Employee profile
What was the name of your video store?
Aardvark Video
Where was the store located?
Columbus, Ohio (United States)
When did you start working at this store?
1986
In your own words, how did you get started working in video retail? What
led you to choose the video industry, and this store in particular?
I had previously worked at a video store in Cleveland. It was part of a franchise and located in my neighborhood. The owner was an idiot and really knew nothing about film. When I moved to Columbus in '86 for school and jobless, I saw Aardvark Video from my bus window and decided to stop in and check it out. It was just south of downtown in a still in transition neighborhood that would become one of the centers for galleries in Columbus. Aardvark had been open a year and was owned by two guys (in tehir 30's then) who had been friennds since grade school). They had a fairly small stock, but the store was well organized. When I noticed that they had sections for directors (Welles, Kubrick, Godard, Truffaut, Fellini, Sturges, etc), as well as sections devoted to non-domestic, cult/avant garde, documentary, music, animation and classic titles, I knew that this was the place for me. I was also volunteering at the Art Museum and became an assistant to the curator of their film program (no longer in existence), along with taking film studies & history courses at Ohio State, but the ability to actually view films I had been studying and the people the film literate customers that gravitated to Aardvark was probably the biggest education in film I could have had. The stock continued to grow and I was able to contribute to the buying decisions. It was an incredible library of films on video, carrying everything from the complete BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ to BIRTH OF A NATION to a Halloween show that The Cramps played at a mental hospital in Kentucky. We also brought in John Waters for a two day film retrospective, brought in Divine for an in-store, as well as Dr. John and Bob Newirth for music shows. In addition, we published a semi-regular newspaper that had articles on film, as well as upcoming titles.
Describe your store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features?
The original Aardvark had an open floor plan which changed over the years. When I started, the walls of the rectangular space were covered with wood shelves and there were some racks on the floor. The counters were in the back. The front had wall sized windows and there were chairs and a table set up front so that people could hang out. As the stock and business grew, we added more racks, knocked out a wall and moved teh counters against one of the walls in the middle. The floor only had the box covers, while the tapes were on shelves in a room behind the counters. I worked there from 1986 (store opened in 85) until '91. The store moved to a cheaper part of the main drag in 92 or 93 and finally closed in maybe 98. As to distinguishing features, there was a nice neon sign at both locations. In the early years, there was also a wooden stand up in the form of a sunglass'wearing Aardvark holding a sign with teh stotres name. One day a wind blew through town and carried it into the street where it was decapitated. We put the head on a shelf for a long time, while the body stayed in the basement.
What were your customers like? What particularly memorable customers or events do you remember?
Well, some of this I've written about, but we had a great mix of people. Many were very film and art literate and it became something of a hang out and focus for people interested in film (the museum in town did have a film series, but there really wasn't much until The Wexner Center For The Arts opened up). Memorable events: well, John Waters and Divine in-stores. We also had one infamous customer by the name of Jeffrey Strouth. When you saw him pass teh windows on the way into the store, you would simultaneously think "Oh no, not Jeffrey" and "Alright, Jeffrey." this guy was like the gay Jack Kerouac and had truly incredible stories to tell about his travels. A film - which we later carried - called AMERICAN FABULOUS was made as a portrait of him, but it only scratched the surface of "teh live show". I also remeber one extremely busy Saturday night when a co-worker who was a severe diabetic started having some kind of attack because the film I had put on, Sam Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR, was freaking him out. He left the store in a daze and I had to fend for myself. We actually had a great crew of people working over the years. Also, though I wasn't there anymore, a film called WAITING FOR MARTY was shot at the second and last Aardvark location.
What was your boss like? How did he or she divide the work in the store?
The owners/bosses were laid back and a lot of fun. While they did all of the final decision making, everyone had a lot of input. Sometimes the back and forth, weighing each decision and airing out all sides, was a little maddening, but it worked.
What video formats did your store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store?
VHS and Laserdisc. The boxes and sleeves were on the floor (album racks for the discs and shleves and racks for the VHS), while the actual tapes and discs were in a room behind the counter.
In addition to mainstream Hollywood movies, what other kinds of videotapes
(children's videos or X-rated tapes, for example) did you rent/sell? Where were these
videos found in your store, and how important were they to the business?
Again, this has been answered, but the unique selection was the reason for this store and the reason that people from all over the city came to it. One kind of interesting thing is that, though we never carried porn, some anti-porn group spray painted some propaganda slogan on the windows assumming we must carry X. We specialized in Foreign, Underground/Cult/Avant Garde, Classic American, Doumentaries, Music, etc.
What other services/products did you offer besides the rental or sale of
programs? Did this change over time?
For a while, we were offering a VCR cleaning & repair service, but our tech moved on.
Did you ever rent VCRs or other hardware to your customers? If so,
how important were hardware rentals to the business?
We rented VCR's and cameras. Though the players were out probably every weekend, it wasn't the largest portion of revenue.
During the period that you worked at the store, what changes did you see take place?
I was tehre in the "golden years" so I pretty much saw nothing but growth in selection and in business. Both started to fade after maybe 93 or 94 and it finally closed.
Is this store still open? If not, when did it close?
Closed in abou 97 or 98. RIP