In posters on display at Mondo Kim's, he writes to say that, due to "rapidly declined" financial resources, he is seeking a sponsor to take on his entire collection of 55,000 films. The flyer goes on to say that he plans to close the rental department of his business and hopes to ensure that the collection will still be readily accessible to students and lovers of film.
Let's hope a local sponsor can be found. This is upsetting news to all those film lovers who find at Kim's what cannot be found in other video shops, nor at Netflix, namely obscure, odd, weird and hard-to-find movies about such things as biker chicks, zombies, and porn kittens from Mars. Where else are movies arranged according to categories like JUVENILE DELINQUENT?
So there's more to grieve in the loss of Mondo, along with those grimy, bestickered, poster-cluttered stairways. And we are left with the question of what will be going into the new Kim's space on 1st Ave. A salesperson at Mondo tells me the 1st Ave location will sell DVDs, CDs, and vinyl--but they will have no rentals.
With unmolested posters of Indiana Jones #4 and The Love Guru in the window of the new space, what kind of selection can we expect?
Mondo Kim's is said to close sometime in January. Before that happens, if you've got 3,000 square feet of space available to provide a home for these films, please drop an email to Mr. Kim at the address in the flyer below (click to enlarge):
11 comments:
Ah! I saw one of these last night. This is soooo depressing. Apparently , no one can afford to take this on, as it would be a total money pit. And, the only way that Kim's was able to keep such an awesome lesson intact was to have totally draconian fee policies, so a donation to the NYPL basically ensures that a lot of things will end up stolen.
how about the millenium on east 4th street?
how about blockbuster or netflix?
If you're buying at this sale watch out, they're passing off defective vinyl and selling it as new, perfect, and they have a no return policy on vinyl.
Anthology Film Archives should totally take it over!
Another institution down the drain with the chocolate egg creams.
if Mondo Kim's is going out of business-what's up with Kim's opening on 1st Avenue and 7thSt?
I was excited to see the new place opening on 1st Ave, but hadn't realized the St Marks shop was closing. Ugh, man, what's left? Please say a prayer for Trash & Vaudeville as that's the only place left worth frequenting on that block.
kim's is moving to somewhere in sicily. my heart is breaking.
The loss of Kim's is a real blow. I live in Jersey and admit I have a Netflix account. But there are many films on tape that have not made it to DVD, hence are not available at Netflix. I used to go to Kim's video and rent many of these tapes. Satyajit Ray's Apparjito and Elia Kazan's America, America are priceless memories for me and it could take a long time for the DVD. This is a loss for film students in New York as well. And there is no video store similar to Kim's in Jersey. When you walked into Kim's Video there was something magical about the place.It was a real treasure chest. Taxes and rents have got to remain low for businesses like Kim's to keep New York unique.
I used to live next door to Kim's (above Trash 'n Vaudeville) for seven years in the 90s and 00s. I have fond memories of renting DVDs (and videos, back then) from Kim's--my favorite had to be the uncut version of Spinal Tap. It was over 4 hours long, took some patience, but had some real comic gems. Despite being next door, one of my roommates still returned videos days, even weeks, late. We wished we had a return shoot that went through the wall into Kim's video on the other side. Good times. RIP Kim's.
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