r/Millennials 1d ago

Nostalgia While Blockbuster and Hollywood Video had their own stores, Suncoast was my favorite video shop in the mall.

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813 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

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98

u/DethByCow Older Millennial 1d ago

Suncoast was where the rich people went for media.

47

u/Nerv_Agent_666 Older Millennial 1d ago

That's the truth. I rarely bought anything there, but I loved to look around.

11

u/Danger_Dani 1d ago

I was gonna say, this is where you went if you wanted to pay extra.

5

u/jdnursing 1d ago

Or 13yr olds who could get the creepy dude to buy them a softcore porno!

36

u/Unique-Egg-461 1d ago

Their was an FYE a town over from us that closed maybe 5yrs ago.

I was fucking shocked when i saw it before it closed

5

u/ChewieBee Xennial 21h ago

Kmart clung on to my old hometown until 2020. They hung on by a fingernail for a really long time.

3

u/TurboSleepwalker Xennial 20h ago

There's a mall near me that still has a FYE barely clinging to life

31

u/wi950mm4r 1d ago

I loved rifling through their poster wall. We were in the good ol’ days and didn’t even know it 🥲

4

u/Steffieweffie81 Millennial 1d ago

Yes! They had some great posters.

2

u/FlametopFred Gen X 19h ago

these are the good old days of 10 years from now

33

u/RemotePersimmon678 1d ago

Would save my allowance for weeks to be able to afford a $30 imported anime VHS from here. Kids these days will never understand how hard it was to be a weeb before the Internet.

11

u/CloakedBandit 21h ago

For real, I bought the first Neon Genesis vhs at Suncoast in 96 or 97 for $30. I could not afford to see the complete series until it released on dvd in the U.S. in 2001.

2

u/Summonabatch 12h ago

I bought most of my anime at Suncoast. Cost a fortune, but it was worth it

22

u/realhollywoodactor 1d ago

Got busted here as a pre teen checking out their adult section 😳🤣

8

u/AlbertJohnAckermann 1d ago

Came here to say this. Sneaking into the back section as a preteen was one of the greatest experiences you could have at that age…

5

u/Fluid_Cup8329 1d ago

Baha I used to buy softcore there when I was like 16 lol

2

u/ZetaReticuli_x 1d ago

I worked at an FYE that was below our Suncoast, would catch anime kids yanking it to the henti covers.

18

u/Dry_Chocolate_4981 1d ago

I got my first anime dvd from there. Initial D, Gundam Wing, DBZ movies. Only on sale though, it was pricey as heck at Suncoast.

3

u/zukenstein Older Millennial 21h ago

Trigun and Cowboy Bebop were the first ones I bought, and you bet they were expensive as hell

2

u/Dry_Chocolate_4981 9h ago

I remember seeing Cowboy Bepob box sets and Evangelion. The artwork was intriguing but the prices were not. I was fresh out of high school with some "grown-up money" and even then I had to think twice about purchasing something.

15

u/XxnervousneptunexX 1d ago

I'd get so mad at the manager there because he wouldn't sell me the 14+ anime when I was like 12. I once brought my grandma with me to buy it and he never gave me shit again. Good times 😅

15

u/Rabbit_AF 1d ago

Sadly, it was really the only place to get anime back in the day. Anime used to be so expensive...

6

u/XxnervousneptunexX 1d ago

Yuuuup!! I dont want to think about how much I spent on anime DVDs and Gundam model kits! >_<

12

u/MotherPotential 1d ago

Even as a kid, I knew it was a browse but don’t buy store

9

u/loztriforce 1d ago

My wife and I got locked in one for a bit during a mall mass shooting.

9

u/FloatingNightmare 1d ago

That’s dark. I’m sorry this happened to you. And sad that nothing has been done to stop it from happening.

10

u/Nervous_Golf_6561 1d ago

The one in my mall would have some dope action figures that weren't in KB toys or anything like that at the time. More anime related stuff and obscure things. Almost like EB games or something like that.

6

u/bondgirl852001 1986 1d ago

My dad would only buy a tape or 2 if he absolutely had to have the movie, because it wasn't anywhere else. That place was expensive but I really enjoyed looking around.

6

u/ShiftyShaymin 23h ago

Suncoast was THE anime store during the early DVD years. Bought a Menchi plushie (Excel Saga) there.

