Death of Movie Palace
A heartbreaking N.Y. Times story by Alex Mindlin about the closing of Movie Palace, a locally-owned Upper West Side Manhattan video store (105th and Broadway) that's been run in a very neighborhood-friendly way by the same impassioned semi-ecentric, Gary Dennis, since 1984. The building has been sold and the new money-grubbing owner, a guy named Ralph Braha, more than doubled Dennis' rent. And we all know the name of that tune.
"Like the movie theaters that preceded them, video stores are fast becoming relics, and their signs may soon join those unlighted movie marquees (with a vestigial letter or two) that dot various neighborhoods and remind passers-by of what once was," Mindlin writes.
"But the decline of the video store is more than a story of small merchants undone by technological change. Like movie theaters, and unlike delis or drugstores, video shops in a city as film-saturated and film-savvy as New York emerged as centers of neighborhood life. Their selections mirror the people they serve, and their proprietors, like Mr. Dennis, can be beloved figures with a deep knowledge not only of local inhabitants' film tastes, but also of other aspects of their lives.
"Salvatore Ierardo, the liquidation director for Video One Liquidators, a Florida company that sells off video stores' inventories on site, sees the deaths of these shops firsthand. The stores are like "the guy that used to deliver ice," he said, adding, "He worked hard and everything, but the refrigerator was working while he was sleeping."
"Compared with some other video stores, Movie Place has not fared badly. For years, it resisted the forces that have been sweeping away many of the city's other mom-and-pop video shops. Nationally, the number of privately owned video rental shops, as opposed to huge chains, fell to roughly 13,000 in 2005 from about 22,000 in 1996, according to Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, which tracks the entertainment industry."
In short, almost half of the individually-owned video stores have gone bust in the last 10 years. The killers are the big video-store chains, Netflix, video-on-demand. Bit by bit, lease by lease, the neighborly human element in the DVD-renting experience is being squeezed and starved.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 19, 2006 at 6:34 AM
comment #1
D.Z.
says ...
Yeah, I noticed at least one store owned by a Russian family in WeHo which was around for almost 20 years that is now for lease. I actually stopped patronizing them long before NetFlix, but they were a fixture in the community, and it suddenly feels empty without them. Plus at least one 20/20 Video around here's going to suffer the same fate soon. The problem is these places didn't really try to stay competitive, by offering deals which could keep people from instantly swaying to NetFlix. And theater chains don't want to compete either, even though they already are but they don't realize it yet. It's just ironic that competition is also what destroyed Blockbuster.
Posted by D.Z.
at November 19, 2006 7:41 AM
comment #2
Chris D.
says ...
Beg to differ. For 19 years I have been a loyal customer at Movie Place where the policy has always been two movies for two days - $3 (now $4) - free delivery and pickup. In addition, employees was known to throw in an eclectic freebie, maybe a Hong Kong crime import, if they thought you had the taste for it. If a business with that deep an inventory and that friendly a policy cannot stay open, we're all in trouble.
Posted by Chris D.
at November 19, 2006 8:00 AM
comment #3
romeoisbleeding
says ...
We are all in trouble. I read this story with a great deal of compassion. In a few weeks the independent book store that I have worked at forever will close thanks to overwhelming competiton from the big chains and amazon. Ever since the paper put it on the front page that we are closing it has been like one very sad drawn out wake. People are coming in crying and heartbroken saying how can we do this. I have run out of things to say to them. Long time faithful customers come in and we just look at each other and sigh. It is such a tired cliche but the world is changing and the days of any kind of small indy businesses are numbered. It is a shame. I feel lucky to at least have been able to grow up during a time when you could go to video stores like the article talks about and bookstores like I work in. But soon we will be all gone. It is heartbreaking and such a loss. What can you say....change is not always good. But you can't stop it either I guess.
Posted by romeoisbleeding
at November 19, 2006 8:52 AM
comment #4
Ju-osh
says ...
14 years ago, when Blockbuster first invaded my town, all it took for folks to abandon the indie video stores was the hollow promise of a bigger store with brighter lights -- that, and 'everyone else was going there'. Now that Netflix is the current trend in movie rentals, Blockbuster is suffering. But what'll become of Netflix when a new fad sweeps the nation? Those little red envelopes will surely go the same way as the blue and yellow plastic cases. Unfortunately, each new rental sensation that comes along seems more and more aimed at corporate funding/ownership and less and less geared towards smaller operations staffed by knowledgable and impassioned employees.
Posted by Ju-osh
at November 19, 2006 9:04 AM
comment #5
Devin Faraci
says ...
The Movie Palace story sounds more like it's about real estate than the changing fortunes of indie video stores.
Posted by Devin Faraci
at November 19, 2006 12:20 PM
comment #6
James
says ...
This is sad to hear.
I lived at 108th and B'way up until a few years ago and I made nearly daily use of the Movie Palace. It's an amazing place. Incredibly knowledgable and friendly service. And get this: no computers. Everything's kept track of on cards.
A year or so after moving away from NYC, my wife and I recognized a guy in the Houston airport while we were waiting for our connecting flight. For a few minutes, we couldn't place his face. Then we realized: he was one of the guys at the Movie Palace. We ended up approaching him and chatting our layover away.
That kind of full-on connected feeling in American community life is dying.
Posted by James
at November 19, 2006 2:57 PM
comment #7
erniesouchak
says ...
Actually, when I lived in Manhattan, I encountered this kind of friendly neighborhood vibe at my local deli and drugstore, too. This is not unique to video stores. Every New Yorker has a handful of local places where he/she feels at home. The homogenization of the city has spread from the insidious Disney Times Square into all areas, and rich Eurotrash are the only young people who can afford to move there. The kind of businesses that cater to them are bound to folllow.
Posted by erniesouchak
at November 19, 2006 5:26 PM
comment #8
fnt
says ...
Eventually, all media (songs, films, etc.)will be bought online, through the TV, and that will be that.
You could have predicted it ten, fifteen years ago. It's sad, but that's what consumers want -- fast and easy.
Posted by fnt
at November 19, 2006 5:58 PM
comment #9
jc
says ...
My roommate and I lived outside of the delivery zone and would walk 20 blocks -- a mile -- each way past a dozen other video stores to browse at the Movie Place. They had a guy there who would answer the phone in the "Moviefone" voice: "Hello, and welcome to Movie Place!" and I was sure that they were the basis for a Seinfeld episode with that trope.
R.I.P.
Posted by jc
at November 19, 2006 6:13 PM
comment #10
christian
says ...
well thank god everybody loves netflix.
Posted by christian
at November 20, 2006 10:32 AM
comment #11
Ju-osh
says ...
Devin's probably right, but real estate pricing doesn't make for a potentially Oscar-winning, Sally Fields vehicle, does it?
Oh, wait -- it does, too!
Posted by Ju-osh
at November 20, 2006 11:59 AM
comment #12
donnyboy
says ...
Paul Auster requests IN A LONELY PLACE....god that guy is a poser.
Posted by donnyboy
at November 21, 2006 12:57 AM
comment #13
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