Waterfront revamps, reorganizes video stock

Author: Tamara Hilmes

PeekVid and YouTube may be offering students free, criminal access to tv shows and movies online, but for those who tire of watching films in small, three-inch boxes, there's still the video rental store.Whether you are looking for the complete second season of "Lost," a sophisticated foreign film to impress your girlfriend or the 80s classic, "The Breakfast Club," the newly remodeled Waterfront Video, located in Marble Works, has every movie that could possibly suit your whim.

Waterfront Video, which has an additional branch in Burlington, first opened in Middlebury in September of 1998. Until this past summer, the building had not undergone any restorations since its opening.

"It badly needed to be repainted," employee Joi Hart said.

This past summer the staff of Waterfront Video all worked together to give the "eclectic" video store a new look.

"We cleaned everything, put it back up and added colorful and tropical decorations," explained Pam Davis, another Waterfront employee. "We also reorganized the store. We moved things around to make it easier for the customers."

The renovating involved expanding the family and children's sections which now stretches the length of the side wall and is low to the ground, making it accessible to children so that they can "look for a movie while their parents browse," said Davis.

Although the look of the store may have changed, its extensive selection remains not only intact, but enlarged. Because their expansive collection including Sports Action, 80s Bliss, Kung Fu and Anime may be overwhelming to first-time customers, the staff has placed a shelf labeled "Waterfront Top 50, You Know You Want 'em" at the front of the store.

"This way, when customers come in saying 'I don't know what I want,' they can just grab something that's popular," Davis explained. Indecisive customers also have the option of using the in-store database to look up movies and create a viewing "wish-list," or they can simply visit waterfrontvideo.com/midd.html and look through the store's latest list of titles.

If you do dare to venture beyond the front of the store, long shelves decorated with toy trucks and paper umbrellas lie in wait, full of movies labeled "Cultural Dissidents and Other Crazy Geniuses," "BondÖJames Bond Action" and "Directors (these guys aren't quite right)," which includes the likes of Peter Jackson.

The store is most proud, however, of its extensive VHS collection. "We have the best VHS old-style collection," Davis claimed. "People come from Boston, New York and L.A. and have seen nothing like it." Better yet, if the Middlebury location does not have the video you are looking for, they can order it from the Burlington store. "Students and faculty come in all the time and just give us a title," said Davis. "If we can't find it, we can call over to Burlington."

Waterfront also offers several promotions throughout the week. If you venture to the store on a Monday for some mid-week movie-viewing you can get your second new-release rental for just $1.

"We have this great deal where you can rent four older titles for four days for only eight bucks," Davis noted. "We just want to make it easy on folks."

If the extensive movie collection and sweet deals are not enough to tempt you, you can always stop by the store for some of Leonardo's Italian Gelato and Sorbet or a "tasty" beverage from the "funky" vintage cooler at the front of the store. As Davis put it, "It's the odd little things that make it fun."