Video Rental Sex Stores

In our reality, the age of the video store is dead, with the last few holdouts hanging on for dear life. In this reality, while they're not exactly thriving, video rental stores - including the major chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video - have managed to get by.

This is thanks in large part due to the owners of these companies NOT being the victims of their own hubris and being able to adapt to the changing climate (for example. In 2000, Blockbuster CEO, John Antioco, still declined the offer to purchase Netflix for $50 million. But in this timeline, instead of laughing co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings out of the room, he instead suggested a business partnership. One that continues to this day), gimmicks like "Rent 5 for $5 and Buy 1 Free!" and the fact that smut (AKA porn) isn't as stigmatized and is also extremely lucrative.

Smut is so lucrative, that in the case of Hollywood Video, it makes up 85% of their innovatory, while for Blockbuster it's more like 65%. But unlike Blockbuster which only keeps in stock and displays "family friendly" x-rated titles like this...

Hollywood Video - as if to be true to its namesake - is a perverts paradise as its shelves are stocked with some of the most depraved, degenerate, borderline how is this not illegal - titles you can think of (scat, ****, S&M, simulated [?] snuff, etc.).

When comparing the Smut selection of these two companies, it's a popular joke, saying and meme that Blockbuster is for the closeted Gooner, while Hollywood Video is for the Gooner who burnt the closet down.

As of recently, video rental stores have begun seeing a slow-but-steadily-rising boom in business, thanks in most part to nostalgia and the fact that people are starting to realize how much of a scam streaming is (AND ALWAYS WAS).