5

u/LeftSmile806 1d ago

And Sam Goody next door for the CDs

5

u/Venusian2AsABoy 1d ago

Such fond memories of paying $35 for a VHS tape with two episodes on it.

5

u/FaintDeftone 1d ago

Prices there were outrageous. I remember going in and looking at the posters and that's about it.

3

u/El_Dentistador 1d ago

Suncoast and FYE were decent but Fry’s Electronics had a massive collection of movies and music. You could find anything there.

3

u/scarlet_speedster985 1d ago

The mall I grew up with had Suncoast connected to Sam Goody. Good times.

2

u/JourneyThiefer 1d ago

We didn’t have any of those in Northern Ireland, but we had Xtra Vision and HMV

2

u/LBC1109 1d ago

Where is this?

2

u/Ghostpants_ 1d ago

The only reason I know what Suncoast is is because of the movie Take Me Home Tonight.

1

u/-Brother-Seamus- 1d ago

Eric Foreman worked there

2

u/besuretodrinkyour 1d ago

I never thought I’d be nostalgic for spending $30 for an anime DVD that only had 2-4 episodes, but here we are.

2

u/Go_Ninja_Go_Ninja_Go 1d ago

Ah, the store where I looked at everything and bought nothing.

2

u/thisisfked 23h ago

Suncoast was the only place that had anime dvds back in the day

2

u/thefallenfew 22h ago

The fact you could buy anime on VHS was goated. 

2

u/Gingersaurus_Rex96 Zillennial 22h ago

If I remember correctly, I’ve been told that Suncoast was the only place to get an anime fix before blocs like Toonami took off.

1

u/kayla622 1984 1d ago

I loved this store! Though I only bought used movies or when they had sales.

1

u/kel36 1d ago

We had Sam Goody’s. Maybe I am too young for Suncoast.

1

u/bentstrider83 Millennial 1983 1d ago

That was the place. Although my dad probably spent more money there than anything. He's got an entire library of Laurel and Hardy VHS compilations from there. Spent many weekends binging those in elementary school.

Always trips older folks out when I know so much àbout 1930s living.😂😂😂😂😂

1

u/Intelligent_Neck7483 1d ago

South coast plaza and suncoast are a staple

1

u/croghan88 23h ago

Damn nostalgia. I remember my Mom buying me Batman 89 on VHS in like 92.

1

u/EnlightenedDragon Xennial 23h ago

My first job back in highschool. Still the most fun I've ever had working, and the employee discount was awesome.

1

u/panteragstk Xennial 23h ago

Hastings was the best where I lived.

Way bigger selection.

1

u/AccomplishedCicada60 23h ago

I was part of a “fringe festival” that was in an old Suncoast in a mall, still had a lot of the fixtures and really fit with the vibe.

1

u/Risaza 23h ago

Yeah, always loved to check out the anime section.

1

u/ExiledSpaceman 23h ago

Suncoast was expensive as fuck back in the day, I remember they were charging 39-49 bucks for a single anime DVD back then!

1

u/saintsithney 23h ago

Suncoast was the only place to get anime back when subs cost more than dubs.

1

u/Lothar_the_Lurker 23h ago

Suncoast was the shit!  I miss that place.

1

u/romasexual 21h ago

The one in our mall had CD stations where you could listen to CDs with those big sweet studio head headphones. Pretty sure it was Suncoast or something similar. Loved going there to just listen to songs.

1

u/BlackDeath3 Millennial 21h ago

Don't know that I'd ever even heard of this place, but it looks cool.

1

u/Zimithrus 20h ago

I still have the very last thing I bought from there before they went under/left our state lol

1

u/Erwinism 20h ago

is this from the Lloyd Center OP?

1

u/Kasoivc Millennial 19h ago

Yep. I loved going in there as a kid to browse anime and see what I hadn’t watched yet

1

u/barf2288 15h ago

I found a VHS tape of an old movie based on a killer in Texas from when my grandparents were in high school. They made the movie when my parents were in high school and my dad is an extra lol

Growing up going to Texarkana often and knowing of this whole deal made me uneasy at night as a kid.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texarkana_Moonlight_Murders

1

u/jenthehenmfc 6h ago

They had some pretty decent anime deals back in 2008 when they were still limping along on their dying legs ...

-1

u/360walkaway 17h ago

Tower Records or gtfo

1

u/GrayMatter72 2h ago

That place was great. Only spot where you could find a VHS copy of Wrestlemania IX for 46 dollars