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This really blows. After 30 years of keeping the spirit of classic and hard-to-find video shopping alive, Santa Monica's coolest storefront Vidiots is set to close in just a few months. Owners Cathy Tauber and Patty Polinger released a heartfelt message on Facebook yesterday, noting that they did everything they could to keep the shop running, but "it was not enough to make up for the precipitous drop in rental income—a 24% drop in the last five months." The colorful store is set to close on Wednesday, April 15th.
Vidiots will continue to rent through March 31st. Given that Tauber and Polinger don't want to have a huge sale to unleash their incredible inventory of more than 50,000 titles, the duo reveals that they're currently looking at possible 501c3 organizations to donate the collection to, which would be a huge score for whoever lands the load.
Despite have tons of celebrity fans, (Wall Street Journal even adds that Quentin Tarantino was an employee back in the day and is still a frequent visitor), it's clear that the convenience of on-demand internet streaming media has overruled the power of nostalgia in this case. Vidiots will be sorely missed.
· Vidiots [Official Site]
· Vidiots, Beloved L.A.-Area Video Store, Says It's Going Out of Business [WSJ]
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