I still remember my first movie rental experience. I don’t remember the exact movie, but I can distinctly recall the rush I got when I walked through the “in” door of the local Blockbuster.

The ability to order or download movies has taken away the ritualistic inconvenience most of us grew up enjoying. I decided to get back to my cinematic-borrowing roots, and check out what Athens had to offer in the way of movie rentals.

Walking into Vision Video (749 W. Broad St.) is like walking into the basement of a slacker friend who loves and hoards movies. All the film covers are endearingly faded, and the store plays music – not commercials.

The selection is not huge, but the rows are all meticulously organized and overflowing with quality. While browsing, I saw a couch that looked like it was from “That ’70s Show” and next to it was a big blue Rubbermaid container that was being used as a return box.

Nothing seems outdated, and there are no gold frames with blinking light bulbs that burn suggestions of new releases into your retinas. Vision Video has tapped into the vein of the movie fan underground, and getting a fix of five movies for $5 is a pretty good way to sustain a habit.

Video Warehouse (1550 Lexington Rd) is the rental establishment equivalent of McDonalds. Both chains share the same color scheme and the movies, like hamburgers, are both cheap and cheesy. All the shelf space is reserved for new releases and National Lampoon movies – not the good kind.

If while you’re browsing you get a sudden urge to get a tan, Video Warehouse has you covered. They sell bronzing creams and have tanning facilities in the back.

While perusing the steel grate shelves, I came across some wonderful titles I’ve never heard of such as “Snakes on a Train,” “Beach Bum Fights 2″ and “Bare Knuckle Beatdown.”

If Bilbo Baggins had given up on the whole ring thing and opened a movie rental store it would be almost exactly like Quality Video (673 North Milledge Ave.).

Almost all the movies inside are video cassettes, which is more charming than functional.

Quality Video also offers a variety of Indian spices and foods. If one can’t find a movie or something to eat, they are more than happy to order it. Quality Video may not sell popcorn, but it does sell coconut milk.

My last stop was Video Link, off exit 6 from the 10 loop on 2026 S. Milledge Ave. After a couple of bad experiences, my expectations weren’t very high. It smelled more like an Ace Hardware than a movie rental place, but I pressed on.

On the ground and leaning against the wall were about 30 different television box sets. The box sets can be rented for five days for only five dollars. Surprisingly, this is the only store I found that had this policy. The logic behind renting the full set ensures that the renter always has the full season, instead of renting one disc.

The movies are organized into unique but specific genres that force customers to kind of dig around until they either find what they’re looking for or they discover something else. For example, I found a section labeled “Drugs & Drunkards” which proved to be rich with insanely entertaining movies.

-Nash Licona is a stringer for The Red & Black.