The Best Video Store In The World

Since moving back to Milwaukee after a near 10-year absence, I've been trying to reacquaint myself with some of the places I used to enjoy frequenting. And, basically, that means the video stores I used to frequent. So, I broke out the old wallet and pulled out all those old video cards.

A lot has changed in eight years. VHS is pretty much dead as a format. All of the big chain stores (Blockbuster, Hollywood, etc.), which, back when, used to have unique libraries from store to store, have standardized their libraries so that basically every store is the same. Some stores don't exist anymore. But there is one that is still around that makes all of these other changes irrelevant.

When I last lived in Milwaukee, my chief video store was Video West, a tiny independent store, crammed into a triangular building at a five-way intersection. Ten years ago, they were the best video store in Milwaukee, with thousands of VHS titles and a couple dozen DVDs. In the years since, they have virtually replaced all their VHS (yes, they do still have hundreds of VHS tapes) with DVD, and then added several thousand more (something to the tune of 10,000 titles). If you can think of it, they probably carry it.

Actually, when you walk in, it's pretty underwhelming. Couple of racks of DVDs sprawl out in front of you. It's not until you turn around and see the wall of VHS tapes that you begin to understand the scope of what they carry. When you enter the back part of the store (to which you'll pass a section of every Oscar winner), you're greeted by just about every musical ever made, as well as a couple of hundred of classic movies. They have entire sections devoted to Bob Hope, John Wayne, The Three Stooges, Jerry Louis, Elvis, Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. This section alone makes it the best video store I've been in. But, there's more.

Go through that section into the next, and you are greeted by roughly half of their collection, crammed into a 12'x15' room. Here are the war movies, karate movies, foreign films (including several hundred devoted solely to British cinema) and, the pièce de résistance, their sci-fi and horror collection, which takes up nearly two thirds of the room. (This collection will have a write-up in Milwaukee magazine in October.) If there is a horror movie on video, chances are it's in that room.

Oh, and did I mention all of this is sitting atop the largest porn collection I've ever seen?

When I stopped back in after all those years away, I found they still are not computerized, with all the rental receipts still written out by hand. When I asked if my membership was still good, the man behind the counter said I'd just have to update my membership. He pulled out a file folder and produced my original paper application. Where else in the world does this happen?

Seriously, if I'm the CEO of Blockbuster, I'd be embarrassed to go in a video store like this. After seeing what they carry and how they run their business, I'd be ashamed to call what I do "video rental."

If only all stores were like this. The world would be a better place.