The Bwog
Snobbery for Cheap
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A friend of Bwog passes along a tip that Kim's is having a massive sale. 25% off CDs, 10% of DVDs and 15% off books! That Criterion Collection version of Brazil you want to buy so that you might prominently display it? Yours! For only, like, $45.

Meanwhile, rumors of closure are surrounding the indie emporium. A source says it's "bleeding money." Shockingly, according to Google, the phrase "Bleeding Money" has not yet been co-opted for the title of a film student's Marxist love story.
See also: News You Can Use, Sales

October 16, 2007 @ 12:55 PM | Comments 32 comments | Add comment Post a comment | Link to this article | | | Share on Facebook

Posted by when: #1 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 1:01 PM
does Pinkberry open?
Posted by mlt: #2 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 1:02 PM
But where will all the video clerks who looked at you in that ever so demeaning way when you rented Mean Girls go? Such a sad day for the hipsters of Morningside...
Posted by no!!!!!!: #3 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 1:15 PM
if kim's closes i will burn myself in effigy outside its doors.
Posted by Economist: #4 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 1:16 PM
Shame on you, Bwog. These rumors are going to put such a run on KiMoney.
Posted by Chrissie: #5 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 1:31 PM
I really do hope Kim's closes. The CDs are always overpriced and it's clear that they can't make any cuts on the very limited audio equipment that comes in. The people that work there are awful. Something like a Duane Reade or a bank would do so much better in that spot.

Plus, they have another location downtown that does quite well and the customer-base up here, forgetting that it's basically on a college campus, just isn't large enough to support a store like this when so few people are actually buying physical music.
Posted by wtf: #6 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 2:01 PM
who cares about cds--it is a seriously excellent video store! such a wide selection! where else to rent from?? kim's closing would really, really suck.
Posted by kim's : #7 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 2:04 PM
is one of the finest video stores ever. sure, the clerks are none to happy but would you be as a likely college grad working in a video rental store? the selections are fantastic and the prices are really low.
Posted by Clarissa: #8 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 2:06 PM
Eh, there are undergrads working at Kim's too. And sucks after that other indie video store closed last or whatever, but still, there are many other ways to get videos.

What does Kim's get for a rental anyway?
Posted by oh no: #9 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 2:13 PM
where else can i search for Weekend at Bernies by director?
Posted by Is...: #10 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 2:31 PM
...the fate of this space decided by Columbia officials (as I believe it is)?

If so, please, for the love of GOD, find out who makes the decisions, and write to him or her to MAKE SURE a "bank or Duane Reade" does NOT go in this space.
Posted by coogan: #11 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 2:53 PM
Kim's has been bleeding money for years.

It has been the subject of federal raids for selling bootleg DVDs, it pays it's employees in cash under the table and the owner of Kim's really just wants to start his own film production house.

You heard it here first.
Posted by a kims employee: #12 (in reply to #11) · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 3:16 PM
No shit sherlock. You're really not the first one to know or discuss these things. Also, the big rumor is that there are drugs behind the whole shebang.

Also the clerks at this store aren't snobby, seriously the quality of clerks has gone drastically down in the last 6 months.
Posted by Sarcastic?: #13 (in reply to #5) · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 3:26 PM
You're kidding about opening a bank or Duane Reade, right? You must be kidding. Because if we use that some kind of idiotic logic we might as well open another Starbucks in there, making your approximate distance to any given Starbucks in Morningside Heights 20 feet.
Posted by too much columbia: #14 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 3:28 PM
Kim's should close jsut because of the look they give you when you ask where the Billy Joel CDs are.

this is new york, assholes. even if you don't love billy joel, you love billy joel. go to seattle if you're going to be a piece of shit.
Posted by whimper.: #15 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 3:40 PM
kim's can't close! better rentals' selection than blockbuster on amsterdam and 122nd. the employees aren't smiley, but they know their movies inside and out.
Posted by seattleite: #16 (in reply to #14) · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 3:45 PM
exsqueeze me? baking powder? go to seattle if you're going to be a piece of shit? what are you talking about?
Posted by umm: #17 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 4:44 PM
none of the columbia owned buildings in m-heights have chainstores in them. the university knows what attracts students and faculty and it's not a third starbucks. they carefully manage the rents to preserve a healthy balance of independent stores and restaurants in the neighborhood.
Posted by McFister: #18 (in reply to #14) · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 5:02 PM
That's right, this is New York, not a Bar Mitzvah in Great Neck. Love of Billy Joel is not obligatory.
Posted by Yes!: #19 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 5:17 PM
Yes, let us PLEASE open another Duane Reade where we will finally be greeted with perfect service and smiles all around
Posted by yeah okay...: #20 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 5:24 PM
a friend of bwog's passed along a tip??

