This is one one of those situations that feels shocking to me even if it’s not exactly surprising.  The 55,000+ movies in the collection of New York institution Kim’s Video are literally on their way to their new home in the town of Salemi in western Sicily.  Yes, of course, video stores in general are going the way of blacksmith shops.  And anyone who has been in this town for more than a few years should know not take take any seemingly permanent business, building or neighborhood for granted.  But couldn’t somebody in New York, whether for love or money, have found a way to meet store founder Yongman Kim’s three conditions?

“We hope to find a sponsor who can make this collection available to those who have loved Kim’s over the past two decades.” He promised to donate all the films without charge to anyone who would meet three conditions: Keep the collection intact, continue to update it and make it accessible to Kim’s members and others.

The proposal from Salemi was the only one that properly met those conditions.  I must admit, their plans do sound pretty cool.

Plans under way include what is described as a Never-ending Festival - a 24-hour projection of up to 10 films at once for the foreseeable future. The town also plans a relationship with the Venice Biennale, a collaboration with the University of Palermo and a professional translation company to subtitle the films, a Web site with a searchable database and, eventually, the conversion of all Kim’s VHS films to DVDs to ensure their preservation. Projection spaces and lodging for visitors will be created within a restored 17th-century Jesuit college, which will house the collection. The building, which now serves as the town’s municipal museum, has a large inner courtyard perfect for public projections.

Just as people who buy most or all of their books used from Amazon get bent out of shape when the quaintly unprofitable local bookshop closes down, many of Mr. Kim’s former customers (and probably a good many non-customers) are not taking this so well.

Mr. Kim, for his part, still gets daily calls from irate customers.

“I was very shocked,” he said last week, sitting in a bar near his new retail store on lower First Avenue. “If this number of people went to Kim’s Video, we would have stayed for a while. And we would be a very healthy operation. But once we’re down, now I’m getting a lot of support. It’s very ironic to me.”

He lamented the end of the business that he loved, a business that once allowed him to carve out his own contribution in America. And he mourns more than the loss of his movies.

“My passion was the introduction to my new community in U.S. of my film love,” he said. “This kind of passion is no longer welcome, due to the new technology of the Internet.”

He looked off into the distance. “The future of the video rental business is really dying and declining so fast, so fast,” he added. “I realized this thing so late.”

Alright, this is getting into heartbreak territory.  I feel worse for Mr. Kim than I do for New York.  People should cut him some slack.  At least he cared enough about his collection to give it away for free to those who are willing to do something meaningful with it.  If you choose the convenience and cost-savings of internet retailers and services rather than supporting your local businesses, then those local businesses will not survive.  It’s so damn simple.

Arrivederci, Kim’s!

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