RSS FeedYou Say You Want To Rent A Movie?
A few weeks ago this blogger was complaining to pqresident about the lack of a video rental store in the neighborhood. Not having cable means one can blow through their Netflix movies faster than USPS can deliver them. And while the “watch now” selection is growing, sometimes you need a backup. Well maybe this blogger was the last to know, but pqresident sent me over to Olsson’s and what do you know? They have a DVD rental section!
The selection is about what you’d expected from a place like Olsson’s, heavy on the Criterion Collection for those of you who need your perfectly restored DVDs with behind the scenes commentary. They also had a few stinkers, but for the most part it was a good selection, reasonably cheap rates, and decent rental periods.
The public library has some DVD rentals, but it’s pretty slim pickings there. Are there other video (or video game) rental stores in PQ that this blogger should know about?
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Comments
I rent once a year from Olsson’s – I do like their selection and location (not as much their hours), but I am inevitably late returning it and the fees are a killer. That is why I rely on Blockbuster – I get DVDs through the mail, but if I need a movie right away I can get one from the 17th and P store!
“The public library has some DVD rentals, but it’s pretty slim pickings there.”
With DVDs at the MLK library, there’s a actually a really big selection of current mainstream DVDs, but you’ll never see them on the shelf in the AV room because they go straight to user holds, one after the other. If you use the hold system you can find all sorts of stuff all the time. It works as follows:
1-Go to the website at http://www.dclibrary.org
2-Log in to your online account or set one up if needed
3-In the online catalog, search for the DVD you want or simply enter “DVD” as a search term to view the whole list and browse around
4-As you find different titles, put a hold on them. You will get an email when they are ready for pickup.
What I usually do is put a few titles at a time on hold like this, and then wait for them all to be ready. Then when you go pick them up, you’ll have several titles waiting for you at once.
They are free of charge (like the books) and can be kept for 3 weeks (a lot longer than a rental store). I also noticed that they have started stocking a lot of TV season sets of recent shows, including HBO series. Again, would probably need the hold system.
Redbox is a good solution as well since they are only a dollar (with frequent email codes for free rentals), although the 1 day rental is too short for me. I know some people who rent 5 titles from redbox at once, archive them all to their PC that night, return the discs, and then watch and delete the titles as their schedule allows. That works better if you have a PC connected to your plasma, and if you can live with the morals of timeshifting the titles (I don’t think it’s a big deal as long as you delete the archived movie after you watch it).
I was hoping the new McDonalds on E would have a redbox since the 2 companies are affiliated and many Mickie Ds have them, but no such luck. Maybe in time….
Thanks!
for those reading, Anon #1 is referring to the Shaw Giant at 8th and O Streets, NW.
redbox is an automated movie rental kiosk that requires a credit card to rent movies for $1 per night. movies can be returned to any redbox location, not just the one from which the movie was procured. movies can also be reserved online and then picked up at a designated redbox kiosk. the kiosks are found in some Giants, Harris Teeters and Shoppers Food Warehouses in the DC area. there is also one inside the World Bank (of all places).
there is a competing company whose name escapes me that has a few of their kiosks at some Safeways.
redbox is a great idea and it would be even greater if there was one in a CVS within walking distance of the core PQ/East End area.
I saw some work being done to the retail space on the western end of 400 Mass Ave. yesterday…a guy putting up little blue stickers on the corners of the doors and windows. It seemed to be a “Blockbuster blue” and the space would be perfect for it, but the only thing I could find on potential occupant is from last year as a reality firm. Can anyone shed some more light on this?
I guess you could always rent videos from Fun Fair if they don’t close. Seems to be the best our neighborhood can get.
#6: I couldn’t find any building permits for that location.
#8: Please, let’s chill out on the Fun Fair spam in every post.
Ugh…I have too many languages going through my head right now! Learning arabic and thinking in Spanish. Maybe I could use the reality store.
@gpliving: yeah, the only thing I found was [meta] in a PQLiving archive (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpqliving.com%2F%3Fm%3D200611&ei=Iq0WR9j8JKf-wwLN9MDsBw&usg=AFQjCNHb3kx9EikehZXilKsfBz8xhfmuJg&sig2=3OKnTeOA1UwzTsTYPMxCow)[/meta].
Sigh.
what about the martial arts action video store at the corner of 6th and H? or is it adult martial arts action? maybe it’s martial arts adult action? the signs on the outside just get me really confused.
I’ve never been in there but am frequently amused by the signage.
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Try the redbox at the Giant
http://www.redbox.com/