Channel: Good Mythical More
YouTube Video ID: GFtZdJm-oao
Episode Post Date: February 9, 2026
Episode Number: 2976
Transcript
What's the best defunct store? Welcome to Good Mythical More. We're talking about defunct stores, things that were a part of our lives because we're old-er than you might be. Mm-hmm. Um, and we're gonna rank all of these stores based on how much we wish that they still existed, at least here in America. I think there's, um, some international exceptions to these. Let's start with Blockbuster. Rule clarification. Yeah. Do you think that we should consider. The technological advancements that have rendered this store inconsequential. So obviously with Blockbuster, no one rents movies in this way again, right? Anymore. So what do you miss about it and where does that. That hasn't been replaced by the Netflix ification of things. So where do I think that's how it impacts the region? Yeah. I mean, I, I would say that if we're just taking into account how good, like how much I miss it and is taking into account when it was Blockbuster was so great because Do y'all have one in buoys? In, in, uh, we had, we had, well. So we had one, there was one in Dunn, which was like a 12 minute drive. There was one in, um, most of the video stores that we rented from were like off branches. Right? Not Blockbuster. Yeah. Yeah. So there was like coat's, family video was where we got our VCR and our VHS tapes. 'cause you had to rent the VCR and take it home. Yeah. I never did that because you, yeah, because I think Jimmy. Jimmy would buy a VR. My dad wouldn't. Right. So. The process. You, you know, the whole Netflix, uh, paralysis thing that happens. Yeah. Yeah. If you have not made the decision of what you're gonna watch, and that just makes you feel like, like you can't even make a decision on how to be mindlessly entertained. Like that is just a commentary on our culture. Right? Yeah. But going to an actual Blockbuster and interacting with a physical DVD case. Yeah. And there's like, literally this is a new Blockbuster and so there's 15 of them. Mm-hmm. And there's two left. Mm-hmm. And you're gonna grab it and that's it. So the demand of this movie is like right there, physically being represented to you. I don't know. I'm definitely like, I movie theaters, you know, rent movies, that kind of thing. Just like the old way of doing things. 'cause it, it is become too disposable. So I really miss this process. I, I. Thought where you were going was the, the Netflix paralysis that we experience now was worse at a Blockbuster, not worse, but I experienced it there. I remember I'd start on the left side and go all the way around, and then you find yourself at the end and you start to feel, once you get to close it end. So I haven't picked anything yet, but there's so many less options at a Blockbuster. I know, but it still happened. And then you start going down the aisles to the older stuff. I, maybe it was, it's because I'm funny Years younger than you are, remember? Yeah. Uh, but the thing that was nice about Blockbuster or Hollywood video is what we had mm-hmm. Um, is that there was a certain age I couldn't watch pg 13 movies until I was 13. So then. Then a bunch of stuff was unlocked, you know, so then you walk down the aisles and all of a sudden things that are like a few years old that everyone was talking about that you couldn't watch, those are now all new releases for you. And you have the new releases, like, you know, like the whole world opens up and then there's something about less options that makes it so, yeah, and, and like physically having to pick up something and like. Pay for that one thing. Yeah. It's like, this is, there's some weight on this. Yeah. I gotta enjoy this. Yeah. I can't, I can't cut this off 15 minutes into it because I don't like it. And go to another thing. Yeah. Also, it's where I first saw the L word, uh, cover. And now I wanna say that, and that you got, you gotta maneuver because season one, the L word, the cover of the. It must have been a DVD. Let's be honest, probably wasn't. VHS was the entire cast naked and as a closeted young lesbian in North Carolina, you have to, you gotta glance without side eye, without, yeah. Side eye. You don't want anyone to, yeah. So that was, um, you got, you had to do some walk bys. Some walk by side, glancing, so this is better now. You just log in and get, I know. Get to No, no. There's something about the walk. It's all your finger tapes. The plot of it all. Yeah. What about tion? You know, little curtain that took you to the adult section? I never went back There. Did not, I did not have that. I do that, I do not, uh, I don't, I understand how you miss like the, the throwback of it all, but, um, I don't know. I. Uh, the music com, uh, like version of this where you're talking about streaming versus like going to like a Oh yeah. A record store. Yeah. You love that. I, as much as I love records, I wouldn't go back because now I have both. Uh, I, I like having everything at my fingertips when it right when it comes out, and then