Tucked under a fading purple awning on East Speedway Boulevard in Tucson is a relic of cinephile history: a video store. The shelves at the store, Casa Video, contain almost 55,000 films, some of which haven’t yet been digitized or are tough to find, even online.
The store is a throwback to the days when movie fans had to scour shelves of plastic VHS cases in search of the latest films.
The two-story shop has been a fixture in Tucson since 1983, when it was founded by the self-proclaimed movie buffs Ray Mellenberndt and Gala Schwab. “We have a lot of loyal customers,” Schwab said. “There is not a day that goes by when they don’t question if we’re going to stay open.”
While stiff competition from digital movie services like Netflix and Hulu “definitely has had an impact,” said Daniel Corron, a Casa Video employee, the store has benefited from the shutdown of a handful of nearby Blockbuster locations. “We’re still going strong,” Corron said.
Dakota Johnson, an assistant manager, said the shop was the third largest independent movie store west of the Mississippi, with selections ranging from small independent films to classics like “Gone With the Wind.”
Inside the shop, the flower-printed carpets are faded, and some of the videocassette cases are old and worn. The checkout area has shelves packed with containers of popped popcorn, Pringles, Mike and Ikes and Sweet Tarts. The sounds of movies being played on televisions housed in a corner of the first floor crackle through the room. On a recent Thursday afternoon, about a dozen customers browsed the aisles.
“I had to find ‘Repo Man,’” said one customer, Jennifer Frost, referring to the 1984 action comedy. She munched on a paper bag of free popcorn — a treat that Casa Video has always shared with its customers.
Alex Perry, another customer, said he had always struggled to find the obscure movies he and a friend had put on their list of top 20 films. Perry said the store had 19 of the 20 movie titles on his list — Blockbuster had none. He said he was certain that if he asked, the owners of Casa Video could acquire the 20th.
Mellenberndt said that beyond the store’s huge collection of titles, there was a reason Casa Video continued to be successful: “We’ve always had free popcorn.”
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