MUSKEGON, Mich. — A growing demand for physical media has helped launch and maintain a nostalgia-filled shop in Muskegon for nearly five years now.
Spin City/Static Tape is situated within a fairly large space inside the Lakes Mall.
With plenty of room for their collection to grow— you can find DVDs, Blu-rays, Laser Discs, video games of all sorts, and their main attraction: VHS tapes.
DVD and Blu-ray sales have continued to slow over the past five years, but that doesn't mean people aren't clamoring for physical media.
The most popular genre at Spin City/Static Tape is horror, by far.
“Especially back then, there was a lot of push back on that type of stuff... Friday the 13th, Evil Dead," owner Harrison Lange told FOX 17 on Wednesday. “Some of them were hard to find even then, or didn't get big productions then.”
Those are the VHS tapes most sought after these days.
“Most are less than a dollar, but then there's... the sleazy, cheesy stuff. That's kind of the stuff that has the collectability."
There are the typical tape racks you would expect to find at a Blockbuster or Family Video in the late 90s, and then a selection of rare and collectible tapes in a display case near the register.
It's not just horror movies though— you will find an incredibly large range of content. There are kids movies, current special releases, and a selection of used movies for sale on the low.
Folks can bring in their own VHS collections to sell at the shop. Several people showed up with their collections overflowing in cardboard boxes as FOX 17 was at the shop Wednesday morning.
Lange has traveled all over the Midwest to scope out and purchase collections languishing in basements and garages.
In the near future, he is hoping to host some film screenings and VHS tape swaps in and around the shop.
You can follow along with Spin City/Static Tape at their Facebook page HERE.
