RICHMOND, Va. – After 31 years in Richmond’s Fan District, the Video Fan at 403 Strawberry St. has decided to close their doors, effective immediately.
The video rental shop announced the move on Facebook Monday afternoon saying “We can no longer sustain the business in its current location.”
The independent video store was one of Virginia’s largest repositories of physical media, with over 40,000 VHS tapes and DVDs in its collection.
Their collection also includes dozens of movie posters and items of video paraphernalia.
In the post, the store said the collection will be kept together and they are working to find a future for it.
“Thank you for the love you’ve shown over 31 incredible years,” the post continued.
The store’s closing comes two and a half years after they launched a Kickstarter to save the video store.
The goal of the campaign was to keep the Video Fan open another year by earning enough money to pay for its lease and produce a documentary about the store.
The Kickstarter exceeded their $35,200 goal, raising a total of $37,671.
Despite its immediately closing, the store said they will finish the documentary.
“Your support and daily patronage kept the store open long past the original doomsday,” the Facebook post read. “We are sad, but we are so grateful. We will miss you.”
