The Lost Civic Life of Movie Rental StoresDecades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of taste-making. A key aspect of the video store’s clerk/customer relationship was exactly the sort of local authority that Oldenburg mentions. In video stores, the person behind the counter set the tone. Matt Ratto, whose father, Gary, owned a video store in Merced, California, recalls one thing above all else: “He just talked. Though early video stores were often seen as questionable influences (thanks to their selection of adult videos), retailers saw themselves as part of a larger community.