It’s tempting to imagine it as a scene from High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000), with cross conversations between customers and sales clerks about movies and life. But in Arfe, the last open video store in Madrid, there is not so much time for chats anymore: the counter receives dozens of people every day, although most of them come to get prints, reels or packages. In between, there are still those who take a DVD under their arm. And that, for Nacho Álvarez Arias, is enough to keep him going.
More than a video store
In mid-2024, the closure of Ficciones in Lavapiés fueled headlines that considered the format buried in the capital. But on Fermín Caballero street, in the Pilar neighborhood, the shutters are still open on this family business founded in 1977, which began as a photography and electronics store. “The video store was always an accessory part,” says Nacho. “It took a while to take off, then it was the most important thing for years, and now it’s back to being just another part of what we do.”
The change hasn’t just been to adapt to streaming. Today Arfe combines film rental with photo development, sale of printer cartridges, photocopies and parcel service. A formula that has allowed them to survive where others have closed. “We were never just a video store,” he recalls.
What streaming doesn’t give
Nacho doesn’t boast of having hidden gems that drag in cinephile pilgrimages. The advantage is in titles that the platforms do not offer or that are cheaper in physical rental. And also, although less than before, in personalized recommendations. “Now people who come here know what they want, they look for things that are not on streaming or that are more expensive there,” he says.
Thriller continues to be the most rented genre, along with animated films for children. Among personal recommendations, Nacho cites Flipped ( 2010, Rob Reiner), “little known and liked by everyone,” and a French film called Un feliz acontecimiento, in which a couple falls in love in a video store.
The golden age was archived between 2000 and 2008, when on Saturdays there were queues to get three films. Today, the flow is more modest – between ten and fifteen rentals a day on average – but constant. And as long as there are customers, Arfe will continue to resist, even if the rest of the city believes that the history of video stores has come to an end.