Reel Video

Honestly some of my happiest times of my early 20's were spent here. The horror section is still second to none and I love it so much.

I worked at Reel in 2003-2004 or so, as a part-time job.

The positive:
* Genuinely large selection of obscure titles. Tons of stock.
* Willing to order whatever crazy thing a customer wanted, if it was available. Willing to fix broken VHS tapes (can you imagine that today?).
* Great staff that loved movies, loved talking about movies, loved helping people find movies, loved giving recommendations, etc. We were given a lot of leeway, too -- we could make judgment calls about waiving late fees and things like that.
* The local manager (Eric?) was great. Gave us the aforementioned leeway, trusted our judgment, allowed us to be awesome.
* As an employee you could rent as many movies as you wanted, and we had a reciprocal relationship with some of the local theaters to let us see free films. That year I watched sooo many movies. Pay was low (no surprise), but the perks were pretty good someone right out of college.

The negative:
* Most Berkeley people did not realize that this was, in fact, an "art house" installation of Hollywood Video by 2003 or so. We were told to sort of keep that a secret, even though you could find evidence of it if you looked closely (it said it, in tiny letters, in the store entrance). The story I heard (which might be wrong) was that it used to be independent, but got bought up in the late 1990s. We tried to keep the corporate affiliation on the down-low because we knew that a lot of the customer base thought they were sticking it to the man by going there (as a lot of the reviews here indicate). They weren't, alas.
* The aforementioned man (Hollywood Video) was run by morons. Every so often the regional manager would come through and try to come up with creative "solutions" to make more money, usually along the lines of "cut staff." What was crazy was that, according to them, we were among the most profitable Hollywood Videos in the region. But instead of saying, "maybe that's because we're doing something right" (like having lots of motivated staff-members who'd help you find what you were looking for), they thought, "how can we make it even more profitable?" It was frustrating. Other ideas floated were things like "make everyone wear a Hollywood Video uniform" or "make people cover up their tattoos." Fortunately while I was there the local manager was able to convince the suits that this was going to be self-defeating, because the whole "deal" was that Berkeley customers thought we were indy and cool and popping that misconception would be ruinous.
* The people running the show were REALLY slow to adapt. They BARELY could make the transition over to DVD -- we had 90% VHS stock well into the 21st century. That this was not going to work was pretty obvious even at the time. When Netflix emerged (not the streaming stuff, just the "rent any DVD for as long as you want" early version), it was so clear it was going to blow a slow-to-react place like Reel out of the water. I'm actually surprised Reel lasted as long as it did, well into the beginning of the "streaming era." It's a testament to the particular demographics of Berkeley that it hung on as long as it did. When I left they were still running on a computer system that was a better fit for the 1990s than the 2000s, and the inventory was handled with a crappy Excel spreadsheet. Not future-proof, alas.

Today I tell young people that I used to work in a video-rental store and they look at me like I'm the oldest man in the world, the same way they would if I told them I operated a switchboard (like my grandmother did in the 1930s). It was a neat experience and, even with its annoyances, it was a pretty cool place to work. Adios, Reel.

A sad sign of the times. Reel, you were always good to me.
However...
I don't feel sorry the woman and man who always were asking for spare change all these years. It always bugged me that the man would never look up from his reading to ask for money. If you looked at me, I might have been more sympathetic. And the woman, she had an iPhone?

Let's be Reel about how awesome this video store is; you name it, they've got it. I may or may not have more than hovered over their "So Bad They're Half Off", Steven Segal and zombie sections, but their nonsensical, cross-listed system makes it almost impossible to navigate. What this generally means is that I have to embarrass myself more than once, having to not only ask for the title and check out.

Once they get a map, computer system, or hell, even the dewey-decimel, I'm bidding adieu to Netflix!

I almost canceled my Netflix today as a result of this store. This place has everything the movie geek fanboy inside could ever want. An expansive collection. A large foreign and independent selection. Films listed by director. Even some of my favorite slightly obscure and often hard to find Asian films. And as a new member my first rental was free.

