I moved to where I now live in 09, and back then the shopping center where my local grocery store is had a Blockbuster (it has since become a dental office) and everytime I buy groceries I think about the good times I had at Blockbuster growing up. At least once a month we would order pizza and go to Blockbuster to rent some movies. I remember when that Blockbuster went out of business in 2010 and they had a huge going out of business sale with PS2 games as low as 3 dollars and I bought a ton of games that day (wish I had never given up my PS2). I also remember when I was little it seemed every store or gas station had a corner for video rental.
As a kid working at a video rental place always seemed like such a cool job and as a teen, I was busy with sports and when I did work it was at restaurants or temp agencies. I'm curious if anyone had ever worked there or any other video rental?
Also, you think that model could ever work again with some being more interested in physical media? I could possibly see a rental place but they would have to have some other stuff, but I do know some VHS collectors so you could make it work.
I think for most people into retro media (who aren't just in it to make a buck), emulating the experience is probably enough. For games that could be using an emulator on modern hardware, and for movies or TV that could be just watching old media. Going further you might use visual filters, or maybe actual hardware (with or without mods) in combination with something like a flash cart or ODE.
Physical media itself is arguably the least important part of that equation, and those who do care about it are in it to collect, not to rent.