Muncie Video Rental Store
Muncie Video was opened on W Jackson St. in 1981, the second video store in city, by Tim Wilkinson. The store sold RCA products and equipment, as well as blank tapes, and rented out movies, as well as offering a loyalty club. In 1983, they began offering a loss prevention service, in which they’d film a video inventory of all your items, that could be provided to insurance in the case of damage.
Muncie Video moved to Tillotson in 1986, due to lease issues at Meadows Shopping Center and outgrowing that location. The store faced some trouble, along with other video stores in Muncie, for selling “obscene” videos, despite the fact that the law they were violating did not determine what materials were “obscene” until a jury weighed in, per state statute. This made it very difficult for video owners to follow the law.
They started an outlet on McGalliard in 1989, at site of a former Mr. Video, and purchased their stock of videos. Owner Tim Wilkinson frequently participated in charity, like donating proceeds of rented nature videos to Action for Animals and accepted videotape donations which were sent to troops of Operation Desert Shield.
The McGalliard store closed in 1991, and they sold off all their stock from that location. The Tillotson location was sold to new owners after Wilkinson faced health issues. The new owners removed all adult videos, which the Muncie Christian Center purchased for $700 and burned in barrels in 1995.
The last mention of Muncie Video in the newspaper was in early 1998, a closure which was likely impacted by a Hollywood Video store opening about a block away just a year earlier. Low Bob’s opened on the site about a month after Muncie Video closed. The original W Jackson St. location is now a spine and pain center, and the Tillotson location was torn down when CVS pharmacy relocated around 2010.
