As Editor-in-Chief of Mile High Cinema, Brad McHargue said about the relocation of Denver’s oldest rental store, Video One: “Jeff Hahn clearly loves film, so we owe it to him for helping to keep it alive in Denver.” Jeff Hahn is the owner operated at Video One and I talked to him about the store, streaming, geekdom, Colfax and the Zombie apocalypse. Video One has generously offered A MONTH OF FREE MOVIES to those who name drop Mile High Cinema when you join as a member. So get to know Jeff below and then take a trip to the new location.
If I told my loved ones I was going to open a video store tomorrow, they’d probably commit me, but you’ve stood the test of time in Denver. Is it reputation and loyalty that keep Video One in business – what’s your secret?
Reputation and loyalty keep Video One alive, indeed. What has kept us alive starts with being the first video store in Denver, that being said, over the years our reputation became the store that had everything; for many years we have been the oldest and largest store in Denver (now we’re the only real store, in my opinion.) What works for us now is simply this: we are the only place in town you may be able to find a tangible copy of a film more than a year old. This keeps us going but it’s still nearly impossible to do so…
Do you or staff personally stream or rent movies online? If so, this seems to offer the point that it’s not a purist thing to rent from a store, it’s just an alternative experience. What do you find is the main reason for your customers to continuing renting in the flesh?
None of my staff have Netflix or Hulu or any streaming services. They are die hard nerds for physical media I suppose, but it wouldn’t hurt my feeling too badly if they did. There are several reasons people give for coming to Video One. Some people don’t have a computer or smart phone, some people don’t like the library of streaming movies as they are mostly from the last 6 years. Some just like the human interaction and appreciate suggestions to movies they have never heard of.
It seems no matter how many surveys and ratings I give to all the online streaming sites, they still don’t make very good “suggestions.” This seems like the biggest benefit in talking with a human about discovering new titles, but how do you vet your staff in movie geekdom?
Well, I have my guys because they all possess highly radioactive levels of “geekdom,” so to speak. Everybody has their own eclectic taste which is unique to them, together we have a knowledge of most films of the last 100 years.
Why the move from the previous Colfax location to the Downing St. location? Does the new store offer anything that Colfax didn’t have?
We left Colfax after being stuck in a building that was kind-of hidden. It was very hard to stay in business at that location, and our land lords were a giant evil corporate conglomerate who treated us poorly. For us to stay in business we had to move, fortunately the building at 600 Downing Street opened up right before our lease was up. We are happy to be where we are as we are much more visible and our landlords are awesome.
What question or comment irks you the most that customers ask when they first visit your store?
While on Colfax it used to be the following: “Can I use your phone,” “Can I use your bathroom,” “You got any change?” Since our move it’s hard to think of a question… We do get an influx of people that think we are here to kiss their ass which is annoying and not tolerated.
If a Zombie apocalypse broke out, and the internet died, but people could still rent movies from you because you had a fortified brick-and-mortar operation, what movies would you suggest to people either as Zombie education, spiritual comfort or nihilistic escapism?
Great question! As far as zombie films go I’d personally have to recommend George Romero’s trilogy of “Night of the Living Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead,” and “Day of the Dead” for starters then maybe something new like “Zombieland,” because it gives rules and has Bill Murray. For spiritual comfort I might say rent “Man From Earth” or “Stalker.”
(milehighcinema.com)
