Proprietor Alan Sklar — in the good company of Kazan, Brando and Astaire.
BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | The fifth floor at 164 W. 25th St. holds a secret worth discovering and sharing: the resilient Alan’s Alley, a video store that recently moved to this location after 26 years on Ninth Ave.
Video store. Yes, you read that correctly. But this store has something that not even Netflix’s algorithm can touch: owner Alan Sklar. Residing in his head is a cornucopia of cinema and television knowledge that he uses to recommend and inform those who continue to come to his store.
Loyal customers and corporate clients have kept the business afloat, said Sklar, 65, who sat down with Chelsea Now in his new smaller spot, brimming with DVDs.
“Some people still don’t know we’re here,” he said. “We were under the impression that we [were] closing — we didn’t have a location. And so we were doing a ‘going out of business’ sale. But about ten days before we closed, we found this location.”
Sklar had been scouring the neighborhood to find a new space, but nothing came close to what was needed — they were either too big or small or expensive. A chance meeting with the landlord’s mother led him to land the spot near Seventh Ave.
But there is a huge difference between the two locations, he said. The original space, which he left in July of 2014, was at street level on Ninth Ave. between 22nd and 23rd Sts.
“You don’t get walk-in traffic,” he explained. “People used to walk their dogs in the area, that type of thing. It was just a much more convenient location for more people because it was on 23rd and Ninth. You had London Terrace over there.”
Another challenge is that the building management doesn’t allow him to put anything up, such as signs, for fear there will be too much foot traffic. Sklar said he tried to explain that half his business comes from corporate clientele, but to no avail.
“It’s been a struggle here,” he said. “[But] we’re functioning.”
However, a lot of regulars, such as Jennifer McAlister, continue to stop by, rent and chat with Sklar.
“I like the personal interaction,” she said. “I like to look around.”
McAlister, 44, who called herself “lo-fi,” told Chelsea Now she has been coming to Alan’s Alley since she moved to the neighborhood in 1994. She recalled fondly about how when she put her laundry to dry, she would dip over to the store on Ninth Ave. just to browse.
A lot of regulars, said Sklar, buy pre-pay packages: for $60, they can get 20 movies. A rental costs $4 for three nights. He has done special deals for students and teachers, extending the days if a student has a paper and needs to watch a film more than once.
When customers came by, Sklar knew them by name and discussed the movies they just saw or were thinking about seeing.
Alan’s Alley also offers delivery. Sklar, who has lived on 23rd St. since 1989, said he drops off rentals to London Terrace after the shop is closed for the day.
“I don’t mind taking a little detour,” he said.
People can also drop off their rentals next door to the former location, at Rail Line Diner (400 W. 23rd St. at Ninth Ave.), and Sklar picks them up every morning on his way to work. He says he has known the manager for about 20 years, which is how the usual drop-off point came about.
He makes allowance for late returns as well and sparingly charges fees.
“It’s been tough for some people to get things back in this weather,” he said. “We’re the neighborhood store. We’ve always been and it’s kind of what we’ve always done. It’s not really a big departure.”
The neighborhood showed an amazing amount of support, he said, when he was closing: people brought him home-cooked meals, helped at the counter and boxed everything alphabetically. Before the new location opened in the beginning of August, people also helped shelve the DVDs.
“It was remarkable,” he said. “It was just overwhelming, the support that we had.”
Sklar grew up in Bensonhurst, but had his first store with a partner in Forest Hills from 1983 until 1988. He then decided to venture out on his own.
“My partner and I were never on great terms,” he recalled. “So I was very happy to leave and start my own place. So I always wanted Manhattan. The city had a lot more action. Chelsea at the time — 26 years ago when we opened — had a lot of artists and writers [and] musicians.”
His wife’s family business was on 14th St. and they were always in Chelsea. Sklar had his eye on a space — a former A&P supermarket that had been empty for years. When it came on the market, they made inquiries about it. It later became home to Alan’s Alley.
Chelsea was a great mix of people at that time, he recalled. A lot of his best customers, he noted, have moved to Hoboken, Brooklyn and Harlem.
Higher prices follow gentrification, he said, noting the vacancies in the neighborhood.
“The store that I moved out of is still empty — hasn’t been rented,” he said.
Sklar said that rent was not the only reason he moved, “it was also part of the nature of my business. I wouldn’t just blame the landlord for my particular situation. He was very fair compared to what we see in most places.”
Landlords, he said, are looking for chains or brands because of their ability to pay.
“They always want a bank — they really have deep pockets,” he said.
He also sees needed services, such as Laundromats, in the neighborhood get replaced by high-end shops and restaurants. There are fewer services for those who have stayed, he said, and “less places for people to shop that really reflect their lifestyle.”
Nonetheless, he says he wants to stay in Chelsea and has been looking for a street level store, but that is difficult to find with the way rents have gone up.
“I feel like I can’t move to any other neighborhood because of my clientele — people don’t know what a video store is [anymore],” Sklar said.
At one time, Alan Alley’s had around 30,000 titles — a combination of DVDs and VHS. Now, said Sklar, there are more than 15,000 DVDs. He sold off or threw out the VHS tapes.
“VHS is not going to become the new vinyl,” he said. “But DVDs could become the new vinyl.”
Rare DVDs, such as “The Third Man” (which features Orson Welles) could go for $100, he explained.
The store is pleasantly crowded with DVDs. Categories — such as the Criterion Collection (a boutique distribution company, which features works by the likes of Truffaut and Fellini) — are not the typical genres you’ll find On Demand, like action, drama and comedy.
Sklar also acquires for clients who still want DVDs. He provides them to ad agencies, such as McGarryBowen, and television programs like the “Today Show” and the “Daily Show.” When the Tony Awards or the Film Society of Lincoln Center is doing a montage for Robert Redford or Tyne Daly, they go to Sklar.
Around 15 years ago, a friend of a regular came in and mentioned that she was doing a montage of bathrooms for an ad campaign. Sklar provided the clips and another aspect of his business was born.
“That’s how we kind of started to realize there’s this whole other business out there,” said Sklar.
Alan Sklar stands beside the poster for “There Were Always Dogs, Never Kids” — a 23-minute documentary shot back in the store’s Ninth Ave. days (visit alwaysdogsneverkids.com).
He said his love of film started with the movie theater on his block in Brooklyn. Movies were 25 cents in the late ‘50s and he went twice a week and also sometimes with his parents. The 1945 film “I Know Where I’m Going!” is still his favorite movie because, he said, “It’s charming. It’s romantic without being sappy.”
Sklar has seen streaming services erode his rentals year by year, but said that not everybody is enamored with them.
“They are plenty of people who just don’t want to get involved with Netflix,” he said.
He acknowledges that he is “a bit of a dinosaur — there’s no question. But it’s still nice to have human contact. [People are] willing to accept less in their life in some ways. They’ll take the suggestion of, ‘If you like this, you’ll like this’ — and that’s okay. People are going for convenience over quality.”
But in the meantime, Sklar will continue to work 365 days, keeping the store open past it’s closing hour if it suits his customers.
“I’ve told people if they’re having a hard time getting over here, I’ll hang out. [I’ll] just put another movie in,” he said with a laugh. “It beats work.”
Alan’s Alley Video: DVD & Video Store is located on the fifth floor (#5D) of 164 W. 25th St. (at Seventh Ave.). Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 10 a.m.–10p.m. Sun., 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Call 212-645-0999 for info.
