Inside an Abandoned Video Store: Eau Claire, Michigan

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

In the town of Eau Claire in Berrien County, there once was a little video shop.

Opening during the 1980s, it flourished and served the people of Eau Claire well – with video tapes, DVDs, games, and refreshments.

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Approximately twenty years later, that was enough. Like many video rental shops after 2000, it closed, thanx to things like downloads, youtube, Netflix, and other ways to watch a movie without having to get your lazy butt off the couch to go rent a few.

After it shut, there were seemingly plans to turn the building into a community church but that idea never came to fruition. It sat empty for ten years until another local church took it over. Would they plan to use it for services?

They had hopes that the city would be able to raise funds to help revamp the video shop into something else, but raising the funds turned out to be a more difficult task than imagined.

So, at the cost of the church, the former video rental shop was destroyed.
Demolished.
Dismantled.

The empty lot sits smack in the middle of downtown. Luckily, before the place was leveled, our buddies at Ruin Road were able to get in and get some shots of the inside. Surprisingly, there seems to have been living quarters attached to the shop, with bedrooms, kitchen.....the whole gamut. Or maybe it was a daycare center?

Even though the shop has now been destroyed, my warning at the beginning of this article is still necessary.

The gallery below has images inside the shop for you to look over...