I have no idea what the current situation is for rental places.

- -B -I -G -m -i -k -e, here and there, over and out! - -

[Link]

They don't offer any sense of privacy and let's face it a large percent of porn consumers are people who are too ashamed (for whatever reason) to be seen in such a place.

They attract an unscrupulous element of society. I'm not talking about criminals here I'm talking about that old decrepit dude who makes weekly visits to the video arcade then comes out all sweaty and tired asking for towels.

Aside from high-profile movies you'll have 50/50 chances of finding what you like unless you're willing to wait for them to order what you really want.

Have you seen the prices in these stores! They're trying to push one DVD for $50!

[Link]

TripleXGuy

[Link]

I know of only one B&M adult store near me. There was one very close to me but they closed a decade ago. As far as unscrupulous characters... one time I was in there and some old dude was hanging around by the booths with his pants off. That was the last time for me.

Unfortunately, my mailman complains nonstop about movies through the mail. They don't fit in the mailbox and they don't want to leave them out (it's a multi-residence building). I recently had to cancel Netflix because he insisted on shoving them into the mailbox, resulting in tons of cracked DVDs.

[Link]

Plus now I don't have to wonder why the door handle is always greasy at the store, and I don't have to have that reacurring debate about the fact that the box is on the shelf, but they don't have the cassette.

[Link]

I also use BushDVD, but I don't have enough patience to deal with the turnaround time, so I'm at the rental store at least once a week - sometimes twice.

Of course the rental fees (and the LATE fees - ughhhh!) are ridiculous, but hey, IMO it's still worth it to be able to screen a lot of the newest stuff. Saves me from making stupid purchases on impulse without having a chance to check out the discs first. (Although, I still do that as well, once in a blue moon)

[Link]

I used to go to the local store, but it's just not worth the embarrassment of being seen by someone I know. At this stage of my career, it could be quite detrimental.

[Link]

Though I haven't ordered a DVD in roughly 2 years, I had absolutely no problems with any orders shipping. And hell, with kickbacks, a $100 order at AdultDVDEmpire brought me $15 more dollars to spend. I placed about two $100 orders a month, sometimes I spent more. But I always got those kickback dollars to buy more

I haven't ordered anything since getting to Georgia, luckily my zip code isn't banned, I checked a few studio sites, some zip codes near me are no ship zones. The only things I miss about the north is having AdultDVDEmpire in the next state (got stuff in two days) and the freedom. Jersey was not blocked.

I only had a few problems with out of stock items in all the times I bought DVDs. Usually they were shipped within a day.

- -B -I -G -m -i -k -e, here and there, over and out! - -

[Link]

Plus with Piracy and file sharing becoming so popular you can pretty much almost find anything that you would buy at a smut shop for free so the die hard internet fans really don't even have to pay or leave the house.

If your not all ready a well established producer than it's going to be quite difficult to sell a lot of DVDs off the shelf.

It's funny because most of the porn that I rent is just re-released internet stuff that finally comes out on DVD.

Edited by - Ryan Knox on 3/3/2006 2:47:23 PM

[Link]

I know Katja and other stars have come through town on the Castles dime, but star power is about the only attraction they have. I will add that they are girlfriend friendly. My girlfriend used to get stockings, lubes and outfits from them until she found repputable online retailers.

Also, I notices many, if not all of my previous comments about Bush DVD were deleted from shopping threads. I had an experience with them that was less than pleasurable, but on a good note they made good on their word to resolve it.

Their selection could possibly be the best online in the year to come.

Online is the way to go for adult purchases, but when it comes to rentals, my suggestion would be to try several companies. I think shipping between certain zip codes can be an issue and what trends in turnaround times, frequency of new titles, and response to your concerns.

[Link]

I've done the on-line rental thing. I used Hitflix. Even though I'm not opposed to on-line rentals, atleast with Hitflix, the DVD you want may not be in stock and you have to wait almost a week for it to come in, sometimes longer. And even if it is in stock, you still have to wait for them to mail it to you. I much rather just go to the store and get what I want without all the waiting around.

As for the whole privacy thing, that used to be an issue when I first started going into the adult sections. I would always first look around the store to make sure no one I knew was there, and when I thought it was safe to do so, I would quickly sneak into the adult section when I thought no one was looking. But I quickly got over that. Now, I just stroll right in without even caring if anyone in the store sees me. The other customers don't even know who I am, and the employees know that's where I'm going anyway, so why continue to sneak? The employees are cool and don't come off as being at all judgemental, and I've noticed that the other guys in the porn room all look like normal, everyday men, no different than myself. Some of them joke with the employees who come into the porn room; others hold cell phone conversations while browsing through the porn; and some of them even bring their wives and girlfriends into the porn room with them, which is something that I wouldn't do, but that's just me. Basically, even though I used to be embarrassed about it, I no longer am.

Quick story:
I was leaving the porn store one night only to find that my car would not start. Turns out the starter was dead. I was too embarrassed to call anybody who I knew to tell them where I was, so I had to pay to have my car towed. While riding in the truck with the tow driver, I told him how embarrassing it is to have your car break down at the porn shop, of all places. He just laughed and said, "No big deal. Whether they want to admit it or not, every guy has been into one of those stores, right?" His response immediately took my embarrassment away. Of course, you might not want to hold a huge flashing sign over your head so that everyone can see you're going into a porn shop, but it's not exactly the most shameful thing in the world to do.

[Link]

As for the whole privacy thing, that used to be an issue when I first started going into the adult sections. I would always first look around the store to make sure no one I knew was there, and when I thought it was safe to do so, I would quickly sneak into the adult section when I thought no one was looking. But I quickly got over that. Now, I just stroll right in without even caring if anyone in the store sees me. The other customers don't even know who I am, and the employees know that's where I'm going anyway, so why continue to sneak? The employees are cool and don't come off as being at all judgemental, and I've noticed that the other guys in the porn room all look like normal, everyday men, no different than myself. Some of them joke with the employees who come into the porn room; others hold cell phone conversations while browsing through the porn; and some of them even bring their wives and girlfriends into the porn room with them, which is something that I wouldn't do, but that's just me. Basically, even though I used to be embarrassed about it, I no longer am.

[/quote]Realtip, first off I would presume you're a grown man. Why would you have to sneak anywhere especially into a store of which you're paying money. Glad to see you later held your head up high. Second, if that store had a moral problem with you renting XXX then they should examine themselves morally for selling and or renting adult films. Don't ever let a business, whether they're a brick & mortar or online, mail order etc make you feel guilty about porn. Remember, you're paying them, enriching their coffers. If they ever give you any flack, then hit them where it hurts the most, their wallet. Take your business elsewhere and for good measure bad mouth as much as you can.

[Link]

But the issue of privacy was brought up on this thread in regards to how some people might be uncomfortable with being seen getting porn from a store. Since I was once able to identify with that, I figured I'd just mention how it's not that big a deal to be seen in the porn section or at a porn store. It was never about anybody else making me feel guilty about anything. It was more about me just wanting to maintain my own privacy and not have everybody I knew knowing that I was a porn-watcher.

[Link]