LOOKING BACK

While rummaging through my old files, I came across these video rental membership and business cards. Looking back, it brought back wonderful memories of days gone by, the so-called the "betamax" era. I remember the days I used to go and visit video rental shops like Allied, Trigon, Trifari, Shop & Lift, Beta Tape Center, Cardinal Audio (all in the old Virra Mall in Greenhills), Video Take-Out (in Makati), Digital Concepts, Lasertech, ACA, W & S, W & T, Hi-Density, Sound and Vision (all in Quezon City), among others. Good parts of my life were spent searching and scouring for classic and unforgettable movie titles. I used to rent beta and VHS tapes or Laser discs from these establishments and later collected most of these titles. One of the best shops to go to was Video Take-Out, located at the lower ground floor of Makati Cinema Square. Considered as haven among film lovers, the store had a wide collection of inventory; most of the titles, in LD format were rare and hard-to-find, not commonly found in other video stores.

Soon, I set my own shop and quite successful. For my video purchases and needs, the shops to go were Magnavision, Warner Bros., Video Lane, Video City, OMI Video Enterprises and Astrovision. Many things have changed since then--- Most of these video shops, except for Astrovision (now Astroplus) and Video City are all gone.