A video store wants to save DVDs from extinction
Who still uses DVDs these days? I'm looking for answers in Zurich's last video store.
Zurich. District 1, the old town. Three small stone steps lead to a blue door decorated with graffiti tags. Behind it, a world nearly forgotten.
In bright daylight, DVD cases are lined up on countless shelves. Most of them are just about visible by their narrow edge. Only a few of them, mainly releases, are allowed to display their entire cover. No surprise here. Around 40,000 DVDs with films and series have to fit into two floors in the last video library in Zurich.
«Les Videos» is a film distributor, film archive and, since 2014, a film association. It currently has about 500 members. Most of these members have a flat-rate subscription for 365 francs. The rest have a half-fare card for 88 francs per year. Similar to the Swiss Federal Railway, films in the latter category are available at half price, while everything is included in the former – comparable to the General Abonnement available from SBB. Everyone else pays eight francs per DVD rental. «As a customer, you don't want to spend too much. In other words, you’ll probably not rent a movie you’re not sure of. The flat rate allows you to experiment, which makes it easier for all these beautiful films to circulate,» says Fabio, the club president.
One person is enough
It’s precisely because of these beautiful films and her fascination for the medium that Baiba works here. She enters through the blue door. A small bell sounds. She's running the show today. Fabio has to go to work. He’s a volunteer and isn't involved in operating the business. Baiba immediately sits down at the cash register, a framed glass pane hovering above as a protective measure, thus turning the employee into a living painting. Behind her on the wall is a shelf crammed with transparent covers. «We keep the films in the back so that theft isn't even worth it,» Fabio explains.
There would certainly be enough to steal. Especially in the basement. Like a red carpet, a broad carpet runs down the steps. It leads into a movie paradise illuminated by fluorescent tubes: classics border curiosities, directors and exotic regions. A few chairs are placed between the shelves, allowing you to read the blurbs at your leisure. «For us to add a film to our line-up, at least one person must want to see it.» As soon as a request comes in, the title is tracked down. «There are always people who mistake us for a music store. A few weeks ago, this exact thing happened to a slightly older gentleman. I explained to him that we also have video clips and concert recordings on DVD. He immediately remembered taking his wife to a 'Peter, Paul and Mary' concert in the 60s. He was wondering if I could locate a recording of it. Of course,» Baiba says.
It’s precisely this service that customers like Antonina appreciate at «Les Videos». «Although I have my own IMDb Watchlist, I like to have films recommended by the staff. I love that movie small talk.» But it's not only because of the people, but also because of the physical medium itself that she comes to the video store. «I remember a movie better when I watch it on DVD because I do everything more consciously. Visiting the store, renting the movie, watching it – everything gets my attention.» Streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime make it much easier to watch movies, but that's exactly the problem. «A DVD has a beginning and an end. Netflix, on the other hand, wants you to keep watching. You don't even have time to process what you've seen,» says Fabio. Baiba nods vigorously. «If you have several tabs open and check your phone at the same time, you won't take in anything.»
A place of culture
Although there's a clear tendency towards constant media coverage, Fabio has noticed a kind of oversaturation in recent years, which has heralded a cultural change – at least for a part of the population. «Between 2005 and 2016, no one took the video store seriously. Now, all of a sudden, I'm getting a lot of support. People want more quality in content again.» In his eyes, the video store is like a health food market in a world dominated by fast food restaurants and supermarkets. Only their homemade 24-hour return system, which leads from a hole in the facade to the basement window via a slide, can compete with McDonald's and Co. in terms of rapid availability.
Sima, a long-time customer who brought her American son-in-law with her, even regards the video store as a cultural institution. «I was a guest at the Locarno Film Festival for years. Whenever I returned and looked at the current cinema programme, I realised how much art is actually lost. «Les Videos» lets you find it again. There are some difficult movies here. They have foreign films. Old movies. There are many films here that are frowned upon by the masses.» For Sima, this is a sign of quality. «It's just like best-seller lists for books. What pleases a million people is usually not good.» There are even Hebrew movies. «As a German Jew who spent many summers in Israel as a child, this is particularly beautiful to me.»
A source of inspiration for cinemas
This large trove attracts film enthusiasts of all ages and sexes. The archetypal video store visitor doesn't exist. This is how 17-year-old Jossi, who recently started working here and will soon begin studying mathematics at ETH Zurich, managed to stumble through the blue door as a teenager. «My friends and I used to rent movies from «City-Video» from time to time. At some point somebody recommended stopping by here. We liked «Les Videos» immediately. So we stayed.» But not only individuals, even Zurich cinemas such as the Filmpodium or Xenix, like to browse through the store. «They use our video library as a visionary resource for putting together their monthly programme,» says Fabio.
There's still a small corner we haven't explored yet. In the wooden staircase leading to the upper floor, each employee has filled a shelf with their favourite films. Baiba is very excited about the American documentary «Life in the Thirties», which shows life during the Great Depression using real newsreel footage. «You won't find that anywhere.» Jossi on the other hand recommends «Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud», quite a contrast to «A Rainy Day in New York», the latest Woody Allen film. «I just watched it and was totally disappointed. I'm used to much better things from him.»
A world under threat of extinction
In the past, the upper floor also belonged to the video store, but for cost reasons it has been rented as an office to three graphic designers for a while now. Despite the cultural shift mentioned above, this is the only way to pay the rent and all wages. «We also had to adjust opening hours. Now we're only open until 7 pm, not 10 pm,» Fabio explains. Nobody rents a movie at 9 pm anymore. «If you don't know what to do at that time of night, you sit down at your computer. Consumer behaviour has simply changed.» The DVD has become an endangered medium. Hardly anyone owns a player anymore. And there's no real substitute. The Netflix library, for example, only contains about 5,000 titles. The Swiss have found a loophole. «What do you do if you can't find the movie you want to see there? Exactly, you stream it on shady sites.» This is one of the reasons why all other video stores in Zurich had to close their doors.
But the blue door at «Les Videos» is still open.
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