Local movie enthusiasts were crestfallen this Summer when after a quarter century of bringing classic cinema and great conversation into our lives; the forces of economics and advancing technology forced those us in the valley to parts ways with Pleasent Street Video.
Fellow Valley blogger Tommy Devine, posted a scene from the 2004 film TheDown Fall (which has been altered in the past to show Hitler railing against everything from Barack Obama beating Hillary Clinton in the Democartic primaries in 2008, to the Apple ipad, and even the parodies themselves) in which Hitler takes the news that the independent video store that once sat at the corner of Pleasant and Armory Streets has gone out of business, pretty hard.
His nerves though would probably calm though after he learned that the Forbes Library had adopted the store’s entire collection and will make them available to the public to rent out at no cost. A good way to say ‘up yours’ to Netflix.
'Pleasant Street Video' clerk Bill Dwight (left) alongside store co-owner and Manager Dana Gentes (right).
End credits rolled and like an old cowboy drenched in Technicolor, ‘Pleasant Street Video’ metaphorically rode off into the sunset of local memory at 6pm last night, closing its doors for the final time.
The announcement that the small independent movie rental store that has animated the corner of Pleasant and Armory streets in downtown Northampton for the past twenty-five years would be closing in July; came last month after five years of declining revenue.
Pleasant Street Video (Pic courtesy of: Skytemple.com)
Sobering news for cinefanatics in the Pioneer Valley, especially Northampton. As many already know Pleasant Street Video, the old-fashioned video rental store on the corner of Armory street and Pleasant Street in the downtown area, will forever close its doors two weeks from today. Its shelves were stocked with hard to find titles, foreign films from just about every country on the map, and experimental films. The close comes as the old video store business that first came about in the early to mid eighties is dying out with the birth of the internet, Netflix, and red box services.
This Sunday will be the last chance to rent out or renew any rentals, though the store will remain open until Saturday July 16 to collect movies that need to be returned, accept donations for their effort to sell their film collection to the Forbes Library, and for what will no doubt be a multitude of heartfelt goodbyes. My computer isn’t set up yet (hopefully the needed part will come today and my brother’s friend will be able to service the computer as needed); so a further article and photographs should be posted on this by the end of next week.
Pioneer valley dispatch 