A new video store is opening its doors in South Philadelphia, stocked with thousands of VHS tapes, DVDs, Blu-rays and even LaserDiscs for rent and sale. Little Movie Store, located at South 10th and McKean streets, holds its grand opening Saturday at noon, giving neighborhood movie lovers a brick-and-mortar alternative to scrolling through a streaming menu.
The shop is the brainchild of owner Dylan Wise, who according to CBS Philadelphia was inspired to open his own store after visiting a movie rental shop in Oregon. Wise and his wife Keri wanted a place in their own neighborhood, according to Audacy, and he has said that trip specifically included a stop at Movie Madness, a well-known Oregon video store, as part of what sparked the idea.
Wise spent 2025 compiling thousands of VHS tapes and DVDs for the shop, according to CBS Philadelphia, and the collection's exact size depends on which account you read. Audacy reports the store has about 17,000 movies, including DVDs, 4K Blu-rays, VHS tapes and 70 LaserDiscs, while PhillyVoice has reported the rental library tops 20,000 titles, with roughly 7,000 expected on display when the doors open, per PhillyVoice. Either way, shoppers will find familiar titles like Titanic and Obsession on the shelves, per CBS Philadelphia.
How Membership Works
Renting from Little Movie Store requires an annual membership, priced at $160, that lets members check out up to three titles at a time with no extra rental fees, the same PhillyVoice report notes. The arrangement echoes an old-school model, with Audacy describing the setup as similar to Blockbuster's membership-based rentals. WhatNow reports that members can keep each movie for up to 14 days before swapping it for something new, and also receive discounts on purchases and a free birthday movie, according to WhatNow.
A membership isn't required just to browse or buy, though. Roughly half of the store will stock movies for sale that are open to everyone, membership or not, per the same WhatNow account. Nonmembers can only buy movies at the store rather than rent them, according to CBS Philadelphia. The shop is also building up a small library of VCRs and DVD players that members can rent, PhillyVoice reports, for anyone whose own hardware didn't survive the digital age.
Where the Collection Came From
The Wises didn't buy their inventory from a single distributor. PhillyVoice reports the collection was built from a combination of their own personal collection, a friend's personal collection, thrift-store finds, and purchases made through eBay and Facebook Marketplace. That scavenger-hunt approach to stocking shelves mirrors the broader resurgence of boutique physical media, with Audacy noting that labels like Criterion, Arrow and Vinegar Syndrome have helped drive new interest in collectible releases.
Ahead of opening day, the store has already drawn attention from would-be renters, though reports differ on just how much. CBS Philadelphia reports that nearly 200 people have signed up for memberships, a figure Wise has cited directly, while PhillyVoice has separately reported a 465-person waitlist for annual memberships. Wise told CBS Philadelphia that the interest reflects growing demand for physical media, and that people miss strolling through movie aisles instead of scrolling, holding a physical movie and showing it to a friend, and browsing without being directly targeted by an algorithm.
A Citywide Pattern of Closures and Comebacks
Little Movie Store is opening into a city that has seen more video stores close than open. Philadelphia's last Blockbuster, on Frankford Avenue, shut down in 2013, according to PhillyVoice. A Northeast Philadelphia shop known as Philadelphia's Last Video Store closed a couple of years ago after the death of owner Dominick Paolino, per Patch. One newer entrant, Pop Culture Vulture, a collectibles shop on South Street, opened in 2024 and rents DVDs for $1.50 apiece, PhillyVoice notes.
The trend isn't confined to Philadelphia. Nationally, physical media sales declined just 9% in 2025, a notable slowdown compared with drops of more than 20% in both 2023 and 2024, according to the Los Angeles Times. Younger shoppers are a big part of that shift, with the Times reporting that Gen Z is reviving DVDs and Blu-rays as video rental shops report record months and rising membership numbers. In Los Angeles, Vidiots said it had its biggest month ever in January, renting an average of 170 movies daily and moving 500 titles in a single day, per the same report.
Why Fans Are Returning to the Shelf
Subscription fatigue is driving much of the renewed appetite for discs and tapes, according to a Marketplace report drawing on Consumer Reports survey data showing nearly half of respondents still watch DVDs and Blu-rays, while 15% still play VHS tapes. Frustration with shifting streaming catalogs and a desire to collect rare finds are also boosting old-school formats, per Marketplace. The numbers still favor streaming by a wide margin, with the streaming business totaling about $50 billion in annual revenue compared with roughly $1 billion for newly released physical media, the outlet reports.
For Wise, the appeal seems to be less about the balance sheet and more about the browsing experience itself. He believes VHS and DVD movies still have a place in the future, according to CBS Philadelphia, and has said he hopes Little Movie Store becomes part of families' Friday nights. Whether that nostalgia pays the rent on South 10th Street long-term remains to be seen, but for now, the shop is betting that South Philadelphia still wants to wander the aisles.
