There are balloons attached to a sandwich board outside Broadway Video off Redondo and, yep, Broadway. Uma Thurman smokes a cigarette on a bed in the \u201cPulp Fiction\u201d poster that covers one of the window panels. Along the back wall, a big blue and red neon sign says, \u201cVIDEO.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, the first Friday in April, is the first night of the shop’s new extended hours, and owner Steve Tsepelis and store manager Phil Deubel are behind the counter ready to help customers.<\/p>\n
A few young couples came in tonight to rent for the first time, while a few older customers came in, waved at Steve and Phil, and took their time exploring the shelves. Jonathan Montgomery has been renting here for three years. He said he first noticed Broadway Video while biking around town and decided one day to stop in.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, it’s so rad to be able to get recommendations and talk movies with someone in person,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s also nice to remember that movies can be a physical thing you can touch and explore, like how it feels walking around a library feeling all the books. I’ve noticed that I’ll finish all the movies I rent whereas with streaming I might spend a lot of time skipping around, starting multiple movies and never making it to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of his recent rentals include \u201cCity of God,\u201d \u201cThe White Ribbon,\u201d \u201cGoldeneye,\u201d and \u201cKiki’s Delivery Service.\u201d Jonathan said he rented \u201cKiki\u2019s Delivery Service\u201d when Broadway Video was having a sale on Studio Ghibli rentals, and \u201cGoldeneye\u201d was a fun rewatch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen it about a billion times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broadway Video is the last video rental store of its kind in Long Beach, and one of a dwindling few left in the United States. Walking inside is like hopping back to a Friday night circa 1998, which is when Broadway Video opened at its current location. Signs above the shelves read Comedy<\/i>, Drama<\/i>, Horror<\/i>, Foreign<\/i>, LGBTQ<\/i>, Animated<\/i>, and New Releases<\/i>. There\u2019s also a section of movies for sale, a small vinyl collection and posters including a few beauties for the likes of \u201cNightmare on Elm Street\u201d, \u201cReefer Madness\u201d and \u201cThe Breakfast Club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight is the first time Genesis Balandran and her boyfriend have come in to check out the store. She said they had just watched \u201cThe Last Blockbuster,\u201d a Netflix documentary that has created millennial buzz around video rental stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were stoked to find that there was a video store near us in Long Beach,\u201d she said. \u201cI guess we were both feeling nostalgic for renting physical movies. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve rented a physical movie in 10 years or so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balandran\u2019s movie choices tonight were \u201cThe Man That Killed Don Quixote\u201d and \u201cThe Darjeeling Limited.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still a cool experience to rent a movie in person. It\u2019s like going to a record store and finding an album you love, you can pull it out and physically hold it. It\u2019s a different feeling than streaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
You get a three-day rental at Broadway Video, whereas some streaming services give you a 24-hour window to watch a movie. You can get recommendations based on your tastes in film from a cinephile instead of an algorithm. There\u2019s no need to worry about your internet going out or a film buffering, and you get to support a local business.<\/p>\n
Business slowed at Broadway in recent years due to the increasing popularity of streaming. When the pandemic hit, Tsepelis closed his shop for three months because it wasn\u2019t considered an essential business and when he finally reopened he cut his hours because business was slow.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it would just be Phil and I in here for hours with nobody coming in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Another couple makes their way up and down the rows, then looks through the posters and the vinyl collection by the register. They rent a movie and buy a \u201cFuturama\u201d poster.<\/p>\n
Store manager Phil Deubel has worked at Broadway Video for seven years. He\u2019s always up for discussing movies as well as recommending movies to customers based on their likes. His enthusiasm is constant.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite things about working here are the customers and being around movies all day,\u201d said Deubel, who is so beloved that there\u2019s a \u201cPhil\u2019s Pics\u201d section in the store. Originally from Germany, he loves quoting Ace Ventura movies but, \u201cI only know the quotes in German. They didn\u2019t translate \u2018Alrighty then!\u2019 So that always confused me as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original name of the shop was Broadway Video Act II because it was a second location. The original opened in 1985 about a mile down near Cherry Avenue. In 1996, the second location opened, and after a location change two years later, Broadway Video has been at the cross-streets of Broadway and Redondo since 1998.<\/p>\n
The original store closed in 2007, but this location is hanging on. Tsepelis managed Broadway Video Act II for 21 years before buying it in 2017, officially changing its name to Broadway Video.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis store has survived competition, format changes, a recession, and now a pandemic,” he said. “Fridays and Saturdays were our big days, we would have all three checkout terminals going and we hope to get back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsepelis, a Pennsylvania native, became acquainted with the original owners when he opened a record store in the area around the same time. After deciding to close the record store, he became the manager of Broadway Video. It was a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever in a million years did I ever think I would own this place.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said his routine is about the same as Sandi Harding\u2019s, the manager of the last remaining Blockbuster in the United States (in Bend, Oregon) and subject of \u201cThe Last Blockbuster.\u201d Because of the documentary, hundreds have flocked to Bend, and Steve hopes for the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scenes showing her buying candy and stuff, I do that. I know that routine,” he said. \u201cI buy candy from Smart & Final up the street, I open up the store in the morning, and we have the same inventory system, but I don\u2019t knit beanies \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
People are slowly starting to come back, including new customers that are between the ages of 25 and\u00a0 40. Not long ago, a customer in her mid-20s came into the shop looking for the movie, \u201cSingles.\u201d Phil looked it up on the computer, then told the woman the movie should be available but for some reason was not on the shelf. She walked over to the \u201cNew Releases” section and rented \u201cPromising Young Woman\u201d instead.<\/p>\n
But Phil kept looking and eventually found the movie and gave the woman a call. \u201cWe found the movie,\u201d he told her. \u201cDo you want to come back and get it? This rental is on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was a little hesitant due to parking in the area on a Friday night. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, let me know when you\u2019re here and I\u2019ll walk the movie out to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s Broadway Video. Tonight, customers rented “Annie Hall,” “Parasite,” “Wonder Woman 84,” “The Last Exorcism,” “Prozac Nation,” “Promising Young Woman,” and “Born in East L.A.”\u00a0 Deubel tearing off the sides of a carbon paper receipt, folding it in half, and placing it inside each\u00a0 DVD case.<\/p>\n
Tsepelis leans against the Drama<\/i> movie shelf and says the common thread between working at a record store and Broadway Video, is \u201cmaking people happy. I hear people say this album changed my life, or I loved this movie. I get to introduce them to something new.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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