Chris Jacobson paced back and forth behind the counter at Cinema Nolita, occasionally ducking into the bathroom for sips of water. Jacobson has worked at the video rental store for over three years. He was around when the neighborhood rental shop moved from Elizabeth Street to its current Mulberry Street location last year. And now he’s trying to prevent Cinema Nolita from going under. The video store’s death is imminent. A July 31 piece by Michael Wilson in the Times announced Cinema Nolita’s closing. The article quoted the store’s owner, Michael Mosley, as saying that he planned to sell his collection of some 12,000 films. But things didn’t quite turn out that way. The Times piece generated a spike of interest, and as customers flocked to the store, Mosley decided to, as he says, “make a last ditch effort to keep the collection intact.” He pushed back the closing date two weeks.
But according to Jacobson, that might not have been the best decision. “If there was a time to sell everything, that would have been it,” he says. If the store does ultimately choke, it’s unlikely Mosley will be able to generate as much enthusiasm. Jacobson continues, “We just confused people I think. We said we were selling everything off and then we didn’t.”
Mosley, too, admits that the article didn’t stir up the right kind of public interest—at least, not the kind that would keep the store alive. “It did bring some attention, but mostly from people wanting to buy movies,” he says.
Right now, Cinema Nolita is holding its breath. Its fate is riding on two upcoming events: a screening this Saturday of Bad Lieutenant at Anthology Film Archives and an Animal Collective-DJ’d party on Monday at Santos Party House. The store is behind on rent—to the tune of roughly $8,000—and they will have to pay up by month’s end. Only if the two events sell out or come close, Mosley says, can he repay the debt.
“Our goal for the next few days is to get out of the red and then to see how we can change the business to keep it going in the future,” he says. “Obviously, we have to find a way to pay the rent and to pay employees.”
Cinema Nolita’s website somewhat ambiguously claims that the employees work for free—“We often work for free or at a loss”—but Mosley says this is untrue. Some of his employees have offered to work for free, but Mosley has insisted on paying them, though he admits he can’t always pay them on time. Jacobson, for one, depends on his Cinema Nolita paycheck. “I rely on this for my rent,” he says.
Mosley, who also has a full-time job doing web development, hopes to turn the store into a non-profit. But he’s not sure how he would achieve that, especially if the fund-raising isn’t successful.
Like many video rental stores, Cinema Nolita has suffered at the hands of Netflix and Internet piracy. “The customers we do have are very loyal,” Jacobson says. “There just aren’t enough of them.” Here’s hoping they’ll turn up at the screening and the party, and bring some friends.
