The Bwog: Kim's: Fin

Kim's: Fin

Breaking-ish news: One Bwog informant wandered into Kim's today and noticed a sign at the counter that announced there would be no new rentals after August 31st and no purchases after September 15th. According to said informant, the staff isn't sure why the store is closing. The staff at Kim's confirms the news.

(All outstanding late fees will be charged to the credit card on the account.)

No word yet on what will occupy the space or where our PrezBo will go to pick up the latest Tommy Lee Jones vehicle.

See also: Kim's

Posted by Ron : #1 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 9:23 AM

What about positive balances?

Posted by yes! : #2 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 9:23 AM

thank god. please put something good in its place!

Posted by yes : #3 (in reply to #2) · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 9:50 AM

another mediocre restaurant, please.

Posted by upset : #4 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 10:57 AM

WHAT!!!!! NOT OKAY. Does anyone know if it's definately closing for sure?!

Posted by great : #5 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 11:06 AM

First the Movie Place, and now this. There is truly nowhere in the neighborhood to rent videos anymore.

And don't say Appletree. They've got like five.

Posted by sounds like : #6 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 11:30 AM (from campus)

a job for cuit/ocs. bring back dcpp!!!

Posted by Lerner Package Ppl : #7 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 11:36 AM (from campus)

OMG, I can't stand how all these people make me get up and get their netflix. It's not even a package, I mean come on! I can't stand all these people standing in line, wasting my time, so they can be entertained. For under 7 bucks a month I have to work double duty, as package distributor AND creepy movie rental guy. Not happy about that. I can't believe people don't go to a place like Kim's, where old movies are never available and prices are not affordable. Seriously, you can afford 50k for college and can't take the small walk to the rental store. These kids make me sick.

Posted by ZvS : #8 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 11:42 AM

The Fulton Street Strand is closing, too, although I guess that's not *technically* in Morningside.

Posted by About time : #9 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 11:47 AM

Haha finally! They can take their attitude and condescension somewhere else.

Posted by Adam Nobler : #10 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 12:09 PM (from campus)

I thought this was their usual scheme to say they are closing and then not, but apparently they are. Everything is 30-40% off, but considering everything is so over priced, it just becomes normally priced. Hopefully they sell their used DVD/VHS's cheap.

Posted by wtf : #11 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 12:10 PM

kims sucked, we need a hale & hearty soup or maoz in that place...also bwog, I saw a pita joe's (like the empanada joe's we're getting) on 14th st...pretty interesting chain...

Posted by ... : #12 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 12:35 PM

[external link to www.theonion.com]

Posted by The Internet : #13 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 2:24 PM

...The staff doesn't know why they are closing?

Three words:

Netflix, Bittorrent, Hulu.

Take your pick.

Posted by angry customer : #14 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 2:50 PM (from campus)

What irks me is that Kim's won't refund my rental account, nor will it let me use the remaining balance for purchases (only rentals). Seeing as how I'm going home in 11 days, that doesn't leave me much time to burn through my account.

Posted by Sprinkles : #15 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 3:41 PM

Shit! Even though the people there were straight out of Clerks, I really liked their film selection. All those movies I'd vaguely heard of but could never find in my hometown were there. Plus whenever I had to write about a film for a course, I could rent it there and take it back to my dorm, not sit in stinking Butler.

Posted by grrr : #16 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 4:01 PM

This is ridiculous. Will they really not refund my account balance? I started an account there, was forced to put 20 or 25 bucks on it, and have used it twice. Now I'm getting back to school on the 30th and have one day to use up my balance?? WTF!!

Posted by Solution : #17 (in reply to #16) · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 5:32 PM (from campus)

24-hour movie marathon!

Posted by NOOOOOOOO : #18 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 6:57 PM (from campus)

What!?!?!?!?! WHY???? Why is Kim's closing?? :(:(

Posted by angry customer : #19 (in reply to #16) · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 7:05 PM

I asked the clerk and he told me to use up my account or "get screwed out of your money." He said it sucks but it's store policy.

Posted by oh noes! : #20 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 7:22 PM

Where will film professors too pretentious to use Book Culture have us get our textbooks?

Posted by ... : #21 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 8:12 PM

see... the death of the indie video store... this is a problem... now i have no idea what i'm going to do with my life when my head explodes into a million fucking pieces and i never want to touch another computer that is connected to all the other computers ever again.

there was always something strangely romantic about the life of the mid-30s burnout indie video store clerk. it's like you can be a complete waste, but somehow delude yourself into thinking it's some kind of worthwhile "artistic" alternative pursuit.

c'est la vie.

