you mean like, do I take them out of inventory if they don't rent? No, that's why we're so crammed up, because I always wanted to have every single movie. When people come in and asked for the most obscure movie, they always come here knowing that they'll find it. So I always wanted to be able to do that. So for that reason, even like right now, when I sell these, I crimson. They're my babies and I hate to part with them, but that's just me in denial. I could sit here another ten years and pretend like we're making it, but in reality, we just weren't anymore. It's been pretty hard last year." As Homer says "people come in and ask for the most obscure movie" I mean I literally walked in and found REC (2007) and Midnight Cowboy, The Raid 2, and Amores Perros which is just so cool! Last time I walked in they were doing blind bags filled with movies for sell as well.
Besides rentals can people also buy the movies as Homer says "Yeah, we were only renting movies. We just recently started selling them in the last, I'd say a couple of months. And that was a really hard decision to make because I wanted to just take them home. I told him (the co-owner), let's sell the stuff. We have multiples of, like the star wars, the Marvel, the DC. I go, but I want to keep one of each. I want to keep everything because movies are out of print and they're getting more and more and more expensive. So I'm like, this is my collection. It started with it. If I can walk away with it, I'd be so happy. But, you know, as we've got bills to pay and things to wrap up, unfortunately, we got to sell them. Just overstock here. A lot of it is a lot of the stuff we've sold, because I've never stopped buying movies, so I have backup copies. So if tomorrow I said, you know what? I'm not going to close. I'm going to keep going. I could probably restore pretty much what we've taken out. I could replenish it, what we've taken out, and then I have another storage room that has quite a few movies, too." That is a lot of movies now I'm wanting to go back and asking for something "obscure" haha, but you're into a specific genre such as horror, action, comedy, rom-com you might just find what you're looking for! For the times that I've gone there is people there looking around or asking for help looking for a specific movie which is cool to see. I understand with movies and shows streaming online it has taken a toll on Movie Night, but people still come for their events/movie nights outside! They certainly have their customers and the community who cherish Movie Night.
As we spoke about movies Homer shares this with me "it's truly a labor of love. I've been working in video stores since I was 18 years old, right out of high school. That was my first job. And then, you know, I've managed Hollywood videos, like one of the first ones in the Valley, and I've worked for Little Independence. My family has owned them a couple of times." From working at video stores (which reminds me of a movie my friend lent me called Empire Records haha where working at either a game store or a movie/music store was like IT job) to now having his own as he continues by saying "I really wanted to open a video store. And everybody's like, you're crazy. They just closed Hollywood and Blockbuster. Sure enough, two weeks after we open, blockbuster closed the one that was on the corner. Everybody's like, you're crazy. What are you doing? You're going to retire from your performing so you can run a video store? Are you serious? So now we've had a return to perform just so we can keep the store going." Homer is really doing everything in their power to keep Movie Night alive from rentals, sales, their renovation of the store, and the events. With my short time with them I plan on going back and I'm just surprised with myself to have barely found out about this place.
How does Movie Night react when they have first time customers come in as they say "when people come in now it's bitter sweet because its like enjoy it while you can. We have people from Edinburg, Donna, Mercedes, and Harlingen. We have people from all over the valley, but it's a little tougher from mission now because it's been there done that. Y'know people would come in and these hallways would be full of people like if we were in the 1980s! People renting out movies." When I listened to Homer say their store would be full it reminded me of my childhood at Video Plus. While I may not have that same experience again I'm certainly here now and there will be another movie rental. I was renting my Halloween movies from Movie Night such as the Exorcist and Jennifer's Body and it's just fun going in person. It's the experience.
What has my attention is the room in the back that's decked out for Halloween and I mean is that only for the holidays as Homer says "It's Halloween in there all year long! Different relics from different movies. I'm constantly adding to it especially on Halloween. I'm going to miss that room the most. It's the end of an era, but it goes a little deeper for me. I was there when he had beta tapes and I got to experience the first movie for 14.95 which was Top Gun in 1987 everybody bought! It was the first movie that was affordable." I always thought movies were cheaper, but then Homer says they were around $100!? That price is scary and especially hearing it on Halloween! I loved the Halloween room so much! I can't wait to see it after the renovation.
Movie Night has some recommendations for you!
Halloween Ends because well I really enjoyed it!
Darkness Falls
The Exorcist
I enjoy supernatural movies with ghosts not too much on slashers
The Lost Boys you owe it yourself to watch this movie! I enjoy this vampire movie so much.
Homer shares one final comment with us,
I think we're going to regret hollywood video and blockbuster for convenience. I remember waiting for holidays or a specific season to watch a movie, but with home video we can see these movies whenever want. Some streaming channels don't have EVERYTHING along with the movie rotations. When you have the movie on their shelf at home you'll always have it on standby.
Movie Night
2718 N Conway Ave, Mission, TX 78574
5pm-10pm
I'd call in advance :)
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