I can also elect to get the thing now. Yeah. To buy the record. Or a lot of people collect CDs now. Um, but for movies, that's not really the case. There's one Blockbuster that's run by another company in, where is that? Washington, Oregon. Oregon. Oregon. Yeah. Uh, our friends went to it last time. And there are a few, like throwback, um, movie stores, but it's, it's not like with music, so that tells me there's the answer. Not enough. There's not enough demand for. And maybe I'm wrong, I go to some, uh, record stores and they're half movies. So some, there's also a distinctly different, like the technological difference between a record, speaking of the L word, I'm a loser. Um, also though, remember at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, whatever, they had those, um, like trash cans that had graphics on the outside that were filled with snacks. You know, like candy, you don't remember this. And like as you went up to check out, they were trying to grab you with like, oh, here's a bunch of candy bars, there's bunch of pop popcorn, just big bucket with a bunch of stuff in it. Yeah. I mean, I like that kind of sometimes Mom, I like having stuff sold to me. Me, I love a aisle, aisle purchase. If it was a good night sheet and it said two for one candy bar situation. Ooh, that was, that was a good one. Okay. Payless, shoe store. Shoe Source. What? Shoe Source? Shoe Source, Payless shoes is what we know. I didn't know it didn't exist anymore and I don't care because all I am is I I I started to feel some trauma that every single weekend my mom would drag me shopping wherever she wanted to go. 'cause she always had to get something new. And I remember the smell of this place just standing around waiting to go somewhere else. I'm putting it way over here. I don't want anything to do with that. It's kind of interesting that shoe stores. I mean, shoe stores are still around, but it makes sense because you gotta try on a shoe. But how many people do what I do, which is I, I buy three sizes. No, I buy a shoe that I think is probably gonna fit me. I try it on at home and then I return it if it doesn't fit. Yeah. Like, isn't that the way now? Yeah. And if you've got a brand that you're committed to, then you already know that it fits. You're like, okay, I know I'm this size and a Nike, and so I it'll work. Right. Logia? Nope. Oh, is that what that side is? I'm Alogia. I feel like that's a Mandela. I, I don't remember it ever being called Payless Shoe Source. Yeah. And it was until, yeah. 2020, they rebranded it to Payless. This might be a light chicken situation. I don't know what white chicken with light chicken we, yeah, there's different versions you wanna bring. You want to, you choose the next one unless you wanna put this one higher. Uh, no. I don't care about Payless, but I gotta say I didn't know that this is completely gone. The Sharper Image. And I'm a little bit disappointed because I like, like little doggy robots and massage chairs and, ties that can, you can write with. In the middle of the mall where like everyone comes together. There was a nice little technological corner of ways to massage yourself. Sharper Image was the place that you would go in and you would see one of those globes that would direct all of the light beams towards your finger and you would just touch it and you would be a kid in there. Just touching things. Yeah, driving the employees crazy and never once purchasing anything. I've never bought anything from Sharper Image. Never. That explains it. Yep. Mm-hmm. That's why it doesn't exist. I would go in there and just touch things while my mom was shopping for shoes. This is a great place to loiter. So we miss this one hardcore. We're putting it over there more than Blockbuster also. Yeah, I do. You're talking specifically about Sharper Image and not Brookstone, right? Like those are two different things in your mind. Well, now that you say it, they're one I know. Don't know the difference. They're one. I don't know if I've ever, I basically, you're Brookstone was. I think Brookstone and Sharper, could someone please Google the, they're, they're not the same company. And Brookstone, I know that still exists. Yeah. Which is I guess was why I was like. I think Brookstone, I think like luggage. Mm-hmm. It's not fun. Sharper Image was like newfangled fun things that took batteries. They were once fierce rivals in the gadget. Retail market. Gadget, gadget, retail. Yes, that's it. Uh, the key differences were Sharper Images wow factor versus Brookstone's, luggage, practical items like luggage. Yep. Uh, let's say in that, in that area, Radio Shack. Radio Shack was the place. That you had to go back in the early days of us making videos, Radio Shack like, so if you, you literally, there wasn't a place that you could go, there was no internet, so you couldn't be like, I need this connection from this piece of a video equipment to this piece of video equipment. And so you had to go to Radio Shack. Yeah. And you had to tell them what you were trying to do, and they had to point you to like a cable. And then they'd have it and they would have it, they would have the connectors. The store would be small, but they'd have, they, no matter what you needed, they'd have it. Because the early days of our videos, of course, we were doing what everybody was doing, which is finding two VCRs and then putting them together with RCA cables. Right. And it kind of empowered you to like figure stuff out. Yeah, and I, and you could like get little motors and stuff there, like there was a, there you could build stuff. From there. I never got too into that. It was just a little too detail oriented, but, and you could, they had like I, you could probably buy like a drum machine there. