Honestly, my favorite Video Fan memory is a little shameful, but here it goes anyway…

Honestly, my favorite Video Fan memory is a little shameful, but here it goes anyway…

The folks at Video Fan have made this neat video of people sharing their favorite memories of the video-rental store for their Kickstarter, check it out below:

So I was in undergrad–this had to have been about five years ago. I was (still am?) into pretty terrible movies and I found myself in need of seeing the 1991 classic surf-crime movie Point Break.

So I headed to Video fan with visions of Swayze and young Keanu dancing in my head. I longed to see the young FBI agent with a history as cool surfer align himself with the criminal element stalking the coasts of LA.

And of course, this scene:

I arrived and rented Point Break. I watched it. I loved it. I watched it a few more times. Then, like so many other assholes out there, I forgot about it.

Months later, I got a phone call. I was sitting in my Franklin St. apartment/shithole in a haze of bong smoke. The nice lady on the other end of the phone begins to speak:

Her: Is this Brad Kutner?
Me:… yes
Her: I’m calling from Video Fan. I see you’ve checked out the movie Point Break and you owe us… $35 in late fees.
Me: uhhh… oh god, please keep your voice down, I don’t want people to know I rented and totally took forever to return Point Break.”
Her: Well, you should have thought of that before you got yourself into this situation.

While not the most flattering story on either of our parts, this personal interaction, no matter how humiliating, always stuck with me. That level of personal responsibility – or my lack thereof – you just don’t get that anymore these days.

Now, here we are, many years later, and Video Fan needs our help.

Sure, it’s easy to forget the days of renting movies and paying late fees – but Video Fan has hopes of becoming much more than a video rental store.

Head on over to Video Fan Forever, the small businesses Kickstarter, donate some money, and save a Richmond institution.

With less than 24 hours left, they are short about $6K.

And maybe share your favorite Video Fan memory in the comment sections below: