In 1977, the first compact yet still semi-affordable video home system, or VHS, became available to the general American public. Vast improvements in technology allowed people to use a video cassette recorder, or VCR, to record live TV to watch on their own time or purchase pre-recorded content such as feature films that people could watch in their own homes. To capitalize on the national trend, entrepreneur Howard Hughes of Moscow opened Howard Hughes Appliance, TV, and Video Store in 1978. He quickly learned in order to sell VCRs, the store needed to also stock pre-recorded VHS tapes to demonstrate how to use the machines. Once people bought the machines, Hughes then offered up the tapes for people to rent.

Hughes sold the business in 1996 to Don Frei and Kevin Peterson, who kept the rental aspect of Howard Hughes Appliances as it remained a lucrative part of the business and beloved store in town. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Howard Hughes Video partnered with the Associated Students of the University of Idaho (ASUI) to sponsor the low-cost movies played in the Borah Theatre on the U of I campus offered for the entertainment of students. Rental discount ads and articles about what movies the store offered frequently turned up in the Argonaut student newspaper.

When the new owners relocated the appliance store to a larger space in 2000, the video rental portion stayed at the current location on Washington Street downtown Moscow but kept the same name. Frei and Peterson eventually sold Howard Hughes Video to four Moscow residents and business owners in 2007, Gary Myers, Kelly Moore, Pat Engle and Deb Reynolds. They incorporated their business as Main Street Video, Inc, but also kept the business name as Howard Hughes Video. Shortly after purchasing the video store, they moved it to 520 S. Main Street, where it remained until its closure in 2020.

Facing economic troubles in 2015, the owners of Howard Hughes Video wanted to sell the business. In order to save the business, a group of Moscow residents came together to find a way to save the video rental store from closing. They ultimately decided to buy the store and turn it into a cooperative business, creating the Main Street Video Cooperative. Organized as a nonprofit, the Main Street Video Co-op operated with a Board of Directors and all customers had the opportunity to become members or “owners” for a fee of $200. Ownership was not compulsory to rent movies but did come with perks and other discounts, and fees and any donations collected helped the Co-op pay for the purchase of the business from the current owners. The Main Street Video Co-op officially took charge of the store on January 1st, 2018.

The economic hardships created by the COVID-19 pandemic did not spare the video rental store, and the Main Street Video Co-op made the difficult decision to close permanently in March of 2020. The dream of maintaining a diverse collection of films continued, however, and the entire film library was transferred to the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center, a historic theatre and community performing art venue located next door to the Co-op. The Kenworthy cherished the value of the collection and so planned to reach out to donate parts to other local non-profits and libraries that could benefit from the collection. To recoup costs however, the Kenworthy ultimately sold to the public a large portion of the collection, then donated the rest to the University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives.