On January 12, 2017, the San Diego Union Tribune (
visit link) ran the following:
"Family-owned Kensington Video — a cinematic treasure trove — closes again
Peter RoweContact Reporter
Like many sequels, the reopened Kensington Video fell short of the original.
“We just didn’t get the business,” said co-owner Guy Hanford, who plans to close the shop — for the second time — on Feb. 28.
While loyal customers will mourn Kensington Video’s passing, this venerable establishment is part of a dying breed. Across the country, brick-and-mortar shops are being replaced by online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, or automated rental kiosks like Redbox.
“It’s a constant drumbeat, the death knell of a great, great thing that is slipping away,” said Tom Roston, author of 2015’s “I Lost It at the Video Store.”
“This is the way of the industry now.”
The trend caught up with Kensington Video after logging a total of more than 32 years in business. The video rentals originally entered Winnie and Rich Hanford’s gift shop in 1984, as a sideline. But their son, Guy, built up one of the nation’s largest cinematic collections.
In the end, the shop offered 70,000 titles on video, Blu-Ray, VHS and laser disc.
That end seemed to come in February 2015, when the shop first closed. The time seemed right: Guy was 65 and his most reliable staffers — Winnie and Rich — were 87 and 86.
While retirement suited Rich, Guy and Winnie soon grew restless. They reopened 10 months after closing. This time, Kensington Video shared space with a smoothie business, Vidajuice, and featured talks by filmmakers and actors.
Vidajuice never took off, though, closing at the end of 2016. The video side also suffered; Guy estimates rentals fell 75 percent from their peak.
“It’s the wave of the future,” he said, “which you can’t control. We appreciate the faithfulness of our customers who came back after we reopened.
“There just weren’t enough of them.”"