Local video store to close up shop

PRIYA SHARMA Jeff Saville gets a video from
Christian Mejia in Westwood Video at 925 Gayley
Ave. The independently owned store is going out of business due in
part to competition with corporate video retail chains.

By Laura Rico
Daily Bruin Contributor

For the first time in 20 years, the space at 954 Gayley Ave.
will no longer be occupied by a video rental store.

Competition with corporate video retailers and the changing
retail climate in Westwood are contributing to the store’s
closure, according to Hendrik Pakhchian, owner of Westwood Video
for the past eight years.

“It really comes down to money, and we have no chance of
competing,” Pakhchian said.

He said video chains like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster Video
are not affected by losses the way independent stores are.

“The corporate video stores come in with public money, so
losses don’t affect them, and they can outlast us
easily,” Pakhchian said.

According to the store owner, Westwood is rapidly losing its
longtime retailers and being replaced by fast food chains and
coffee shops.

“I don’t see the need for two Coffee Beans within a
half mile of one another, but that seems to be the direction
Westwood is going toward,” Pakhchian said.

“Westwood is less of a shopping place now, and it never
gets busy during the Christmas season like it used to,” he
continued.

When the store opened as Video 2001 in 1980, it was one of only
a handful of independently owned video stores in Westwood.

“A Videotheque store went out of business about six years
ago, and many others have come and gone,” Pakhchian said.

Westwood Video’s clientele consists mainly of local UCLA
students, who Pakhchian credited to the store’s
longevity. Even so, Pakhchian said today’s students have a
wider variety of entertainment options than they did 10 years
ago.

“Students use the Internet a lot, even to rent
movies,” he said “They have so many options on campus
for food and even clothes that there is no reason for some of them
to walk down into the village anymore.”

Pakhchian said he remembers one former UCLA student as being a
fan of Nintendo rentals, which the store stopped carrying in the
mid-’90s.

“Troy Aikman was a customer when he played football for
UCLA,” he said.

“He was also a member of my Nintendo club. If you bought a
game, you would get a coupon for $2 off,” Pakhchian
recalled.

Current customers of Westwood Video are often greeted by name as
they walk in, a gesture not usually seen in chain stores.

Fred Howard, a maintenance worker at UCLA, is one such
customer.

“I have been coming here for 10 years now and I really
like their selection,” Howard said.

Video rental prices at the store have remained at $1.49 to stay
within the budgets of most students, according to Pakhchian

But not all neighbors have been as supportive as the student
community. According to Pakhchian, the opening of In-N-Out has hurt
businesses along Gayley Avenue.

“When In-N-Out moved in, they changed the alley behind my
store into a one-way street, so cars could come in to use their
drive-thru,” Pakhchian said.

“The lines are usually so long, that my customers
can’t come in to park in our lot. It’s constantly busy,
especially during the afternoon and late at night,” he
continued.

As to future plans for the soon-to-be vacant store, Pakhchian
could only speculate what the owners will decide to open next
month.

“I’m not sure what they are planning to do with the
space,” he said. “Maybe they’ll open a coffee
shop.”