When did you open Video Vault?
We opened in November of 1985. The store is about 22 years old.
What were your reasons for opening this store?
I was always a movie buff, one of the first guys on the block to get a VCR. I moved up here from South Carolina and had just gotten a VCR, and joined the video clubs. Erol’s was around then, before Blockbuster. All the stores basically had the same selection of movies. And I was working for the government at the time, I was a political appointee, and after four years of [that work] I was kind of burned out and decided “why not open a video store?” I’m from Columbia, South Carolina, which has an art house theater called the Nickelodeon and I’ve always been into movies. So I figured I’d open a store that has a little bit different selection then I was able to find. It was hard to find foreign films, cult stuff, and classics. Through the help of a guy named Bob that worked for Graffiti, at the time they were renting movies, he was able to set me up with his distributor... They sent me a book of everything that was available on video at the time, Beta and VHS. I spent a week going through every single title and highlighting the ones we would be interested in, and pairing it down…I opened up the store with a little bit different selection.
You carry a lot of cult movies and films you wouldn’t find anywhere else, were you fond of those types of movies before?
Oh yeah, right now I would in fact recommend, if you haven’t seen it yet, [Rodriguez and Tarantino’s] Grindhouse. In the urban areas they had grindhouses, but I’m from the south we had drive-ins. But basically the same kind of movies played at the grindhouse are played at the drive-ins. So I was a kid and [watched] a triple feature of Blood Feast, 2,000 Maniacs, and Color Me Blood Red, which are H.G. Lewis’ movies. You know, that kind of thing, so I’ve always liked that.