CRIEFF — Reel Time Video, believed to be the last surviving video rental shop in Scotland, has died suddenly at the age of 39, days after learning that streaming services had existed for nearly two decades.

"Nobody told us," said owner-manager Alan McKinnon, 67, surrounded by 4,000 VHS tapes. "A young lad came in last Tuesday asking if we had 'anything that wasn't on Netflix'. I said, 'What's Netflix?' He showed me on his phone. I had to sit down. I've been sitting down ever since."

The shop was a Crieff institution for decades. It survived the arrival of DVD, which it ignored; the arrival of Blu-ray, which it also ignored; and the closure of every other video shop in the country, which it described as "a bit of luck, frankly."

Regulars remember its unique atmosphere: the smell of carpet and microwave popcorn, the beaded curtain to the "Adults Only" section, which actually contained mainly Clint Eastwood westerns, and the late fees, which were brutal and legendary.

"I returned a copy of Mrs Doubtfire three days late in 1996," said Comrie man Neil Buchanan, 52. "They're still sending me letters. I owe £4,212. I'm not paying it. It's a matter of principle now."

In its final years, Reel Time attracted an unusual clientele of hipsters, nostalgia tourists and one man from Muthill who insisted on renting Titanic every single weekend since 1998 "in case it ends differently".

The shop is survived by a vape shop, a dog grooming parlour, a Greggs and a large, empty Clydesdale Bank. It was predeceased by its sister shop, Video Magic of Comrie, which closed in 2004 after a failed experiment with Laserdisc.

A memorial screening of Ghostbusters will be held in the shop on Friday. Mourners are reminded to be kind and rewind.