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like keyboards, drum machine, that type of stuff in that small window. But where Radio Shack and the internet both existed at the same time. Mm-hmm. I found a diagram on how to build your own cable black box. For people who don't know you can, you had a black box and you hook it up to your, your TV and you got all the premium channels for free. It was hacking the system. All the squiggly lines went away. What? And went. Yeah, because it's all coming into your house. It's just they're they're blocking it with the little contraption. Exactly. Everybody received them, but they were always scrambled. Yeah. And I went there and you go to Radio Shack to get that. I got all the pieces and I built it and Hello Playboy TV boy. I was looking at squiggly stuff and you got the real thing. You got smarter until you went blind. Oh, right, I see what you mean. I see what you mean. So, and, and, and they, they were small town like womb. Everybody had one. Womble and Sons. A Radio Shack section was a Radio Shacks had a Radio Shack section in the SEC section, you know what I'm saying? And, and then, you know what I'm trying to say. And then when computers came along, um, yeah, yeah, give it to me. Keep, keep going. When computers came along, I'm Malaysia. Um. They, they became more like electronic stores. Like computer stores. Like what's the crazy, uh, electronic store that has all the cool design that's in Burbank that also shut Fries. Fries? Did it shut down? I think so. So of course it did. Even something as wonderful as that, now you're just like, I'm gonna type in what I need and then I'm just gonna order it from the internet. Yeah. I mean, but we're putting it right away. Second number one. Radio Shack brings back great memories. Now, I had a lot of great memories at the Toys R Us don't know what Kids R Us is though. Is that it's the baby part? No, that's the baby. Us? No, that Babies R Us. Uh, Toys R Us. Let me see what, what a treasure trove. I mean like, they were huge. And that was in like, I remember the, the Nintendo games, they, they had a whole aisle that was just the flap with the games. And then you would take the thing up and you'd buy the game and you could just look through all the games and you'd flap, you'd pull the flap up and you'd read the, it would be the front and back of the, you could play the game. The game, and then you could play the games. Yeah, yeah. Like stand there in on, on the, on, on that little station where the controller that was just wait for somebody attached to the thing and you couldn't take away Yeah. Kids R Us was clothed. I don't think we ever had a Kids R Us. Never saw that. Um. If you've seen the movie Roof Man, which I, yes. Which I recommend 'cause it takes place in North Carolina based on a true story and it has a, uh, Toys R Us is a central plot point to it. Right. And it's like a 90, like a late nineties, early two thousands Toys R Us. Mm-hmm. And I just remember, so Peter Dinklage plays the, uh, not my neighbor Peter Dinklage, but the actor. Mm-hmm. Uh, plays the manager of the Toys R Us and it's like the Christmas season. And it totally hit me. This is the way that it would work. They make like, all of their money in this, like one, like the Christmas season, it's like when everybody is in there just tearing it apart. Yeah. And uh, 'cause you just remember the feeling that you would have Now I didn't get to go into Toys R Us a lot. My parents took me to Brindle's, which had other stuff besides, which was, besides basically like a Sears. And, but the couple of times I did go into Toys R Us, it was almost. Overwhelming. Too much. Almost too much overstimulation. Last time I went, I remember the last time I went to a Toys R Us. I bought Lincoln a bike out here. You bought him a toy bike? I bought him a bike. Yeah. From there. And, um, it might've been Lily actually, you know, and then that was it. Last time I set foot in one. Yeah, you'd walk. You'd walk in and you'd have to walk all the way around to the right and there would be all this stuff that you weren't there to shop for, but it would be like newfangled stuff that they wanted you to buy. And it was just so exciting. So it sounds like this, at least for the children versions of us, this was pretty big. I think it was. I think it's bigger than Sharper Image. You wish you