I didn't know bwog made friends with NIG NEON GREEN SIGNS!

Oh yea, bwog definitely has inside tipsters...

and Seattle is for pieces of shit
Posted by whoops: #21 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 5:25 PM
Big** neon green signs..
Posted by yay: #22 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 5:43 PM
Fuck Kim's, the snotty little hipsters who work the registers, the angry security vultures, their circa-1990 video rental policies, and those stupid little reviews they write about the latest p.o.s. indie jangle-core albums.
Posted by ummmm: #23 (in reply to #14) · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 6:11 PM
As a native Brooklyner I take offense at your statement that all NY'ers must love Billy Joel. What planet are you from? Oh yes, the suburbs.

Also, you should have enough common sense to know that Kim's A. wouldn't carry Billy Joel CDs and B. buying a Billy Joel CD is shameful.
Posted by Sprinkles: #24 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 6:47 PM
I hate the employees' attitudes, but seriously, Columbia needs a good video store in the neighbourhood. Things I had been trying to find for years prior to college were right there on the shelf waiting for me to rent. Besides, now that Global Ink is gone, what are we going to do for media? Do we need another lame yuppie yoga or children's shoe store in Morningside Heights?
Posted by true: #25 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 8:57 PM
the people in duane reade hate and wish they had your money without being like you.
Posted by more truth: #26 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 9:19 PM
billy joel dork might have a point. sacrificing an important cultural emporium because they would rather not open their eyes to the fact that they run their business in morningside seems foolish and immature and SELFISH like a teenage goth at a family reunion. Video policy is horrendous. No f-ing way am I leaving 150 deposit and no one in my family has a credit card (hmm, I was raised to think people with credit cards are buying into the machine, how do you feel about this kim's?) It's like they think a lot of themself, so they make other people sacrifice their own ideals but they won't budge one step on their own. Um, you only sell good stuff you don't make it. But at the same time they're too insecure to thik that more people would want to rent there and pay their fees and return the rentals. Have you ever heard of good business people that give things away to make money? Where is the love? Where is the trust? I promise I would have wasted more than a couple hundred bucks by now, but instead all I got was movie withdraw. Thank you netflix. Mr. Kim and your store you suck.
Posted by Hey there: #27 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 10:50 PM
Hi Moses, Hi Coogan,

Y'all come back now, ya hear!
Posted by hopefully the bank: #28 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 11:05 PM
is a BofA. ugh, 107th.
Posted by ugh: #29 (in reply to #28) · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 11:31 PM
how much does the streetscape/level of neighborhood services have to suffer because everyone wants their own preferred bank to have a branch nearby?
Posted by The Dink: #30 · reply · track
October 16, 2007 at 11:47 PM
BILLY JOEL SUCKS SO MUCH. HE IS SIMPLY BAD. HE IS A TALENTLESS, SELF-IMPORTANT, DRUNK-DRIVING HACK. ELTON JOHN SHITS ALL OVER HIM.
Posted by Off-topic: #31 (in reply to #26) · reply · track
October 17, 2007 at 12:59 PM
Nobody in your family has a credit card? How do you pull that one off? Did you grow up in a house? (Guessing no) -- I couldn't even get my first apartment without a credit card. [Well, I did, but it was a bitch and a half.]
Posted by longtimer: #32 · reply · track
October 17, 2007 at 2:11 PM
I have been around campus since Kim's opened along with Broadway hall. I used to use it a lot. I groused about the $150 hold but figured it was worth it for such a good, local selection of hard-to-find movies.

But the last straw came when it was time to renew my account and they had a new policy where you had to fill out a credit card authorization form for RENTALS. As in, you were authorizing them to charge your card for the cost of a DVD if they THOUGHT you had failed to return it. And rental copies are much more expensive than copies of the same movies meant to be sold to consumers.

This is a ridiculous policy, as it gives them all the power and leaves me with no recourse at all. If I return a DVD, but their inventory process misses it, or they are having a bad day, they can claim it missing -- or late -- and charge my card without even asking me.

When this policy was explained to me I promptly canceled my account and haven't been back in years.
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