Best video store
Let it be known, before we get into the best real-life places to rent your flicks in Boston, that many readers in fact chose Netflix as their favorite place to get movies. And there is something exceptionally seductive about being able to choose from 25,000 movies without having to take off your slippers, but then there's that whole planning-ahead thing, because you have to wait a day or two for the Netflix DVDs to arrive in the mail. For those who don't mind browsing in real time, here are our readers' picks.

Hollywood Express, a repeat winner in our readers' poll, prides itself on its selection of foreign, cult, classic, independent, and just-plain-hard-to-find-elsewhere films. A membership to this independently owned video store gives you access to a library of more than 100,000 films, and special deals - such as two-for-one Tuesdays and a free second rental when you show a Brattle Theatre ticket stub - make Hollywood Express the movie buff's rental house of choice. Plus, you can return at any of the four locations, picking up a flick in Davis and dropping it off in Central. See what Blockbuster has to say about that.

Mike's Movies, in the South End and Beacon Hill, is another video store that stocks its shelves with fare that would have mainstream rental places turning up their corporate, too-easily-offended noses. Mike's is perhaps best known for its selection of camp, gay/lesbian, and adult films, though its inventory is comprehensive. On Fridays and Saturdays you can have yourself a mini film festival, renting five movies for $10, and Tuesdays through Thursdays, you can rent one X-rated film and get another one free. Mike's is a first-timer on our readers' poll, and we can see why people are turning to it as a place to find what they seek.

Hollywood Express, 1740 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 497-2001, 765 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 864-8400, 238 Elm Street, Somerville, (617) 625-4900, 14 McGrath Highway, Somerville, (617) 628-6000; Mike's Movies, 630 Tremont Street, Boston, (617) 266-9222, 250 Cambridge Street, Boston, (617) 742-7771.