There is So Much Nostalgia in this Small Michigan Beach Town Video Rental and Arcade

When people think of Michigan's lakeside towns and beach resorts it is almost always a location along the Lake Michigan shore on the west side. Think Grand Haven, Holland or New Buffalo.

But what about the quieter 'Sunrise Side' of the state along Lake Huron and in the Thumb? There you'll find Harbor Beach and a building that one housed a beloved arcade and video rental.

For someone growing up in the 80s or 90s, you'd be hard pressed to think of someplace in your small town as magical as an arcade and video rental under one roof, but that's what Harbor Beach had with the Video Dock.

The building was torn down in 2019. Even years after it closed but before demolition, the storefront was still is adorned with the name Video Dock. It's along State Street (M-142) at 2nd street just three blocks from Lake Huron.

A memory of the Video Dock was shared recently to the Michigan subreddit on Reddit. More of a hazy childhood memory relating to if there really was an arcade as part of a video store.

Of course given the power of the Internet, someone who worked at the Video Dock provided the answer

I worked there in the early nineties. The arcade was real, but was closed by the time I started. There were games back there for a time....

The building was a hardware store before it was the Video Dock. When it opened they had an arcade in the loading bay. It was called Harry’s and there was a way to enter through a door in back.

What a great small town establishment this was: video rentals and arcade together. Add a pizza parlor and some may never leave - expect to go home and watch the VHS movies they rented.

Today years after demolition, if you search Video Dock in Harbor Beach, a top search result is an examination of the property buy the Environmental Protection Agency which gives a nice history of the businesses on the plot of land, but also details lead and PFAS contamination.