(Photo by Stina Sieg - KJZZ)

Superstar Video was one of last video rental spots in Phoenix - and the only one I've found.

Phoenix lost one of its last remaining video rental stores this month. But not to the economy. Superstar Video was still doing well – until a fire consumed the building and the store’s 20,000 DVDs.

It was an abrupt end for a shop that had endured for decades, even as video chains and mom-and-pop places alike had gone out of business. I was a Superstar fan, and decided to explore what it meant to others in the community.

As I stood outside Superstar Video, or what’s left of it at Seventh Avenue and Osborn Road, it was impossible not to feel a tug of sadness. The roof is collapsed, the building is blackened, and it’s all blocked off by a chain-link fence.

Amid the rubble, manager Jacob Maertz saw an undamaged fire extinguisher, a few racks of DVDS still standing, “and lots of my life, wasted and burned,” he said, with a laugh.

Maertz had been here eight years. The store had been here more than 25, and was still finding new customers.

“I mean, at least once a day, I would have someone come in, like, ‘There’s still a video store. I’m so excited to find you!’” he said.

Nostalgia may have been part of it, but Maertz said some of his customers didn’t have the money or hardware to stream movies online. Others wanted titles they couldn’t find anywhere else.

So, was there a typical Superstar devotee?

“A typical?” he asked, laughing again. “No, no. There was a wide variety.”

From fast food workers to doctors, after a shift at a nearby hospital - to me. I dearly needed to see “When Harry Met Sally” after a breakup, and I had nowhere else to rent all those HBO shows I’d missed. When I heard Superstar had gone up in smoke, my heart sank. And not just for my sake.

Local storyteller Rachel Egboro remembered the moment she first saw Superstar’s burned-out shell.

“And all I could say was, ‘No!’” she said.

It had been her spot to rent indie movies since she moved nearby a few years ago.

“And I saw all sorts of people there, and it was just very much a local, neighborhood feel,” Egboro said. “And it was just beautiful that it stuck around beyond Blockbuster.”

That behemoth closed across the nation in 2013, and it’s not a coincidence that Superstar’s business picked up dramatically right after. And besides, Superstar had something chains like Blockbuster almost never did: an adult section.

Local filmmaker Nathan Blackwell remembers first becoming aware of it as a kid.

“What is back there? It’s so mysterious,” he said, looking back. “No, I can’t go back there. I’m afraid!”

But it’s all the other sections that made an impact on Blackwell. He said he’d been coming to Superstar since it had a “dwindling” Betamax selection.

“There’s a unique experience of going to a video store, and just walking down the aisles and seeing all the artwork and asking for recommendations,” he said, “and getting lost and not knowing what to rent.”

It’s also a way to connect with people, Blackwell said, the kind of thing you can’t get from web-based options like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

“Now, when we just go online, it’s just such a removed electronic experience,” he said. “It’s, you know, the difference between going to a movie theater, in some ways, and just watching it at home.”

Another difference? The friendships Blackwell made at Superstar. The store even carried copies of his web series, “Voyage Trekkers.” Still, Blackwell always knew that to love Superstar was to love something that could die someday.

“Video stores are disappearing,” he said, “but for it to be taken away like this, it was just shocking.”  

Superstar’s owners have started a fund to rebuild, but no plans are in the works yet. For now, fans like Blackwell and Egboro and I can still get our video store fix — if we drive to Superstar’s sister location in Glendale.

To read more about Superstar, visit its GoFundMe account.