Redbox

 

Redbox, my beloved, is going out of business as their parent company is in bankruptcy. 

Certainly streaming has hurt their bottom line (which peaked at  $1.97 billion in 2013) but so did the dearth of first-run movies during the Covid crisis. Just when you're stuck home with time to spare, there was no fresh material to go rent. 

I love Redbox, frequented it - sometimes going AT MIDNIGHT as Tuesday dawned, just to get my hands on a new release. 

It always struck a nostalgic cord with me too. I remember, when I was very young (young enough to still be collecting plastic football helmets from candy machines) that Sun Foods on 20th and Oklahoma had a vending machine, very much like an early Redbox, that dispensed video cassettes to rent. 

RIP Redbox. You were a blessing, and you will be missed.