Take One Video prepares to bid adieu to the Village
By Michelle Alaimo
After more than 17 years in business in downtown Saratoga, Take One Video is calling it quits. The owner cites a number of reasons for closing, including Blockbuster Video and increasing technology.
"The video store was an enjoyable thing," owner Dave Birgers said. "Its closing is very sad."
The small video store where employees knew all its customers' names began to lose money nearly two years ago because of several factors, such as new ways to watch movies and poor night-time lighting in the Saratoga Village Shopping Center, Birgers said.
"Some customers have told me they thought our store was already closed because the lights outside are not always coming on at night," Birgers said.
Take One Video, 14440 Big Basin Way, was founded 17 years ago by Sherry Apple-Kraule, and has outlasted all the small-time video stores in the area. But Take One Video can't compete with Blockbuster. Since the large chain video store put down roots in the Argonaut Shopping Center a year ago, Birgers said he has lost 50 percent of his customers. Couple that with new entertainment options, such as satellites and computers, Take One Video is operating at 40 percent of the business it had just two years ago, Birgers said.
The loss of business has hit Birgers hard. He sometimes pays more than $2,000 a month from his personal account to cover business expenses. But Birgers said he loves his store and it has been hard to let go. Take One's lease expires in February and he said the store would remain open until then, as long as he has videos and digital video disk's (DVD's) to sell.
Birgers sees the loss of small town video stores as the way of the future because the smaller stores don't have the buying power of the larger video stores. He adds that stores the size of his can't stock the large quantity of new releases that Blockbuster Video can.
The store relies on new releases being returned the next day, which sometimes is an inconvenience for customers living in the Saratoga foothills, Birgers said. Larger video chain stores allow their customers to rent new releases for several days.
Recently, Birgers purchased close to 500 DVD movies in an attempt to keep up with recent technology. Birgers is now in the process of liquidating his entire 5,500-plus movie collection, selling each for $5 and up.
The availability of ever-changing technology has also taken away the niche that Take One Video once held by offering videos to customers in the Saratoga Foothills who don't have access to cable. Now those customers can install satellites or rent movies for a longer period of time from Blockbuster.
Until then, Birgers said the customers kept coming back.
"It was like friends dealing with each other," Birgers said. "We've watched families grow up."
The store's laid-back atmosphere also helped many of the students who worked there.
"I paid people to do their homework," Birgers said. His easygoing work atmosphere helped the store maintain a low turnover. But in recent years, Birgers has had a hard time finding employees to fill the day shift. Until a few years ago, most employees started working at the store during high school and stayed through college because they were able to do their homework in between customers.
Take One Video is currently on a reduced store hour schedule of noon to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The store is closed on Sunday.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
