(no subject)
I learned via a Facebook friend today that the best independent video store in Arcata (our wee college town) is shutting its doors for good. This was a huge bummer for me and Alicia. Her apartment used to be literally 50 feet from Video Experience and we'd go all the time. It was the ideal video store - independently owned, staffed by a cadre of film buffs who knew their shit when it came to film and always had the best selection of cool movies. They would curate it like a fine art collection - there'd be separate designated sections for specific directors (Lynch, Kurosawa, Coppola, etc but also more indie ones like Jarmusch, Soderbergh, and so on). They'd also have a staff favorites section and you'd start to identify with a certain staff member who always picked the movies most in line with your own tastes. This was exactly the kind of place the next Tarantino was going to come out of - in fact I think most of the staff there had been film students at HSU at some point or were working on some indie movie out of their garages and dreams..
They had a great deal where you could get 5 movies for 5 days for 5 bucks, 7 movies for 7 days, and so on. We'd go over and pick up a stack of VHS tapes (and then DVDs later on as those became popular), go over to Vons and get a frozen pizza or Rice a Roni and we'd snuggle in and have movie bliss. Then came along Netflix and we joined that instead, thinking we'd save money and also not have to worry about late fees, etc. I think a lot of people joining Netflix may be what killed the store. Hard to compete these days. If even Blockbuster is having trouble against Netflix, what chance does the little guy have?
We'll all miss you, VX..
They had a great deal where you could get 5 movies for 5 days for 5 bucks, 7 movies for 7 days, and so on. We'd go over and pick up a stack of VHS tapes (and then DVDs later on as those became popular), go over to Vons and get a frozen pizza or Rice a Roni and we'd snuggle in and have movie bliss. Then came along Netflix and we joined that instead, thinking we'd save money and also not have to worry about late fees, etc. I think a lot of people joining Netflix may be what killed the store. Hard to compete these days. If even Blockbuster is having trouble against Netflix, what chance does the little guy have?
We'll all miss you, VX..