Tucked between a floral shop and a travel agency rests a little hub of history. British mysteries, documentaries and thousands of independent films fill the aisles of a rental store that has been in business since 1985. Though it relocated to its current location on the corner of Sixth and John streets in 1994, That’s Rentertainment, Champaign-Urbana’s only locally owned video rental, has managed to maintain its spot despite moving into the digital age. 

“There aren’t any independent stores left in this town, and there’s really few left nationwide,” store owner Geoffrey Merritt said. “But we’re still doing all right, and I think mainly because we stock films that you still can’t get on Netflix or other streaming places.”

Back when That’s Rentertainment had competitors on campus, it stood out for its large selection of foreign films, classics, anime and gay and lesbian films. Today, while it preserves those films, Merritt believes his store is one of the only places where students can delve into a selection of movies that may not even exist online. 

“I really get watching stuff online. I think if you know what you want and you could just go get it, it’s super easy,” he said. “But if somebody’s relying solely on Netflix to do all their movie-watching, I think they’re missing a huge chunk of movies.”

Movie enthusiast and Champaign native Nicole Schweighart admits to streaming movies online simply for its convenience. However, the freshman in DGS misses the experience that came along with renting a movie from a store. 

“When I was younger, I think it was more exciting because you’d go pick out your disc and then get popcorn and candy,” Schweighart said. “When I’d have a movie night, I’d always plan it out. And now you just don’t really have that anymore.”

Schweighart starts to reminisce about her childhood when she steps into That’s Rentertainment. Yet Merritt remembers a time when rental stores were the only method she could discover the world of film.

Before visiting a new town, Merritt would first find the nearest bookstores, record stores and video stores. Even before he was old enough to travel to foreign places in search of authentic attractions, Merritt had a love for movies. Both of his parents were faculty at the University and were part of running film festivals on campus in the late ’60s and ’70s. 

“My parents were friends with the Jahiels, and we used to go to their house and watch movies,” he said. Edwin Jahiel was a professor of film at the University and a film critic for the News-Gazett. He “had a 6 mm or 8 mm projector in his basement and had all sorts of great films that we could sit around and watch.” 

Years later, professors still maintain a connection to the film presence on campus by directing students to rent movies for class from That’s Rentertainment. Professors often drop off their syllabus at the store at the beginning of a semester to ensure that the store will offer the films they’ve listed.

As far as the amount of movies that the owner of the rental store has seen over the course of his lifetime, the number remains unknown. With over 40,000 movies in the store, Merritt said he couldn’t even venture a guess. 

Though fewer people own or rent movies, That’s Rentertainment employee Theodore Merritt thinks there will always be people that prefer a TV screen and a tangible disc over something online. 

“I don’t stream movies. I can’t see watching a movie on a little laptop screen,” Merritt said. “I like a big TV when I’m watching a movie.”  

Merritt agrees with his employee, as there are still die-hard film and music fans that will buy CDs and DVDs. They are few and far between. 

“And who’s to say that’s a bad thing? I mean, maybe that’s great. Maybe we’re the ones that were weirdos,” Merritt said. “I know we’re the ones that were weirdos. But I still miss all of the weirdos that do that sort of thing.” 

Alice can be reached at [email protected].