The Death of Video Stores in the Mission

Local artist Rio Yañez laments another neighborhood closure:

The closing of US Video marks the final death of Video stores in the Mission that cater to working class Latino families in the neighborhood. All that’s left in the neighborhood is Lost Weekend. I never thought I’d live to see the day that it would be easier to rent a copy of some obscure Orson Welles film than a copy of Transformers (or some other commercial mainstream movie).

Read on.

I guess working-class Latino families are just going to have to learn to love Mr. Arkadin and rad t-shirts.

15 Responses to “The Death of Video Stores in the Mission”

  1. MrEricSir says:

    There’s also Faye’s Video on 18th.

    (Or you can just subscribe to Netflix like a normal person.)

  2. bozo says:

    If the Latino families -about you, suddenly, sounds so worry- start watching the Orson Wells films, wow! This is a good news.

  3. dana says:

    don’t forget world pioneer video on 24th between bryant and york!

  4. Joshua says:

    wait. I live across the street from there, my friend Antonio grew up in the mission & says that place is an adult video store. hell, you can even see the sign in the picture you posted, adult dvds. this store isn’t gonna have It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

    • suckerpunch says:

      It is (was) a full service video store. Meaning it had new releases, back catalog movies, children’s movies AND porn.
      I used to rent from there.

  5. Ferocious Foot Odor says:

    How many silly trustafarian notions are baked into this story at one time? Too many.

    Working class latino families go to the blockbuster at Potrero and16th. This store was not patronized by working class Latino families.

    Second of all, the Mission is a wonderful mash up of gays, hipsters, faux-hemians, crazies, old hippies, and those people are from every country one could imagine, none of whom would appreciate being condescended to as “working class Latino families.”

    Get a life.

  6. jimbo says:

    does rio know that lost weekend carries pretty much every mainstream title, too?

  7. James says:

    Mission Mission: Fetishizing the Other since 2007

  8. JP says:

    Goodbye US Vid. & the Mission branch of the SFPL still serves free movies to the working class.

  9. M.A.C. says:

    This is about the way people rent videos more than it is about working class Latino families.

  10. What says:

    Working class Latino families can buy the videos for the cost of a rental, in front of any shuttered storefront on Mission.

  11. Drew says:

    You, sir, are mistaken. There’s a lovely “working class latino family video store” on the north side 23rd between Capp and Mission. Without p0rn, if you’re afraid of that sort of thing, for some reason. They also sell acrylic lucha libre blankets, which make a wonderful gift.

    I’m still waiting for my gay Irani video store, though. That will be hot.

  12. Peter says:

    just using this thread as an excuse to reiterate the point that World Pioneer Video is awesome.

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