Las Vegas Sun NewsHenderson man hopes new movie rental store will be a big hit
Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Trevor Layne and his girlfriend Katie Crispell pose at Movies & Candy, 10895 S. Eastern Ave., Thursday, January 17, 2013. Layne opened the video shop last November when his house started overflowing with movies.
Thursday
24 January 2013
2 a.m.
VEGAS INC coverage
Many people enjoy watching movies at home, but rarely these days do they head out to rent a film from a video store.
More likely, they stop at a Redbox kiosk to grab a title or they download movies from Netflix, Blockbuster or Amazon. Brick-and-mortar movie rental shops across the valley have closed in spades in recent years.
That hasn't deterred Trevor Layne.
In November, he and his girlfriend, Katie Crispell, opened Movies and Candy at 10895 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 160, Henderson. The movie store offers 15,000 titles for rent, including new releases and obscure cult classics.
Rentals cost $1, both for standard definition or high-definition Blu-Ray DVDs.
"We specialize in things Netflix, Amazon and Redbox don’t have,” Layne said.
Scattered throughout the 2,300-square-foot store are barrels filled with more than 100 types of candy. They sell for $7.50 a pound.
In the back of the store, there's a 90-inch movie screen with theater-style seats that people can rent out for parties or events. Tickets cost $8 per person for groups of four or fewer and $5 for groups of five or more. All-you-can-eat popcorn is free.
“We wanted to have to a mini-movie theater to show off,” Layne said. “We wanted to have a showpiece that you saw when you came in.”
The store is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
No matter when you stop in, it's likely Layne or Crispell will be working. On the rare occasion they're off, their parents — Bruce and Sherry Layne and Ed and Terry Crispell — manage the shop.
"Our parents have been a big help," Trevor Layne said. "I'm paying my mom in candy."
Opening the movie rental store was a calling for Trevor Layne. He previously worked as a commercial real estate agent but spent his free time buying and selling movies on Craigslist. His collection quickly swelled to 10,000.
When big-box movie rental stores such as Hollywood Video and Blockbuster began closing stores, Trevor Layne decided to try to fill the void by sharing his movie collection.
“You should have seen his house,” Sherry Layne said. “It was almost disgraceful. But it was a passion for him.”
The store has attracted a customer base that shares the same passion.
Tom Pagano roamed the shop for more than 20 minutes on a recent Thursday, writing down the names of movies he wants to watch.
“There are a lot of forgotten gems,” Pagano said. “It’s invigorating to see movies I haven’t seen in a while. There are drive-in movie classics that never made the normal circuit at Blockbuster.”
The store has close to 500 customers so far, and Trevor Layne said the response has been very positive. People even donated movies to the store in the hopes of keeping it open.
“We’re really trying to fill the niche of what’s different,” Layne said. “People have come in and said they’ve been dying for a place like this.”
Trevor Layne is developing a website that will allow renters to see the store's inventory in real-time.
If all goes well, the couple hopes to open a second location in Summerlin. There also is talk of opening a kiosk inside the Student Union at UNLV.
“I really hope this place works out,” Pagano said.
Share
Join the Discussion:
Previous Discussion:
Discussion 4 comments
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
Most Popular
- Sheriff weighs in on pimps, cops, hip-hop and cameras on the Strip, and more
- Panel finalizes plan to send $37.5 million more to S. Nevada colleges
- In writing book, Goodman ‘found myself to be a hero’
- A community comes together in the wake of teen’s shocking death
- Last-minute fortune seekers buy Powerball tickets
Great story. Good luck Trevor and Katie.
"writing down the names of movies he wants to watch." movies he wants to download when he gets home.
Great! People need to get off their behinds and walk around. We shouldn't do everything sitting on our behinds looking at a screen be it large or small.
Best of luck to you both. As someone who started my career in the time when home video was at its start, I have a great appreciation for what video stores brought to movie lovers. It really supported my career (50 films and many direct to video) and filled the need for a community. It exposed more obscure genres and films to the public and even created filmmakers like Tarantino who worked in a video store near where I lived. I am one of those who mainly uses downloading to see movie but I miss the atmosphere of the video store where people could exchange views and make discoveries. I will certainly visit your store and support your effort as many thousands of stores supported my films. My career is a product of a store like yours.
Albert Pyun
(The Sword and the Sorcerer, Cyborg, Captain America, Nemesis, Mean Guns, Ticker and so many more)
I'm curious if they offer paper or plastic bags at check out. I'm willing to bet plastic. Yup. Definitely plastic bags.
Didn't they watch that South Park episode, in which Randy Marsh buys a movie rental store?!?
Finally someone who isn't corporate America. I wish em the best in thier endeavors. In that part of town it should catch on , if I lived over there I'd rent from them.
I could have sworn I saw this story on South Park...