Reel Life South

I’ve found this video store disorganized and unacceptably dirty/​dusty. I don’t have bad allergies and a few minutes in the back of the store made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. And selection is great, but not if you can’t find anything… It’s too bad, because I would frequently rent videos here if this wasn’t the case. A model for a mom and pop video store — Photoplay in Greenpoint.

I like this place. They have what you want. They’re open til 11 pm. They also have a drop box if for some reason you show up after 11 pm to return your movies. Staff are incredibly nice. A+ movie rental store.

Unhelpful, inflexible staff and policies.
The story: My girlfriend and I came here one night to get a couple DVDs. One of the DVDs we chose was a multi-​disc set, where each disc is rented separately. We brought it up to the counter and were asked which disc from the set we wanted. We went with the standard movie disc, of course.
Surprise! When we got home and put it on, it was the wrong disc! Fine, we said, we’ll take it back tomorrow (they were closed by the time we got home) and switch it out for the right disc.
So I went in the next day and asked if he could give me the disc that we had paid for. His response: «if you had returned it the same day I could do that, but in this case you’ll have to pay for another rental.»
I argued that by the time we discovered they had given us the wrong one (obviously their mistake and not ours), the store was closed. He would not budge, and told me that was their policy and there was nothing he could do.
So basically, we’re not renting here anymore. There are a couple other rental places within easy walking distance of this one, so no big loss (for me, that is)!

Close to home, not too expensive, generally our go-​to. However, I find is super strange that they have SO MANY movies on VHS only… I know it’s a small business, but I find it a bit frustrating.

Great selection! I’m currently going through their film noir section, and finding it a daunting task — there’s a lot. And if you ask me a good film noir section is the hallmark of a good video store.

Three words: open until 11:30pm. This is the Park Slope outpost of the Bedford Avenue cinephile video store in Williamsburg, and has that feel to the people behind the counter. They’re always watching something interesting on the overhead TV, and making humorous comments, which then adds to the fun of your visit. Other times, it’s pretty quiet and you can browse as long as you like. Excellent selection of current tv series, foreign films, directors, cult films, family, and comedy. If you don’t have Netflix, you’re going to Reel Life.