Posted by kim's : #22 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 8:18 PM

always kind of sucked before, but now it really does. no refunds? WTF

Posted by hahahahaha : #23 (in reply to #19) · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 8:41 PM

i heard some guy say that to a customer today. maybe i was that girl paying next to you.

sad to see the place go, but i am not surprised. everything was overpriced!

they had a small sign taped to counter saying, 'yes we are really closing, stop asking! its makes us sad'

another one read 'NO we don't know why. YES it sucks'

Posted by Thank God : #24 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 10:09 PM

Kim's was way overpriced. Maybe this will clear the way for a Blockbuster.

Posted by noooo : #25 · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 10:57 PM (from campus)

kims sucks but it is part of the columbia shitty experience...what happened to nachos? the stend? mona's? I can't deal with all this shiny new stuff,.

Posted by angry customer : #26 (in reply to #23) · reply · track

August 3, 2008 at 11:38 PM (from campus)

You probably were. I was the frightfully good-looking one standing up for consumer rights.

Posted by EAL : #27 (in reply to #25) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 1:28 AM (from campus)

Wait, you MISS nacho's? What an overpriced dump that place was. I doubt anyone missed Mona when 1020 and Lion's Head were always right there, unless you're a Delta Sig brother, in which case you moved on to The Underground. Now the 'Stend was also a dump, but it was a GOOD dump. It was the quintessential dive bar of Morningside Heights, where all the frosh would go for their first college beer. Now it's grad-student central.

The Columbia experience is not shitty. In fact, we've gotten some good additions to the neighborhood in the last year, primarily Westside and Chipotle. I do miss Global Ink, though.

Posted by chipotle : #28 (in reply to #27) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 2:03 AM

more like rip-offotle.

Posted by wtffffffffffff : #29 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 5:01 AM

goddammit are you forreal, where is a person who can't plan in advance and needs instant gratification to go? not to mention that yes, they carried pretty much every movie i ever had a hankering to see, and i have specific taste(s)... this sucks ass

Posted by westside : #30 (in reply to #27) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 5:32 AM

has actually been around forever. in fact, it took a lot to get it to re-open in the new building that stands on that site.

columbia owns most of the buildings in the neighborhood and deliberately engineers the retail selection based on what it calculates will be most attractive to incoming professors or students. I hope they find some indie video replacement for kim's.

Posted by business owner : #31 (in reply to #30) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 8:00 AM (from campus)

I spoke with a local business owner the other day that leases from Columbia. he said they are actually great landlords (surprising since they are terrible supers for housing). Anyway, he said that they do not lease to big chains (columbia does not own the building with Famigs and Chipotle), they try to maintain a diverse mix of businesses, they are very flexible with payments, and their rents are actually below-market.

Needless to say I was shocked. Shocked and Awed.

Posted by CC 07 : #32 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 8:57 AM

They're going to charge outstanding fees? Bah. Two years of not going there as I accidentally kept a new release for like a month, wasted. damn you kims.

Posted by YES : #33 (in reply to #9) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 9:04 AM

To the unemployment line!

ZING

Posted by Idea : #34 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 10:24 AM

To all those pissed off about not getting their rental deposits back:

Go there, rent a few DVDs, and keep them.

No one will notice. Easy. Done.

Posted by that's not so smart : #35 (in reply to #34) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 10:29 AM

Except that kims as account holders' credit card numbers in the accounts, and they will charge you for anything that doesn't get turned in. So you will pay for the dvd you steal.

Posted by mjr : #36 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 10:29 AM

columbia students don't appreciate how awesome kims is, have fun buying training vibrators and pink boas when a rickys is here

Posted by no! : #37 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 2:36 PM

i am so upset about this.

shit

Posted by puh-lese : #38 (in reply to #36) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 4:40 PM (from campus)

we are not getting a ricky's. uws/columbia does not cater to that malarky

Posted by mjr : #39 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 4:55 PM

as a kims employee i know:

you guys are getting a rickys

Posted by no name : #40 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 5:26 PM

what happens if the credit card with the late fees no longer exists?!

Posted by yesss : #41 (in reply to #40) · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 5:52 PM

JACKPOT

Posted by ugh : #42 · reply · track

August 4, 2008 at 6:51 PM

This sucks. This sucks this sucks this sucks.

Posted by awful : #43 (in reply to #24) · reply · track

August 5, 2008 at 8:36 PM

This is really depressing. It was overpriced to buy stuff but the rental prices were reasonable. Kim's had good movies, not like that family-friendly, owned by �ber-christian fascists, retail chain Blockbuster. I once asked for where "On the waterfront" was at my New Jersey blockbuster a week after Brando died and the clerk responded, "If you wanted good movies, why did you come to Blockbuster?"

And Chipotle commenter, you make me sick. What about Columbia Bagels, the old AmCaf?

Posted by wait : #44 (in reply to #32) · reply · track

August 17, 2008 at 3:37 AM

you were wasted for a month? nice.

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