Brooklyn Boro

Williamsburg’s Videology Bar and Cinema set to close this month after 15 years

October 17, 2018 By Alex Wieckowski Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Videology at 308 Bedford Ave. will close its doors on Oct. 27. Eagle photos by Alex Wieckowski
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Videology Bar & Cinema, a bar and independent micro-cinema in Williamsburg, will close for good this month after 15 years of business.

“After almost 15 amazing years, Videology will be closing its doors for the last time on Oct. 27th,” Videology wrote on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. “Thank you so much to all of our loyal and passionate customers.”

Located at 308 Bedford Ave., Videology opened in 2003 as a DVD rental store but transformed into a bar and theater with a 40-seat screening room in 2012 to fight off the rise of on-demand streaming services. The business, however, continued to offer customers the chance to rent DVDs from their collection of over 17,000 titles.

Over the years, Videology became known for their events which included film trivia and bingo, sing-along movie nights, drinking games, advanced film screenings and more.

The co-owner of Videology, James Leet, said that the time to close up shop to pursue other opportunities felt right and did not come from common issues like rising rents or landlord problems, the Greenpoint Post reported.

“This is something that didn’t come up by surprise, but right now seems like a good time especially after such a long, really strong run,” Leet added.

After Videology posted its announcement, many people took to Twitter to express their thoughts on the matter.

“This is such a bummer,” Patrick Willems wrote on Twitter. “Videology movie trivia was pretty much the only reason I would actually go to Williamsburg. My friends and I never actually won, but I held out a vague hope that we’d do it one day.”

“This is legit depressing,” Stacey Grant tweeted.

Cynthia Osborn, a Greenpoint local who visited Videology several times, told the Gazette, “I don’t know of other places like Videology in the area so I’m very sad to hear it’s closing.”

“I’ve gone with friends, for dates, but it was also just the perfect thing to do on my own,” she added.

In the age of Netflix and on-demand video, Videology was part of a niche group of physical rental and film spaces.

Although there is no direct substitute for Videology, fans of the store may be interested in visiting Film Noir, a Greenpoint film rental store with an in-house cinema; Spectacle, a community screening space in Williamsburg; or Nitehawk Cinema, a theater in Williamsburg that offers seat-side food and beverage service.

Videology plans to go out in style with a ‘Suspiria’ Halloween costume party on its last day of business.

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