When the VCR was king and the videotape ruled video store shelves, small businesses could thrive on renting movies to eager customers. Those days are over now. With the introduction of the higher-quality DVD format and the ease of online downloading, attaining the hottest new release seems more important to people than watching an old movie on videotape. At least that’s the way Michael Faust sees it.
“People aren’t primed to watch whatever isn’t in the moment. They read reviews and get opinions, but they’re unwilling to risk a few dollars to watch something different,” said Faust, better known as M. Faust. As the owner of Mondo Video, and the film editor for Artvoice, he knows a thing or two about the public’s movie-watching habits. He goes on to say, “They just want to know what’s number one at the box office.”
Mondo Video opened in 1994, offering obscure and hard-to-find videos for rent. Names like Jean-Luc Godard, Ray Dennis Steckler, and Billy Wilder no longer took a backseat to the “hot releases” of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron. Unfortunately for Mondo Video, the market for the obscure is much smaller than the market for blockbusters, so it will be closing its doors in December.
Some entrepreneurs see nothing but dollar signs when opening up a new store. Faust, however, has a different take. “I like to tell people that Mondo is an extension of my personal video collection,” he said. Running a business is no easy task, but Faust was able to get by. Many of his videos were purchased from video liquidation sales and “Going out of Business” clearances where he found videos for as low as three to five dollars each.
Faust knew that trouble was brewing for his store about six or seven years ago when the DVD format began to catch on, and people began not only switching from VHS to DVD, but also abandoning their VCR players completely. “It’s very hard to re-purchase your inventory. Some of the movies I carry were only released on VHS,” said Faust.
Independent businesses have always had a hard time competing with chains, and video stores are no different. Blockbuster boasts over 8,000 stores worldwide and has taken over as the prime video store in the country. Not far behind is Netflix, the online company that popularized movie rentals by mail. With 6.7 million subscribers, Netflix is going strong, and for some customers, it eliminates the need to go into a video store ever again.
These businesses offer convenience and are available to nearly everyone in the country, but contain a limited selection. Their specialty is the newest and latest. Netflix offers a wider range than Blockbuster, but they still can’t offer you the movies Mondo Video keeps in stock.
Internet downloading also contributes to the troubles of the independent video store. Watching a movie on video used to be a process that involved a great deal of waiting. Now, a theatrical release can be on your hard drive minutes after premiering. “You can’t compete with free,” says Mondo Video’s head sales clerk Jason Klawon, better known as “Wheez.” In a country where time equals money, faster Internet connections and programs such as Bit Torrent have made watching movies fast and cheap, save for the time spent watching them.
Faust has trouble trying to understand the appeal of watching a movie on a computer screen. “You have people buying 84-inch plasma screens to simulate the theatre experience, or people watching a movie on their iPhone. I prefer watching movies in a theatre,” he said. More and more Americans are buying computers, and technology keeps improving. Some university students even use computers as a replacement for television, so it’s no surprise that they use the same approach in their movie watching.
Mondo has changed location three times, from its opening in a cellar on Potomac Avenue, its subsequent move to Elmwood Avenue, and finally, the move to its current location on 3268 Main Street, across from UB’s South Campus in 2006. It was rumored that Mondo moved from Elmwood because of the plans to build a hotel in a popular location near the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Forest Avenue last year. Faust dispels this claim, citing other reasons. His Elmwood location offered no parking, the building was shabby-looking, and since business wasn’t doing very well, he decided to try and appeal to a different university crowd. “I remember kids from UB coming down to Elmwood and discovering the store. They always said that they wished it were closer.” When he was approached about moving to Main Street, he took the chance and moved his store last year. Unfortunately for Faust, not as many students came in, and his former customers were wary of the new neighborhood. “People are afraid of Main Street, they prefer to stay in the suburbs, away from the city,” said Faust.
Roy Golia, a junior Media Study major, is a member of Mondo Video. “It’s sad to see an independent video store that has hard-to-find movies close.” He lists lack of funds and time as reasons why he doesn’t rent movies very often. He watches movies in class or borrows them from friends, but he doesn’t download. Many other students don’t rent from Mondo because they have never heard of it, or don’t know what it is, he says.
Despite the current circumstances, this may not be the indefinite end for Mondo. “I’m going to keep going online,” said Faust. “I’m also putting the shelves in storage. It’s more likely that I will never open a store again, but I’m going to keep them around.” Faust plans on selling some of the movies in a clearance sale, keeping some, and selling some online.
“I would have closed down a while ago, but I haven’t had the time to. I still don’t. I have to go through every movie and decide what I want to do with it,” said Faust. He rarely goes into the store anymore, except to keep track of business. Despite Mondo’s demise, he has plenty of work to keep him busy. On top of his current job at Artvoice, he has received an offer from American Movie Classics to become a blogger for their website.
Despite all the hardship, Mondo lasted quite a long time for a video store. Mondo prided itself on its selection, but it could not compete with the American obsession with convenience above all else. It’s a sad trend to have fewer people leaving their homes in favor of the ease of Internet commerce, but perhaps the demand for another Mondo will allow fans of old and underground movies to rejoice in the future.
Without Mondo, residents of Buffalo will have a hard time finding obscure movies. Small video stores are a dying breed, and Mondo was one of the few left. “If you want to find a movie that we have once we close, go online I guess,” says Wheez. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Ruth Linares is a junior Media Studies major and a Features writer for Generation.
