Saturday, December 6, 2014

Two Boots is getting out of the video rental business on Avenue A



The pizzeria has been selling off its DVD collection from the Two Boots Video Nook the past few days.

Probably not a shocker. Does anyone rent movies anymore?



Anywhere, we hear that the DVDs are going for $1, Blu-Ray and new releases $5, and Criterion Collection films $10.

But! The sign outside the pizzeria on Avenue A and East Third Street promises something new...



The Pioneer Jr. "The world's smallest screening room." OK!

Two Boots Video closed in the fall of 2008, with a much smaller rental collection merging next door in the pizzeria. (The video space and Pioneer Theater are now part of the Upright Citizens Brigade.)

Thank you to @geofffree for the tip!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why rent when a quarter to a third of all internet bandwidth is devoted to illegal downloading? There's a guy in the EV who sells DVDs of all the new movies for 5 bucks, same thing in Chinatown, Times Sq and Harlem. And we wonder why Taypor Swift abandoned Spotify? Digital is killing profits.

Anonymous said...

Thank you 12:25
2004 wants it's rant back.

Anonymous said...

The time of the video/DVD rental is long over, but good for them for being able to make it work as long as they did. I would love to hear more about the screening room and how it will work.

Anonymous said...

Yup 12:25, because it's super easy to find obscure or foreign films through Usenet or Torrenting or streaming or whatever other means...

Enjoy your Blu-ray of the latest Michael Bay piece of dreck.

Anonymous said...

Frankly I am a little shocked--shocked that they were still renting out videos!

re anon 12:25 Someone is really pointing to Taylor Swift as an exemplar of artists' rights, really? Digital might be killing profits but people like Taylor Swift are killing music in my opinion. Both are troubling phenomena in 2014. Which is worse? Is my question to you.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

I was gonna write a comment but 1:24 PM has already said it better.

Billsville said...

Between watching free online porn and downloading pirated copies of rare foreign movies I'm surprised you guys have any time to comment on the destruction of the music and movie industries. Tak about multi-tasking, well done!

Anonymous said...

I stopped renting DVDs years ago. Today, it's either Netflix or the public library.

Anonymous said...

We rented from Two Boots pretty regularly. There's nothing on any of the cable channels. We don't steal from the internet but understand self-righteous "revolutionaries" who do (dig yourselves in your tiny world).
It was fun and retro. Like bowling. Alas.
SB

DrBOP said...

Old Village Proverb :

"YOU are your own movie".

Anonymous said...

I guess Kims Video didnt hear about how hard it is to pirate obscure movies on the internet since all of his stores are gone. Good luck finding those movies on Netflix which is basically like the old dollar dump bin of movies at Tower Video.

Fipper said...

Guess I can kiss my 10 pre-buys goodbye... Oh well...

Greg Masters said...

The original Two Boots video store (now occupied by the comedy club) was a wonderful zocalo with fine films, knowledgable and passionate staff and a truly EV sense of community, with passionate discussions with and recommendations from cheery (and some more edgy) neighbors.