Movie Town, Fort Smith's last video rental store, to close after 38 years in business

DVDs still line the many shelves of the store. But they are not for rent anymore.

Movie Town Owner Bill O’Mahony is selling the last of his movies. The store will close Aug. 31. Movie Town is the last movie-rental store in the River Valley.

O'Mahony has seen kids grow up and bring their own children to the store. The store opened in 1984.

“You know when you’re in business for that long you see different generations," O'Mahony said.

Dawn Block has been coming to the store for about a year. She said she loves getting to interact with the employees.

"It's really sad," Block said. "The people here are awesome."

Amy Smith is one of six employees who will have to find new jobs once the store closes. She has worked at the store for 12 years.

Smith also said it is the people she will miss the most.

“They come in and they’re either your favorite or you’re their favorite," Smith said about her regulars.

Smith does not yet have any plans for what she will do for work after Movie Town closes.

At the peak of the movie-rental business, O'Mahony had seven stores. His brother Dan O'Mahony also owned six stores. He closed his last location in 2020, right before the pandemic set in.

Dan O'Mahony said that the prevalence of streaming movies during the pandemic is what killed the movie-rental business.

“A lot of people are sad," Dan Mahony said. "But what are you going to do?"

Dan O'Mahony remembers the days when people would wait in lines just to rent their movies. Those days are long past.

Block and her children loved coming to the store, she said. For them, it was like an event.

“It’s sad that times have to change like that," Block said.

She said she wishes that there was a way to move on without leaving Movie Town behind.

Block said she would like to “keep a gem even though we move forward."

In a way though, the store will live on at Brick City, where O'Mahony has paid for a booth to sell action figures that are now available at Movie Town.

Movie Town outlasted even corporate giants like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. O'Mahony said he loved his time having a business in Fort Smith.

“It’s like losing a family member," Mahony said. "It’s not an easy thing to do."

Alex Gladden is a University of Arkansas graduate. She previously reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Jonesboro Sun before joining the Times Record. She can be contacted at agladden@swtimes.com.  

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Movie Town, Fort Smith's last video rental store, to close