Incredible abandoned VHS store left frozen in time for 20 years after owner died is throwback to world before Netflix
BEFORE Netflix swept the world by storm, blockbuster shops were all the craze.
With the arrival of streaming services, VHS stores slowly died out with one being left frozen in time for 20 years.
It is hard to imagine that there was a time when you had to physically attend a store to rent a movie instead of clicking a tab on your computer.
But video rental shops were at the height of their popularity in the 90s and 00s.
An urban explorer has re-winded time to the golden era of VHS when he stumbled upon an abandoned store in North Carolina, US.
In the true Y2K fashion, Bretton Barry shot a film of his own to share the haunting scene with his followers on Instagram.
The footage shows rows and rows of shelves stacked to the brim with old cassettes.
Coffee mugs, figurines of famous comic characters and even dinosaur toys decorate the top of the racks.
The explorer was on a road trip when he accidentally found the time capsule of a lost era.
He said: “Abandoned video store[s] are incredibly rare.
“The [visit] was actually never planned.
“We were on a road trip for another spot and saw it driving on rural back roads in North Carolina.
“My friend pointed it out [after] he saw tons of books and antiques piled up against the window and we stopped to check it out.”
Bretton believes the store has been collecting dust for over two decades since it doesn’t feature DVDs – which were introduced in 1995.
He said: “I believe it was abandoned in the early 2000s, maybe earlier because there were no DVDs inside, just VHS movies.
“[They] were amazingly kept in time and super rare.”
The owner of the shop also sold antiques such as hunting knives, fishing rods and clocks before reportedly passing away.
In one part of the store, the explorer found more racy titles which he opted to leave out of the clip.
He said: “There was even an adult video section but I didn’t want to take any pictures of it.”
Bretton has explored everything from deserted power plants to synagogues with his adventures attracting thousands of fans.
His latest discovery accumulated 64,000 views with many fans likening it to a horror movie scene.
One person said: “This reminds me of a horror movie about 2 brothers that inherited their father’s video store when he died.”
Meanwhile, others felt nostalgic about the retro shop as they were transported back in time.
One user wrote: “Hard to see others live my dream.”
Another one added: “This is awesome.”
A third person said: “This may be one of, if not the, coolest abandoned places clips I’ve seen. would love to scope the place out!”
Someone else agreed, saying “Damn I would loooove to browse”.
