‘There’s still a demand’: Bristol video shop celebrates 40 years in business

theguardian.com:

Some arrive at the shop seeking rare films impossible to find elsewhere, while others come because they have grown disillusioned with the power of the streaming services and their algorithms. Regulars relish the good-humoured expertise of the movie-mad staff – and are keen to support the last of a dying breed.

Against the odds, 20th Century Flicks, a DVD and VHS rental store in Bristol, has reached a landmark – its 40th anniversary – and is marking the moment with a festival showing films from the year of its opening, 1982.

“It does feel like a milestone,” said one of the owners, Dave Taylor, who began working at the shop two decades ago when renting videos and DVDs was as routine as clicking on a Netflix or Amazon Prime is film is now. “It’s changed a lot but there is still a demand for what we do. People who use our service really value it and Bristol really loves its film. There are enough people in the city wanting to watch the stuff that we have.”

The shopfront tells the story of what 20th Century Flicks is about. The sign features the iconic image of Béatrice Dalle from the poster of the French 1986 psychological drama Betty Blue and one of the walls is adorned with graffiti reading: “The Warriors”, a reference to the 1979 New York crime cult classic.

DVDs given prominence in the shop window range from new arthouse films such as Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman and Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round to the 1964 British comedy The Bargee starring Harry H Corbett as a canal boatman.

Videos include the 1953 Japanese classic Tokyo Story, On The Waterfront starring Marlon Brando from the following year – andEating Raoul, a dark satire about a married couple who go on a murder spree to fund their dream of buying a house and