VHS proving its appeal at 'last video rental shop'
A mock shop styling itself as the "last video rental store" has been reigniting a love of physical media in visitors.
The Video Vault in Newport on the Isle of Wight was set up on a whim by couple Leif Marriner and Sam Young, and they have been busy ever since.
Marriner said they have had people dropping in to watch old sci-fi programmes they cannot see anywhere else, and he has also been helping people digitise their old family videos.
The tapes are not really available to rent - it is more of an exhibition or time capsule - but the couple say they now want to up the ante and make it "more immersive".
"It's nostalgia for people our age, but for the younger generation, it can't be nostalgia," said Young.
"But there is this huge interest - especially since shows like Stranger Things came out, and I think they have interest in what it was like to have lived in a time when you didn't have infinite choice."
The tapes on display belong to Marriner, who is keen on physical media. Most of them are science fiction titles.
"The artwork, the covers, the stories behind it - it's a lot more involved than just scrolling through a lot of stuff," he said.
A few people have wanted to pay for a video but Marriner said he told them to put some money in a charity box.
They have now been offered a room in Triple A Records, a shop across the road, where they want to take the idea and keep it going.
"People can just come in, either with their own videos or choose one of ours and sit on a nice comfy sofa," said Young.
"We're going to try to make it as immersive as possible."
"We may have a specialised nights - Dr Who night, or Space 1999 night," added Marriner.
They have also been invited to the island's Fantasy, Trade and Comic convention: "They invited us to have a little stall where children can see things they've never seen before - from a sci-fi point of view," he said.
Visitors Solly and Amy were at the shop watching the original Worzel Gummidge from the late '70s when BBC South arrived.
"Solly actually bought - because you can take some things and leave a donation - the complete early Wallace and Gromit videos," said Amy.
"It's just really nice to see them in that old... not everything's slick and shiny and perfect."
While physical media lover Grace was lured in by the VHS covers of Twin Peaks in the shopfront.
"I don't think I'd ever actually been to a VHS shop," she said.
"I just really like having an artefact of a thing that I really like.
"All the old VHS covers for movies, as well, I like that a lot of them were painted."
She said that with streaming services movies and TV shows are taken off, meaning she can suddenly lose access.
"And there's some movies that you just can't legally watch [online], any more," she added.
