The Last Shop Standing: Silver Screen Video is Kitsap’s last movie rental shop

Published 9:23 am Monday, December 21, 2015

Cut!

That’s a wrap.

Bainbridge Island’s Silver Screen Video is now the last of its kind in Kitsap County.

Amidst a smattering of Redbox kiosks and a few grocery stores keeping their hand slightly in the game, the iconic island shop stands alone as the only dedicated movie rental locale in town, the sole survivor in a marginalized marketplace left decimated by the proliferation of digital services and the domination of giant online retailers.

Owned and operated by Colin Randall, a former staff member, the store was set to close last year before an outcry of protest from its fanatic fans forced the previous owner to reconsider. Ultimately, the store stayed open, but much of the extra inventory was sold off and the shop was downsized to its current location (325 Tormey Lane NE, Suite 143).

That part of the story, however, doesn’t seem quite as well-known.

“About half of our existing customers never came to the new location,” Randall said. “So, he was going to close it for good. It was a matter of the video store going out of business or somebody else taking it over.”

And, like the hero in any classic cliffhanger from Hollywood, Randall showed up in the nick of time to save the day.

“I’m glad I did,” he said. “Because it was a close call [to] not having one in the entire county.

“There were independent stores all over Kitsap County, and they’ve all gone out of business.”

Randall’s a movie lover, pure and simple, and he took over the business to preserve what he sees as an important aspect of American entertainment culture.

He’s also, however, a realist.

“We’ve lost business — and we still lose business — consistently, year after year,” he said.

“I have a schedule. I agreed with myself to run it for five years [and] we’re a year and a half in. If it goes longer than that, I’d be happy to stay open.”

The new owner inherited an admittedly bleak picture when he took over, but things got even worse almost right away, when the Kitsap Regional Library, who had purchased in bulk used copies of new releases from the shop for distribution to all the county’s branches for 20 years, suddenly canceled their contract.

The library opted instead, Randall said, to purchase its DVDs from an East Coast company that could also provide cataloging services, thus presumably eliminating the need to pay someone here to do it.

“It was a big deal,” Randall said. “It was a substantial portion of our monthly income. We literally lost an employment position here.”

The losses have since leveled off.

He’s not, however, making longterm entrepreneurial plans. Make money. Lose money. It’s all the same to Randall — for a few more years anyway.

“What I’ve done is I’ve bought myself a job,” he said. “Normally, people give you a job. They don’t ask you to pay for it. I’ve always wanted to run a small business and every time I tried to think of one, all I could think of was the video store.

“We all have to work for a living, but I think people should remember that they have a choice about what they can do,” he added. “I just don’t understand people that hate their job. There’re a lot of options in America. Why not pick something you enjoy, even if you don’t make very much money doing it? The money you make in a job is only part of your compensation. The other part of it is the satisfaction and the pleasure of going to work in the morning.”

Silver Screen Video has survived on Bainbridge due to a combination of unique circumstances, Randall explained.

The store must compete with the big boys in three key areas: convenience, selection and experience.

“The competition beats us with convenience,” he said. “But you don’t get a lot of selection, and there’re other drawbacks.”

And the experience of browsing in a real video store, Randall said, just can’t be duplicated online.

“There’s something about browsing,” he said wistfully. “We’ve got all of this great collection that you can’t get anywhere else.”

The shop has been tailored over the years to cater specifically to Bainbridge Island movie lovers, who, Randall said, have very demanding tastes.

“I think it’s the clientele on Bainbridge, their tastes, that make the difference,” he explained. “I don’t think we’d be able to survive if we just had more of the middle-of-the-road clientele. People come here because they like good movies and things that are hard to find, and we have them and nobody else does.”

The shop’s records show that the most often rented movies on the island are hard-to-find foreign films, BBC offerings and documentaries.

The shop also boasts rotating special sections arranged by interest, including seasonal titles, employee favorites and even memorial sections for recently deceased celebrities like Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

All rentals at the shop are $3.99 plus tax. Customers get new releases for two days, older films for five, and Randall offers deals to bulk renters, too. Rent three or more movies and you automatically get them for five days regardless, and when renting older TV and BBC series, a rental of three gets you one for free.

A photo ID and credit card is all that’s required to open an account. Visit www.facebook.com/silver

screen.bainbridge or call

206-842-0261 for more information. Silver Screen Video is open from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and from noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Regardless of how small a market share may be, there is certainly a possibility for beloved traditions to be kept alive by dedicated people who want to keep them in the world. We still have, after all, drive-in theaters — another aspect of Americana that’s been pronounced dead repeatedly. Maybe one video store is all we need.

If there were to be a film about the triumphs and trials of Kitsap County’s last remaining movie rental shop, Randall said he would want Wes Anderson (he of “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” fame) to direct it.

“I’d play myself,” he added quickly. “Obviously.”