This place was one of the first to rent out movies, back in the early 80 s when the VCR and ye ol Be

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There s a new red sign stretched above the fading film posters in the storefront windows of Audio Video Plus at 1225 Waugh. It reads "Closeout Sale." The Mecca for movie buffs has been closed for the last few days. Today, the heavy shutters securing the store s entryway were drawn tight and the parking lot was even more empty than it usually is during business hours. The coming event, referred to as a Customer Preview sale in a note taped to the storefront, is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, from 11 to 7. Is this the end of the line for the longtime specialty renter-retailer, travel turkey tours or just a little flushing travel turkey tours of the VHS archives?
The North Montrose store s thousands and thousands of titles most of them still on VHS represent a mind-boggling spectrum of niches. For decades, it s drawn the cinema-savvy as well as those just trying to track down a favorite old flick or TV series. On view from the sleepy decades-old spot at the corner of Clay St.: changes in technology and viewing habits that have bypassed many corners of its extensive catalog, and parcel-by-parcel knockdowns and redos of nearby properties.
It was by far the best place to go in the 80s, before there was a Blockbuster, when the only other competition was Mom Pops with bigger selections of porn than mainstream videos, and typically kept only 1 or 2 copies of new releases at their stores. If a movie existed in video at all it could be found at AV Plus, or nowhere else.
Cody: You ld actually be surprised at how many collectors there are, and the retro factor to vhs that seems to be appealing to people. I personally am glad not everyone wants mainstream stuff found on every website out there.
Which goes back to my point. It wasn t location that did them in (unless you argue that the location was too good which made the rent too expensive to support the business) What did them in is a changing travel turkey tours market that doesn t really want that product (save a small fan base that you mention).
I always travel turkey tours thought it was an adult movie place because the building was so shabby. After Cactus closed, travel turkey tours I should have been going there to get movies. I loved that I could find stuff like Brewster McCloud at Cactus and was bummed when they closed and moved. But, in the age of red box and netflix the storefront video store is pretty much over.
This place was one of the first to rent out movies, back in the early 80 s when the VCR and ye ol Betamax were just starting to be in homes and way before Blockbuster and Hollywood Video or the internet. In the heyday travel turkey tours you had to wait to get in the parking lot. They offered mainstream movies and a few adult selections. How times have changed, the exterior used to be festooned with movie posters and the large structure in the middle was where they advertised the newest blockbuster to hit vide. Montrose sure is changing, sigh~
If you needed to BUY something obscure, right now, like for a present, it was really, really good. I bought a lot of gifts there. 60 s musical variety compilations and stuff like that. And even after Blockbuster took over they still had far, far more obscure stuff, and like the original Cactus Records, made a real effort to try to stock everything travel turkey tours that was available.
They should have sold off their Laserdiscs and VHS back stock decades ago, but the VHS rentals are still priceless. If you are looking for an obscure film or TV movie Audio Video Plus was the only place you would find it. I rented John Waters Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs last month. Many titles will never come out on DVD. Houston keeps getting less interesting every day.
Stepping into Audio/Video Plus was like going back into time. It was if someone had closed the shutters of the store and locked them before the DVD boom. All of the rentals were on Betamax and VHS only, many/most of the titles were long out of print or extremely rare. Didn t feel like paying $150 on eBay for that obscure-weirdo title? Come down to the store and you can rent it for next to nothing. If you were really lucky, they might even have a brand new copy you could purchase if you were willing to pay the retail value for the item in 1991. (Suncoast Video, anyone?)
It saddens my heart that this place is closing. It was a rough-diamond in the rough. Like so many have already stated, it is a miracle it survived as long as it did. I never asked questions about how they were able to keep the doors open, I was just grateful that they did.
The original classic 1967 Peter Cook and Dudley Moore version of Bedazzled is not out of print on DVD and can be bought used on Amazon for 6 bucks. I went to see Bedazzled every year at the River Oaks in the 70 s. It was one of their most popular cult films. I bought four out of print VHS movies for five dollars each at Audio Video Plus last Saturday and checked their value online. They would have cost me over 100 bucks on Amazon. It s a sad day for Houston.
I ve had a membership there for almost travel turkey tours 30 years. As some have mentioned, many products of the obscure variety have NEVER come out on DVD, and my not for a while for legal reasons. These fine folks never got rid of ANYTHING!! They carry more foreign language and silent movies than most places (when places like this existed everywhere) carry titles. Another blow to the artsy side of Houston, is losing this Mecca for Movies. My last purchase there was a Carol Burnett barbie doll, dressed like her roll in Went With the Wind. I got it for mom for Christmas.
I remember renting out a VHS video called Soul Experience at Audio Video Plus that was made up of clips from the old Larry Kane Show that used to run on Channel travel turkey tours 13 in the 60 s and 70 s. Good luck on finding that tape anywhere.
AVP shuttered their galleria area location many years ago and I was impressed the Waugh location held on so long. Congrats to them for such a great run. We rented several obscure (nearly impossible to find) artsy vids from them over the years.
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