Sometimes, I just want a movie right now. Reel video will be there to fulfill that whim. With anything I desire. Like a husband during his wife's pregnancy, serving up the ice cream and pickles of the video rental world.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


i hate blockbusters....
Want to know why.
Because at Blockbusters
-you can't find a selection of silent film
-you can't grab a random copy of Dirty Dancing unless it Blue Ray which is stupid.
-you can't get a last minuet copy of a film you have to study for your finals in Film Theory/History course in UCB.

It's bad enough Videiots closed on College Ave. Why take the only source of awesome movies away from us? Now I have to travel to "La Video" on god d*@n 9th street in SF or journey to the Castro for special events. I'm not saying those are bad options, I'm just saying they REQUIRE BART/MUNI! Oh wait, I can wait for the Paramount to show one film a month.

I'm sorry. I'm writing out of rage.
But it's 105 degrees, I have nothing to take my mind off the heat and
my entire movie night has been ruined by the fact Reel is no longer with us.


So suck it Netflix. Suck it Blockbusters.

I will correct my spelling errors when my temper has cooled. Thank you for reading.

Wow, Reel. I've been a member for years and today your staff just totally trashed me for not being able to figure out your non-alphabetical, non-intuitive filing system. Not satisfied with pointing out "it's right here" in that pompous, know-it-all tone, you then loudly told the story of how "stupid" I was to your colleagues as I was leaving. Classy.

You get two stars for the selection. That's it. You're on your own at Reel.

The fact that this place actually carried
Sleepaway Camp, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland

makes Reel the new film utopia of my universe.

Do not mock 80s slasher films and their availability on Shattuck Avenue.

Or the fact that my cashier had seen all three and was in awe of my selection. I speak the truth.

Swung into the parking lot today, ready to pick up a foreign "arthouse" movie which was inaccessible from my usual sources. I knew they would have it, I knew I wouldn't have to stress over parking, and I knew I would be able to dart in with my dogs in tow -- three reasons why I've always been happy with Reel.

But today was different. Today, I could not enter, because Reel is no more. A forlorn "people love us on yelp" sticker was one of the few notices posted on the window, along with a hand-written note announcing "CLOSED FOREVER."

So I was reminded of how I never wrote a review for this place, and also how I probably helped contribute to its demise. It's not that I found their selection lacking... well, okay, they didn't have any Taiwanese government-sponsored blockbusters from the 1960s and 1970s, GEEZ, and even if they did, they'd probably misfile it under "CHINA" like the other Taiwanese and Hong Kong flicks. It's not that I found the personalities of their staff to be intolerable. I actually prefer handing my cash over to a real live film buff, no matter how smarmy, rather than sifting through my inbox for the latest spam from Netflix. And like I mentioned, they're dog-friendly and easily accessible, which eliminates some time constraints when you need to wander through half the store trying to locate that ONE specific title in their idiosyncratic classification system.

I don't torrent and I don't download movies. I don't have a membership at Blockbuster. And believe it or not, I'd rather hunt down and buy copies of my own rare DVDs than stream them on Youtube. However, I do have a Netflix account and I also browse the selection at the public libraries. And ultimately, I turned to those routes because it was cheaper, WAY cheaper. Without so much as a Maniac Monday type of deal or a frequent renters program to help pad the blow, I seldom felt that paying close to $4 a rental was fair, even if that was what they needed to charge to barely make ends meet. It seemed like they were coasting on their reputation as an elite video store, when the truth is that a business manager needs to be much more desperate and creative about drawing in customers if you're going to survive as a video rental store these days.

That's one less card-tag to clutter up my keychain...

A couple other video stores remain that are worthy of Berkeley. Or put another way, Berkeley is left with the video stores it deserves. Folks, if you don't want to see a good business disappear, you've got to check in on it every once in a while. I, too, have been negligent

The selection of unusual, rare and hard to find film was almost perfect but they still didn't have certain movies I was looking for.
Also, the large selection of VHS is just in MY way but I'm sure some people heart it. Nice touch that they offer freshly popped corn nightly.
Good place.