The Best Places to Buy and Collect VHS Tapes

If you’re trying to build a tape collection and don’t want to sink hundreds of dollars on eBay, the trick is mostly: go in person and don’t be a snob about what you find. Some of the best stuff is whatever a stranger is trying to get out of their garage. Here’s where I keep going back.

1. Craigslist or Facebook

Sounds dumb, works great. Search “VHS” in your local Craigslist and you’ll find people unloading entire boxes — usually $20 for the whole lot, often free if you show up the same day they posted. Same idea works on Facebook Marketplace, Nextdoor, and OfferUp. Local, fast, and the price is “drive over and grab them.”

Two things worth doing first:

• Message before you drive. Confirm the lot is real, get the address, send a “what’s good, see you in 30.” This filters out the obvious weirdos and confirms the tapes haven’t already gone to someone else.
• Don’t rush or ghost them after. The VHS community on these apps is largely a bunch of people who are stoked someone wants their old tapes. You’ll meet some genuinely delightful humans this way — folks with stories about why they recorded the things they did, who their grandkids are, what their dad used to watch. A 10-minute conversation on someone’s porch over a free box of tapes is the actual thing.

2. Bessemer Book and Resale — Llano, TX

A small downtown Llano shop packed with used books, but also: VHS, DVDs, comics, magazines, sports cards, and the occasional Beanie Baby that’s somehow still in the original tag protector. The owners are nice, the tape selection rotates, and the prices are friend-of-the-family low. Drive out, eat at a taco truck on the way, do the whole thing.

While you’re on Bessemer, two doors down is Brett’s Biltong — South African air-dried beef, jerky’s smarter cousin, completely worth the walk. And then for actual lunch: hit the Corner Stop for a burger or a hot dog. Yes, the gas station. I know how that sounds — I took my parents there and it has become the thing they ask about whenever Llano comes up. Go.

Bonus: Records and Things Strange (RATS)

Right around the corner from Bessemer is RATS — yes, it’s an acronym, “Records and Things Strange.” Same family of shops as far as we can tell (we’re guessing father-son team but haven’t confirmed). RATS leans more vinyl + cassette + oddities, but they have tapes too and the strange part of the name is doing real work. Plan to spend an hour digging here even if you only meant to drop in for a minute. Both shops together make a worthwhile half-day trip from Austin.

3. Video Station Superstore — Taylor, TX

This is an actual, functioning video rental store. In 2026. Wall-to-wall VHS and DVD, the smell of old plastic cases, the kind of organized-chaos shelf system you forgot was a thing. They sell tapes too, not just rent them. Open late on Fridays. If you’ve never walked into a real video store as an adult, the dopamine hit is hard to describe — go. Go.

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That’s the starter list. Three IRL spots and one online tactic. Hit any of these and you’ll have more tapes than you know what to do with by the end of the month — at which point we’d love it if you recorded some of them and put them online before they degrade further.