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One of Brooklyn's Best-Loved Video Stores Closing Wednesday

By Ben Fractenberg | February 24, 2014 7:48pm
 Greenpoint's Photoplay is closing Wednesday after being open more than a decade in the neighborhood.
Greenpoint's Photoplay is closing Wednesday after being open more than a decade in the neighborhood.
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Flickr/Emily Raw

BROOKLYN — Beloved Greenpoint video rental store Photoplay will close for good Wednesday night, a worker confirmed to DNAinfo New York.

The store, which has been in Brooklyn for more than a decade, was one of the rare holdouts in the streaming video age. It was named "Best Cinephile's Stay-at-Home Option" by the Village Voice in 2012.

The store's merchandise is going to be moved to a storage unit and there are no immediate plans for a going out of business sale, according to Bedford + Bowery, who broke the story.

Store owner Michael Sayers is a respected cinephile who used to work in programing at Film Forum.

“He just said it’s just not working anymore, I’m not making any money,” a worker told the Brooklyn blog.

Even with the closing of Photoplay and once dominant chains like Blockbuster, a few video stores are staying afloat.

Williamsburg's Videology has managed to stay open by adding a bar and screening room to their rental store.

"A lot of people were disappointed, but it was this or going out of business altogether," Videology owner Wendy Chamberlin told DNAifo New York back in November. "People don’t seem to realize, video stores are not long for this world.”