While those businesses may be close to extinction ... there are still some to be found. In fact, one of the movie rental stores in Astoria had to move to a larger location recently. I don't know - maybe there are still some movies that are hard to find on streaming services?
There will always be a need for gyms. Not everybody can afford thousands of dollars for home gym equipment. Many people use the personal trainers available at gyms, for 1-on-1 training. At $10-$20/month for gym membership, with personal training and access to dozens of various machines - it's far less expensive than buying all the home gym machines you would need for the same exercises.
Gyms were closed for a very long time. What did the gym folks do? Find other ways to exercise so maybe many who frequented them won't any longer. As for movie rental stores I'm really shocked at that. Everything one could ever want movie wise is available via TV. In the comfort of your home you can order it and they just bill you. Why go out at all? Thank you for your reply Walt and Happy Tuesday to thee and thine!
In Washington, gyms weren't required to close ... only to limit the number of people in at a time, and how far apart they had to be, and wearing masks. Most of the smaller gyms dealt with it by staying open longer, so people had more time to choose to come (so not as many people trying for the same time).
The small gym in our small retirement village was closed as was the sauna and pool. So was the library. The gym that Jim's best friend went to close for months. I guess California was bit more strict when we were under lockdown. So howya doin' airwise up there Walt? No fires near enough to crap up your air I hope? Thank you for your reply! :)
A sports centre near me (in S. England) is closing its public gym and refunding unused subscriptions. Apparently it had been losing money on it for years so it's not just a pandemic effect. I was told many such places are unprofitable, though I don't know if that's accurate.
It will remain open for booked organisations etc (presumably things like local-league sports teams) but has made staff redundant.
Thank you for your informative reply Durdle. I think whatever the gym folks did during the many months gyms were closed may be what they continue to do futurely. Your example may be just the of the iceburg. Jim used to go to a gym but not any longer. Of course his age plays a part but still I'm pretty sure the heyday of gyms is winding down. :)
Many things have a heyday and then start winding down dwindling down till they are just a memory. Libraries for instance. I haven't been inside one for maybe ten years and I used to spend many hours in them. Bookstores too. It's been YEARS since we've been to a bookstore. You can get anything you want online via cell phone or TV. Why go out when out will come to you? Growing up with bookstores and libraries was a great time. My son (55) grew up with them as did you but today's youngsters? How many of them have ever been in a bookstore or library? No need. Too bad. Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :) We'd go to the library weekly and get out the maximum number of books allowed and then we'd actually READ THEM! At yes. I remember it well! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at August 10, 2021 2:30 PM MDT
Actually, despite gloomy predictions a few years or so ago about the Internet etc killing off books, they are thriving.
I don't know the American situation but most of the public-library closures in the UK have been due to public-service funding cuts rather than them losing demand.
Not only did we have a library, but we even had a bookmobile here when I was growing up. They converted an RV into a mobile library. It came on Saturday once (occasionally twice) each month during the summer, and park in the parking lot of the little church building a block up from my house. Mom always let us walk up to the bookmobile. Anywhere between 10 and noon, the mammoth thing would drive by the house. When it did, we were running out the door to meet it (better than saturday morning cartoons). We'd always have to wait impatiently as the driver 'secured" everything inside before he'd open the front and back school bus type doors. The inside always smelled cool and crisp with a hint of mustiness (that's because it was air conditioned - something not that common back then but welcomed on a hot summer day). Step up those two large black steps and there was a mini library front to back. It even had little cubby holes where you could sit on a stepstool and just read ... until you got caught. Sitting on a stepstool was a no-no (each stool had a sign saying "NOT FOR SITTING!" in black marker on white poster board and covered with scotch tape. The place even had 8-track tapes and 33 records you could ceither check out or listen to there via headphones (mom never allowed us to check out records. She said they were so used that they would ruin our phonograph needle) . But the best part of the whole thing... it rarely EVER had more than 2 people inside! (of course, if anyone got too rowdy, the driver would kick them off). It was MUCH better than that stuffy old library downtown. I only went there if I needed information for a school report, that wasn't in our encyclopedia Britannica's.
It believe our last bookstore closed down just before the pandemic hit. The downtown library is still there, but our main library is way out at the County Administration Center.
Thank you so very much for sharing that experience with us Shuhak. I was right there with you. I've never ever even SEEN a BOOKMOBILE let alone been in one. But where you live is more on the "outskirts" of town whereas where we lived was within walking distance...about a mile from the "main drag" so to speak. I've seen bookmobiles in movies of course but you actually experienced them as a kid! Wow. What a nifty memory to have! Of course the internet is massively more convenient. Anything you want to know anywhere in the world at any hour of the day? Just go to the internet and start looking. Being older it works for me. Also because I'm pretty much a stay at homer and to top it off this Pandemic way of life I think may be with us for years or forever...whichever comes first. Were your folks big readers? My mom was. Not so much my dad. We'd go to the library every week...my mom, my sis and I. I don't remember my dad ever going to the library with us. He'd stay at home and usually be doing yard work. We had a very huge backyard and once upon a time a chicken coop with chickens and a sort of vegetable gardens and lots of plants and flower. We had a hedge in front that he was always trimming and a manual lawnmower that was always being used in front or in back. He was a very good dad. He'd read the paper daily but I can't recall his reading many books or magazines for that matter. Thank you for your reply. Having those memories? Swell. I feel sad for the kids today. They will never experience a lot of the fun of being a kid as we dd! SIGH.
This post was edited by RosieG at August 11, 2021 2:03 PM MDT
My dad never read much either (save for the bible). He wasn't well educated (dropped out of school in the 8th grade). Mom, on the other hand, almost alway had a book in her hands.
We had a chicken coop as well. Since mom was terrified of chickens, it became our shed. Eventually my brother made it into his bedroom
Weird the commonalities we have. My dad dropped out of school in the 8th grade too. Maybe it was the thing to do during those times although my dad's times preceded yours by decades. But he was still in the "old country" then. I'm not certain of this but I think my mom graduated from high school. I don't think she had to drop out. But you know my mom and her parents fled to France during the Armenian Genocide so she spoke Armenian and French as a child. When she came to this country and attended school she had a very hard time because she couldn't speak the language. I expect she was picked on too by the other kids. You know how cruel kids can be to someone who is "different". Long ago and far away. Chicken coops and library visits. Those times were so good and plain and simple. I wonder will we ever live "simple" again? I shall ask. Thank you for your reply Shuhak!:)
My dad dropped out of school as his father died and, being the oldest, had to help take care of his brothers and sisters. My mom was all ready to go to college out of highschool (to become a librarian), but while visiting her grandmother up here, she met my dad at church. She married him, moved up here and raised a family instead.
Irs hard to imagine, but the kids of today think these are simpler times. These days which we think of as evil and horrific, they will, one day, look back on as the "good ol' days".
You're right again. "It's hard to imagine". But on the other hand if you grow up eating hot dogs only you don't acquire a taste for anything else. So it's hot dogs you will be since you are what you eat. How can kids be faulted for the life their parents impose on them? To be "good" children they must obey comply and always be polite respectful and never tell lies. Unlike their parents who do all of that all of the time. Being a kid is complicated isn't it? Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
Walt O'Reagun 