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I have trudged there through the crackling frozen snow, blind with fever from the flu. Or inhaled the scent of a spring evening while walking there, as I contemplated a love story well-told. I have searched there for answers to the human condition, sometimes finding them.
I spent hours scanning titles there, hoping to combat boredom, depression, and loneliness. I looked for romantic comedies to throw off the blues. Or epic tearjerkers to help me cry.
Living in my neighborhood off and on for twenty years, I bought myself a condo here sixteen years ago, mostly to become part of the vibrant neighborhood with locally owned businesses and a diverse clientele. I like dropping by the used bookstore or the funky Russian pharmacy on a summer day to talk to the proprietors and ask how things are going. The local video store has been a lively part of the neighborhood since 1983. It stocked all the new films, but had an extensive classics, foreign, and “arty” collection that suited the neighborhood and its patrons. I watched it change through the years from VHS and rentable video players to DVD and Blueray.
Les, the owner of the video store, knew me by name, and offered me small kindnesses when I visited. He ordered the long forgotten film Oscar and Lucinda on DVD, just because I asked. Les was always available to offer recommendations when I had already seen all his recent acquisitions. His staff of young people was quirky, but knowledgeable about the stock. You could describe a plot and they could take you right to the movie. Often trailing a bulldog, a kid, or a half-eaten sandwich on the way.
Les tried his best to keep up with the times, offering longer viewing periods for rentals, coupons, and special sales. In the last year, he tried on-line coupons and e-mailed announcements. But eventually, Netflix killed his video store. Tomorrow is Les’ last day in business.
I am so sad to lose this friend, a go-to pal in the neighborhood. I am so sad to see the loss of a local business, a place where the staff knew my name, could recommend titles suited to my likes, and had an encyclopedic knowledge of their stock. I am so angry that other video stores in my area don’t have such an eclectic inventory or knowledgeable staff.
In the past months, I’ve been buying a lot of DVDs from Les, bolstering my library against the oncoming drought, hoping to make a small dent in his inventory sale. Yesterday he gave me one of my purchases for free. Just because.
Les is like that. Goodbye my friend.
text copyright voicegal 2009
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Comments
R
I worked for Video Chest in Portland Oregon four very formitive years of my life. We knew everyone in the neighborhood. When one customer was too sick to return his video and another regular was desperately wanting to see it, one of the boys would jump on his bike to retrieve it.
As a young person with a limit of two free movies a night I sure saw a lot of things that in this instant gratification world, I don't know young people would sit through. I watched Pedro Almodovar and Vim Wenders films concentrating my 16 year old brain on them because I figured that if they made it to the video store they must be important enough to watch. Today a kid has no reason to concentrate or figure out the deeper meaning of Das Boat.
I worked for another company Rentrak Corporation in Portland Oregon and spent many hours talking to video store owners. I had the job of selling more copies of movies to stores of the big giant new releases, yet often got into great discussions about great films. They were such interesting well meaning people competing against technology from the start. Many of these stores had several side lines including tanning, VCR repair, and sportscards. I am happy that the big stores like Hollywood and Blockbuster are closing their doors now too instead of eating away all of the Mom and Pop stores first.
My very large mega-metropolis town of Las Vegas has not one place I can take my children and roam the aisles looking for a gem to watch in the evening. A way of life, lost forever.
Love Almodovar and Wenders. Though I doubt I would have been able to watch them at 16! Thanks for reading and commenting.
brave new (digital) world.
But I love Netflix.
Two small Video stores and two Blockbusters have closed in my area in the last three years - there is one remaining.
But I love Netflix.
May I offer my expertise to you if you are looking for movies on Netflix? Give me a chance. Quiz me - whatever. Let me know your tastes. I am good at this. I have over 3,000 DVDs in my personal collection. I can make suggestions.
But there's nothing i can do for Les - sorry.
Following that Newspapers and Magazines will go down. I will tell what I do fervently hope goes bankrupt: ALL OF THE COMPANIES THAT MAKE VIDEO GAMES!!!!!
They are the most Amoral/immoral toys filled with things little kids should never have to see, unbelievably callous, merciless, vicious and irredeemably, violent characters, situations and events.
I think humankind is about to make a sharp move down the evolutionary ladder, lead by idiotic parents whose jobs (for those who still have them) homes, material holdings and sexual presence is far more important to them than the moral intellectual health of their rather lightly regarded offspring.
Very fine article, Rated!
violence
yeah, Michael, it's progress and all... but my life will be poorer without it.
ASKaPUNK, I can keep keeping up. But the human element is rapidly decreasing. And where will we all be then?
Kathy, I keep hoping there will be a resurgence in the need for human contact. God save us if there isn't.
Duane, I will be PMing you in the future for your help. Thanks for offering. Human interaction is good.
Professor, as a single person, I work hard to not isolate myself. I am so afraid that whatever I do, our culture is rife with the need for isolation. Video games are just one symptom. Do kids still play with one another anymore?
I am sad.
good luck, professor.
Kisses and happy new year,
Marcela
But I've been reading in the year-end summaries all the things that have bitten the dust (or are about to) this past decade (cassettes, fax machines, VCRs etc.) and it sure looks like DVD stores will be next.
I wonder if there will be enough cliental to support the human, well-versed employees we can now access. Maybe in the big cities. I hope they don't die out before I do.
Abrawang, I don't know what will happen in the future. I just hope we can keep connecting on a human level.
I pay $8.99 a month for one DVD at a time from Netflix and can watch literally thousands of movies on the computer in addition. I watch one almost every night. The one's offered on the computer are usually never blockbusters, except the older ones, but they have an excellent selection of lesser known but not lesser quality films.
I know that large chain stores and internet shopping take away the viability of business in this small village. We now have one Wal-Mart within 15 miles and another within 17 miles. Both with groceries so we are now down to one medium sized, higher priced grocery store. The story is the same all over America.
I think the next big business demographic to be hit will be a lot of the larger stores in the malls that try to compete with internet sales, even of big ticket items. Ironically, I grew up at a time when catalog sales, Sears and Montgomery Ward primarily, drove local stores out of business and we would wait for the mail to come to deliver our orders, or trucks to bring in the big ticket items. Internet sales are our new catalog sales. Same idea, different system.
So, as much as it hurts urban neighborhoods the changes can improve what is available to us folk in the sticks.
Excellent post, VG. Sorry for your loss, inevitable as it was.
Monte
daughter, your summation is very cogent. And I HATE that there is a netflix ad on this blog!