could have gone there. Yeah. Because you actually bought stuff there. Yes, I'm putting, but it's no Radio Shack. Now Joann. Joann shut down. When? Last year. So what, who's, what are they doing about fabrics now? Oh God, don't tell me. Hobby Lobby. What are the fabric people doing? Why is Hobby Lobby still going? And Joann not going. Because we all thought it was Joann's. Providence. Um, oh, 2025. Mm-hmm. It just just happened. RIP. Why? Where else do you go to get fabrics? I mean, I think because people or you know, use Amazon and just order stuff. Michael's. Michael's, that bastard. Michael took out Joann. Yeah. That doesn't feel good. I don't like that. Also, I don't think a lot of people are fabric. I would think that with the internet it would be even more people. That's not true. I've been told a lot of people are fabricated, but, but where do you guys get your fabs? Hobby Lobby is unfortunately better than Michael. Hobby Lobby is better than Michael's. Okay. Well shots there. Okay. You steal from there though? Yeah. Um, well this is not doing anything for us personally. It's doing anything for us, like this is doing so little for us. I'm curious if this is gonna do anything for you. Oh God, I can't even look at it. Borders. It gets me excited. I love a bookstore. I could spend all day in there. Good Lord. Barnes and Noble has survived. Borders did not. Barnes and Noble predates this. I, I have an affinity to the barn in, oh, I'm a BN. I'm a big B and N guy. But Borders was more warehouse-y, was it not? I think Borders was either one near you growing up Raleigh. So, no. Yeah, I mean, but not really. If we wanted to go to a real story, we went to carry our alley like so, but it, it was like Barnes and Noble was classy and then you had Books a Million, which was like icky, and then in the middle you had Borders. That's why they call it Borders. It was right on the border between class and ick. I'm just thinking about, this isn't specific to borders because I can't tell you enough specific things about borders, and I know that's the question, but this is just a little bit of a. Bookstores in general, which I will say that a smaller, more curated bookstore. Those are fun, is very great. Especially if you can still drink some coffee in there. Yeah. I mean, shout out to, is it Vromans? Yes, it is. In Pasadena, which is just like, I think, I think it's as good as a bookstore can get because they've got a little cafe with some coffee. They have an incredible pen and stationary section with lots of fountain pens and the people know what's up. They know what's going on, and then they have basically every book that you could imagine very well organized, and they do the thing that you don't get at a Borders or A B&N, which is the staff picks. And so you've got the individual people who've read the book and they've like handwritten sometimes this little recommendation about why this book is great. I mean, I love a bookstore and I've gotten over my, the fabric people. Intimidation. People would like you to know that they do do staff picks at Barnes and Noble. Oh. But who's the staff really? They ask the staff at Vromans actually. Yeah. It's, they're market plants as well. Yeah. They just do it. 'cause they started doing it at the little bookstores. I'm not anti B&N I don't, I mean, maybe I should be, I don't know what I'm supposed to be against. Um, but the, um. The thing about the bookstore, I told you about this phenomenon that happens to me when I go into a bookstore, which is a sense of overwhelm that makes me feel like there's so many things that people have written about and I will only know a fraction of this. And is it even worth reading? A book like that happens to me and I get kind of overwhelmed and I was reading a really good book lately, which I think is called What We Can Know, which is great by Ian McEwen and. A character is in this book describing this exact feeling, and I've never heard anybody else talk about that. But the character is talking about being in a bookstore and having that existential, uh, like overwhelm, okay. Of being in there with all the stuff that people have put out. And then you're like, I, where do I even start? What do I do? Uh, how many books do I get? I've gotten over that. I'm just like, I don't need to read it all. I'm just gonna read the one thing that's right in front of me. That's right. Yeah. Um, so I say I'm all for Borders because we need more bookstores. People gotta, you gotta start reading again. People, well, I guess we're moving that up above. You gotta fight against the machine. You get, get off your phone and get in a book, unless it's a book on your phone. But, but buy toys First and Cords. Uh, and we will close with. Kmart, which this is controversial because apparently there might be some that are still left in the US and may be internationally, but for all intents and purposes they have shut down. Yeah. Which is why we're putting them over here. Our new Be Nicer to People. Color Block Hoodies just dropped in two colors. Shop them now at Mythical.com.