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Kim’s Video was the best

Never heard of it, you got some memories to share?

It was in St. Marks, 8th st to be exact in the east village. One stop shop for obscure films or underground albums and the like. If I recall correctly also had an extensive anime and AV section as well. Hit it up late night and then get food or coffee at Yaffa Cafe (open 24hr)

Good late 90s memories.

Damn, that sounds fresh

I recommend the excellent book called St Marks is Dead (Ana Calhoun) if anyone wants a full (and fascinating) history of the East Village (including Kim’s Video and Mondo Kims) from New Amsterdam to 2016ish.

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I would second this recommendation. If you’ve spent any significant period of time in your life in St Marks, it’s such a fantastic book.

The owner was a scumbag. Fuck that place

I miss Yaffa! So many fun nights there.

You forgot the prOn room. Blockbuster poopoo that money maker.

A 2012 Village Voice article regarding the fate of those videos is also a nice read.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/09/12/the-strange-fate-of-kims-video/

Went to Kim’s for all my Criterion Collection fix

>Criterion Collection

i learned abt all the great master filmmakers at Kim's

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There was a Kim's on the Upper West Side. One day, I realized it had closed and had to go to one of the downtown stores to retrieve my cash deposit.

i was so happy when i got a membership there

and that night I saw Akira in the movie right on 8th st.

i miss yaffa.. maybe i was young but that place felt cool.

Remember the crazy walk in sections? Blacksploitation I think was one? Really crazy selection

Hearing about this documentary has taken me down memory lane. So I’ll share. I used to work at Kim’s Video on Bleecker Street in the 1990’s. $5.50 an hour and free rentals. It was a wonderful time. But man, those of us who worked there were so pretentious. There was a section called “Masters of Light” and if someone came in and like asked for an Bergman film cos they couldn’t find it with the rest of his films on the shelves, staff would get snotty and be like, “No, that film is placed in the Masters of Light section, don’t you even know who Sven Nykvist is?” I’ve read that one of my former coworkers is interviewed in the documentary. He talks about the FBI raiding the store several times. But that only happened once. I worked later that afternoon and virtually all the VHS tapes of Chinese films were gone. Sometimes on payday, Mr Kim’s brother, Ted, would take money out of your paycheck as fines for what he deemed infractions. After doing that to one of my coworkers, she called her friends to come shopping at the store and would sell them 10 movies for the price of one. She cleared out her register and left. But she still continued to visit the store on a regular basis after that.

Movies sorted by director! ❤️

I used to hit Kim’s after digging through the 88¢ bin at sounds. Then walk to the continental for a punk show. Good times