The Struggling Stores

Oh, some video stores are able to keep in business but then there are the others that are constantly struggling to stay open. Among the casualties is Rocket Video, located in West Hollywood, which closed this past September. However, this project is not focused on the lost and forgotten but rather on the stores that are still open for business.

Main Street Video, located at 1600 Main Street in Venice, is also known as "the Hipster video store". Attracting an artsy scene, Main Street Video is situated on a block filled with dying commodities and new boutiques. However, this store has been able to garner a loyal base of customers because of his location. Venice has always been loyal to independent businesses (the reason why you won't find a Starbucks on the boardwalk). Main Street Video carries a small selection but within their selection are art-house films, foreign films, and tons of documentaries. For more info, call 310-594-3616.

Jungle Video, also in Venice at 423 Lincoln Blvd, has a similar audience to Main Street Video. Many young adults use Jungle Video as an outlet from mainstream movies. With 99 cent rentals, Jungle Video gives you bang for your buck but that's if you can find your bang. Jungle Video is one of the smallest video stores on this blog, boasting a great porn section but a small regular film selection. Yet with 99 cent rentals, it's hard to argue. For more information, call 310-314-7777.

Along with Jungle Video and Main street Video is Video Addict. Video Addict also known for his giant porn collection but its small regular film collection. Run by a Japanese couple, Video Addict is a more Japanese-oriented video store, having a huge anime and Japanese TV show collection. It is known as "the place to go for Japanese programming on the Westside". For more information, call 310-312-5083.

Laser Blazer
is another video store, located on Pico Blvd in West LA, that has maintained a loyal customer base. Laser Blazer focused on having all laser disc films (those giant record looking things). For the past decade this has been THE place to get laser disc films but, like all other technology, the laser disc has become obsolete and the film has transitioned into providing different types of films (aka they went mainstream). While they still maintain a loyal customer base for those film buffs who want laser discs, they also shifted to a new customer base by providing more mainstream titles. For more information, call 310-475-4788.