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We wrote about the demise of video stores last year, and now one of the saddest days is upon us: The November 30 closing of West 105th Street institution Movie Place, because of a crazy rent increase. There's a big NY Times City section article about the Movie Place's closing as well as those of many other beloved video stores - it's all summarized in this depressing graphic.
We will miss Gary Dennis, owner of Movie Place (we're pretty sure it was he who would answer the phone in 777-FILM fashion with "Hello and welcome to Movie Place!"), how we couldn't rent Day for Night because at the time, the only version that was available was one dubbed in English (sacre bleu!) and how his employees and how they delivered movies to their customers. As for what Dennis will do next...:
In fact, Mr. Dennis is making plans to sell off his inventory, perhaps to an online service. The only movies he wants to keep are “Casablanca,” “A Night at the Opera” and “Orchestra Wives,” a Glenn Miller musical. As for the rest, he said: “Where are you going to keep it? My wife invented that phrase — ‘Oh, you’re going to buy it? Where are you going to keep it?’ New York’s different.” Besides, he added, “this stuff’ll show up on TV.”Not that we're certain he'd take the job, but Netflix should offer him a job developing movie suggestions for its customers.He spends part of every day fielding condolence calls, at least two dozen on a recent Monday. “I’m available for parties and bar mitzvahs,” he told one caller. Then, more gravely, he added: “Don’t worry. I’m chained to this neighborhood. They’re going to bury me in Straus Park when the time comes.” After shutting the store, Mr. Dennis may set up a movie Web site or, fittingly, write a book about defunct movie theaters.
Also strange: We got an flier saying that the Blockbuster on 69th Street and Amsterdam was closing, with the only other Blockbuster locations about 20 blocks north or south. It's all about online now.
Photograph of Movie Place by dM.NYC on Flickr
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The Stop & Shop supermarkets near me have DVD vending machines, swipe your credit card and rent a DVD for a dollar a night. Not too much of a selection, to be sure, maybe 75 to 100 titles, but certainly enough to provide competition to both the regular video stores and Netflix.
This is the saddest thing I have seen. The Movie Place was my salvation from having to sit in the Media Room in Butler for my film assignments. They had everything.
sad, but I'd have more sympathy if Movie Place had contacted their customers who have the pre-paid plan. Will we get our money back? Is that money lost? Should we rent a bunch of movies this week and not return them? Mr. Dennis is sitting on thousands of dollars that aren't really his and he has yet to tell his loyal customers how he is going to refund his customers.
When I read about this in the spectator last month i felt all the usual sympathies. but i have to say this--and i hope that i don't sound like i am cheering the death of humanity and interpersonal relationships--the netflix algorithm works better for me than do folks like Dennis. when the cold hard truth is present, there is no use defending dating and inefficient stuff. i am a young person just getting my movie education and i can't tell you how many great movies that 'netflix reccomends' thing has turned me on to. bonne chance Mr. Dennis, sorry to see you go, but it's your time.
Now if Film Forum closes down, ill take to the fucking streets.
I was fortunate to have experienced The Movie Place in my life. A small town store in the big city. Everything Changes, I know, and I pretty much swear by Netflix (which, some day, will be replaced by some form of quicker on demand service) but I gotta tell ya to me it's just another sign of the further splintering of society. I used to like digging through the dusty bins and checking out employee's recommendations. It was a meeting place where you could bump into someone. It's increasing becoming a city (and subsequently, a world) where it's rush here, rush there to finally get home where you're alone and avoiding contact. Which to me is the real loss- the avoidance of human contact for the sake of 'comfort'.
I spent my childhood going to the movie place with my aunt who was a loyal customer - and she was loyal long after VHS became passe.
it is a devastating loss for a neighborhood which has already changed so drastically, and which continues to lose so much of it's personality to big businesses.
This is very sad news, but not unexpected. A friend of mine worked there for years and when the previous owner sold the place to Gary a few years ago, he advised Gary not to buy it because he knew that this end would come sooner rather than later. That said, I'm glad it stayed open as long as it has.
it's so sad, but did dennis complain when he operated for years without a lease? how about the fact that he's paid far below market for years? he did this when it was to his benefit, but now it's the evil landlord's fault for buying a (somewhat) dilapidated building and trying to fix it?
I just walked to Vinnie's, my favorite pizza place for 20 years in the Upper West Side (73rd and Amsterdamn): it's closed!!! @$*%@^ This was no Domino's, it was a family run business that made delicious pizzas the old-fashioned way and one of the few remaining. They are now closed too, and I predict the wave of small businesses closing down because of higher rents is only beginning. The Upper West Side will never be the same again!
It is called the "Duane-Reading" of the upper west side. This reminds me of how "The Pickle Guy" pickle stand on 33rd street around the corner from where I work that just shut down.
Guess you should have bought a few more pickels.
As a long-time Movie Place customer (pre-Gary) as well as a pre-paid subscriber, this upcoming loss will hit me hard. It's true, I pre-paid just this past August and now am about 20 movies in the hole. More upsetting than the money is the loss of a neighborhood institution. For those of us with youngsters, Netflix is not the answer to a sudden rainy weekend!
Reminds me of the demise of 2nd Ave. Deli -- sadly it's the *last* vestige of Gotham exiting a hood that prompts cries -- ah, if it were the first (or middle) instead!
Great if ya like CVS & Starbucks (and rich hicks) though...