On Monday, Mar. 12, the Charles Village Video Americain held a candlelight vigil as it closed its doors for the final time. Approximately fifty supporters of the video store came to the vigil, held outside the St. Paul establishment.
"I was really moved by [the vigil]," Kevin Coelho, the manager of the Charles Village Video Americain, said. "To see how many people would come out at ten at night and pay respects to a business that has been a huge touchstone for Charles Village and the whole city of Baltimore. . . I was really thrilled to see so many people came out."
The crowd formed outside the doors, with Video Americain managers and former managers leading the ceremony. Attendees were invited to share testimonials about what the store meant to them or particular memories they had of it. One supporter mentioned that he had come from New York to say goodbye to the independent video store.
"I am going to miss Video Americain's foreign film section," Glennis Markison, a junior and Video Americain patron, wrote in an email to The News-Letter. "It was a real pleasure to observe the fine acting abilities of beautiful, bearded men from around the world."
Though testimonials varied, a similar message was constant. "It's part of Baltimore beauty," an older woman said.
The owners of the store thanked the crowd for its continuous support during Video Americain's run. Rahne Alexander, former Video Americain manager and current Operations and Development Manager for the Maryland Film Festival, made a public final rental return following her own speech. In traditional Video Americain clerk fashion, she offered a few movie suggestions for the crowd. "I cannot believe how important this location has been for organizing this community," she said before dropping the movies in the return slot.
Alexander moved to Baltimore because Video Americain convinced her that Baltimore might not be such a bad place to live. She worked at both locations beginning in 2005 experiences she had by working at the store. "I had a woman come in and she said 'I really need a movie that's going to make me cry,' and I'm like, 'Okay. How do you feel about animals?' And she's like, 'I love dogs especially' and I'm like, 'You're going to watch Wendy and Lucy,'" Alexander said. She attributes this sort of experience as an irreplaceable charactertistic of video stores. "Watch Netflix do that for you. Let's see Netflix do that particular thing."
The store, what Alexander calls "the heart of Charles Village," was more than just a place to rent films. It was about community. "It's about being able to connect with people and sometimes being able to give them exactly what they want and sometimes just being puzzled by what people expect."
The video store became a staple in the Charles Village community. "You didn't get a ton of foot traffic from JHU students or the residents on the business block [of St. Paul Street], which is now pretty much the hub of Charles Village," Coelho said long time residents of Charles Village have told him. "It almost became a center for artist and. . .musicians and weirdos to get together and find a quirky brand of cinema that before was really hard to find."
Cory Schuler, a Video Americain employee, the organizer of the vigil and a life long Baltimore County resident, reminisced on the experiences he had "going downtown" and visiting the "quirky store" with his friends. "It's sad to think future generations won't have that ability anymore, restricted to their Internet, their homes and their computers," Schuler said.
On Friday, Mar. 16, Video Americain will begin to sell its inventory which consists of 20,000 to 30,000 DVDs and VHS. The collection is vast and includes rare and out-of-print titles. The sale is scheduled to continue until mid-May and may be extended based upon the community response. According the The Baltimore Sun, the store may sell parts of its collection to the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Hopkins in order to keep the collection local.
However, concerns have been expressed over an institution, such as Hopkins, acquiring the collection. According to Schuler, some Baltimore residents are concerned that if Hopkins were to purchase the collection, it would not be available to the community. With the advent of the online video streaming and downloading, the video store business model has faced serious challenges. "Business has been dropping," Coelho said. "But we've always been able to adapt to lowering business in a way that we maintain."
However, the recent mild winter has perturbed Video Americain's efforts. Typically, the store sees a bump in business during winter that gives them "extra cushion" during the spring and summer when business subsides, according to Coelho. But this year's mild weather has dampened such a spike.
Additionally, Video Americain owner Barry Solan has faced health issues, including open heart surgery a year ago. Recently his health has improved enough to allow him to oversee the closing.
After the announcement of the closing of the Charles Village location, Coelho hopes that the community response will help to reduce the danger of the Cold Spring Lane Video Americain facing a similar fate.
"With the community seeing what happened at this store, [they] will hopefully band together and preemptively prevent that from happening," Coelho said.
The original store in Keswick does not plan to close, offering hope to people like Alexander who still plan to frequent the other location.
"So long as there's a Video Americain in Baltimore things are okay"
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