As with so many other old, barren rooms, the still-open Videophile store belies its bustling past. Owner Jim Brumbaugh mans the Roosevelt neighborhood store alone; the only sound is that of "Victor, Victoria" playing on TV. And when the store closes after Sunday, Jan. 20, there won't be anyone behind the counter."I just saw the first announcement that we're closing.... It makes it feel real," he said, looking up from his computer screen.AN APPROPRIATE NAMETwenty-six years ago, Court Attinger and his partner, Jess Burton, started Videophile on Broadway across from Dick's Drive-in on Capitol Hill, renting and selling VHS, laserdiscs and vinyl. The first video store in Seattle proper, its owners soon changed their focus from rentals to sales and their inventory away from VHS and toward the then-newly emerging technology of laserdiscs. Videophile is possibly the most aptly named store in the city. According to a New York Times article, only an estimated 2 percent of households in America have a player. The customers here are the film connoisseurs that, back in the '80s, paid more for their movies so that they could get superior quality in sound and visuals. They have kept Videophile alive for the last two decades with their desire to own the complete Criterion Collection. The Criterion company is widely known for providing the most authoritative - some would say snobbish - versions of quintessential, vintage films and modern classics. Before Amazon.com (what Brumbaugh calls "the Wal-Mart of video stores") this was the only place you could get them.Then, in 1996, after Burton passed away, the store moved to its present home on 1028 N.E. 65th St. Around this time, Brumbaugh came into the picture. Together as partners, Attinger and Brumbaugh ran the store: Brumbaugh took the back, and Attinger everywhere else. A LOVE OF FILMRunning with a skeleton crew, the store rarely had more than two employees at any one time, all of whom were hired based almost exclusively on their love of the medium. This small group composed one of the most extensive bodies of film knowledge found in Seattle. "Court was an Alexandrian library of information," Brumbaugh said.The employees held their own ground. Around 1997, there was a crumbling theater taking up prime Belltown real estate that developers thought had the potential to be a good rock-climbing club. At the same time, a group of Seattle cinephiles were floating a petition to restore the old Cinerama. Craig Hyland was one of these faithful and an employee at Videophile for more than 20 years. After the petition was posted in the store, a certain customer saw it and thought it such a good idea that saving Cinerama is exactly what he did.Today, the theater is beautifully restored and is one only three movie houses in the country that can play an especially large-formated filmstrip that was introduced in the 1950s. Hyland's quiet place in Seattle's cinematic history is reserved. A PERSONAL CONNECTIONThe store, Brumbaugh, Attinger and the customers went on with life as usual until Attinger passed away in June 2006. Later that same year, in October 2006, Brumbaugh decided it was time to close up shop. This process has taken him more than a year. "It's just too much work," Brumbaugh said. "There's nothing wrong with hard work. If I could just work hard and get the store to work, that would be great. But I'm working hard, and no, I can't get the store to work.... It literally needed Court to run."Brumbaugh has been dragging his feet because of the connection he feels with his customers, he said, especially working in a video store in a city that's passionate about film. Sometimes he even gets his recommendations from the people he rings up at the cash register.Brumbaugh sees Monday, Jan. 21, as a day of relief - a welcome boredom, even. And after that? "I don't really know.... I'm going to clean the house!" he said.[[In-content Ad]]
