While most people are still renting movies from stores like Blockbuster and Movie Gallery, a small local video store is thriving in the shadow of these corporate giants cast.
Video Rodeo, 1119 W. University Ave., has been able to grow in spite of the big wigs in the movie rental business and become a part of the community.
Roger Beebe, an associate professor in UF's English department, started the store five years ago with 2,000 VHS tapes he had been storing in his house.
"When I opened it, I didn't have any sense of a business plan," Beebe said. "I didn't know if we would be able to pay the bills."
Now, almost five years later, the store has more than 4,000 registered customers and about 5,000 videos.
Not only does the store run successfully without a business plan, it also runs without management as an employment cooperative, where every employee owns an equal share of the business.
The employees meet monthly to decide what new movies they will order, and who deserves a bonus for doing extra work like hanging fliers around town.
Unlike other movie rental stores, Beebe said the staff advertises as little as possible to save money to buy new DVDs for the store.
What little advertising strategy Video Rodeo has consists of making fliers which are mainly aimed at "sticking it to 'The Man.'"
On Video Rodeo's Web site, the staff advertises its popular fish bowl full of shredded Blockbuster cards. Anyone who cuts up his or her card in the store receives a discounted video rental.
Although larger corporate stores often order every video released in theaters, Video Rodeo is more discerning.
Which ever video the store's staff likes is what it orders, said Allison Bittiker, a Video Rodeo employee.
"Sometimes I feel like I have seen all of the movies in the store," Bittiker said laughing. "I don't know exactly how many I've seen; we have over 5,000 rentals, and I have seen almost half."
With three-day rentals for $3 a video, the store may become even more popular in the community, especially with the current economy, she said.
Katie David, a regular customer, said she loves that the store is not a huge corporation. She also enjoys its selection of foreign films and documentaries.
As long as Video Rodeo continues to carry the type of films these customers love, it's certain their customers will come back for more.
"We feel kind of communitarian," Beebe said. "We're a part of the community that a lot of people support."
No matter how popular the store becomes, Beebe said he never wants to franchise it or even open another branch.
"I think that it would be crazy to try to franchise it," Beebe says. "What's good enough for me is just to keep the collection growing."
