Tin Tan, the famous Mexican comedian of the 50s, is present throughout the premises. T-shirts, books and, of course, movies. Of the total collection of 106, Alberto Ramírez keeps 73. His face lights up when he talks about Tin Tan and he does not stop taking copies and tapes while pointing to the shirt of "the movie in which he is a baker". At the Ramírez Rosas' location in Tlanepantla, State of Mexico, the most frequently repeated word is nostalgia. They have been with this Video Center for 24 years, the only one that remains in the entire metropolitan area of Mexico City. An already obsolete business in most of the world but that they resist closing. "Piracy, technology, Netflix, a pandemic, and here we are," Alberto explains, while his mother Inés and brother Daniel shyly settle behind the mouth mask.
Friends. Yesterday I discovered the last VideoCentro existing in all of Mexico and I thought it important to share them with you. 👴🏻🦖🦕📼 pic.twitter.com/LCjSMAbuPj
- Lalo Landa (@Grajeda) July 9, 2020In this small place with more than 4,000 films, the family remembers their Sundays of the 90s watching action or horror tapes with their father, who died six years ago and who founded the business and instilled in them a love of cinema. But since then, many things have changed and have hit this business. Videocentro was founded in 1983 in Mexico with the main objective of distributing Televisa movies and soap operas.
After years of successes, it spread throughout the country making millions in profits by renting movies in Betamax and VHS formats. Its boom was in the 1990s, until the American company Blockbuster bought it for ten million euros (about 11 million dollars). Since then, the emergence of digital platforms such as HBO with 140 million subscribers or Netflix with 182, have made competition from these small businesses impossible.
The latest blow has been the pandemic, which has closed the Ramírez Rosas family for two and a half months, albeit with nuances. "We really closed the bars, but our neighborhood customers kept asking us for movies on WhatsApp and that's how we've been keeping up," explains Alberto with a mischievous smile. The only thing that hasn't lasted the two months is the popcorn, popsicles and ice cream that customers often take to snack on during the film.
Daniel is the expert in action movies and is in charge of convincing customers about which movies to take. In the middle of the premises there is a television where the young man shows the trailers to the indecisive buyers. During the talk Luis Felipe Mosqueda enters with his young son and a tight shirt from the Monarchs of Michoacán. Mosqueda remembers the first movie he rented with his father: La Red, with Sandra Bullock and since then he has lost count of the times he has seen it. At 38 years old, this man has given up on Netflix and other platforms "because there is never the movie I want", that is why he comes from San Pablo de las Salinas, almost an hour from the videocenter, to choose something to see with his son , about 10 years old. "I want to instill in him the continued coming to these places, as he did with my father, it is not the same to be at home and push a button to come to these places and choose them calmly," says Mosqueda. After seeing several trailers and reviewing the entire filmography of the place, he accepts Daniel's recommendations: Joy and The Devil's Double. The latter is worn despite Daniel's explanations that it is not suitable for the child.
The premieres cost 45 pesos for a day of rent, while the old movies or catalogs are 35 pesos for 72 hours. The client must arrive with his identification and register to prove where he lives and his contact telephone number, something that Carlos Ramírez, 48, did not know. Ramírez arrives after finishing work and looks for VHS tapes - of video cassette, created in 1976 - after learning through networks that there was still a place to rent them. “I wanted to revive the VHS, I have an old television and a General Electric VHS that is over 20 years old. Obviously with technology, everything has improved a lot, but I have good memories of that time and I wanted to teach my daughter, ”he says.
The father of this client took him and his brothers on Sundays in his car to the Video Center in Torres de Satélite, in the State of Mexico, and they spent hours choosing. The Ramírez Rosas begin to release tapes on VHS. They have The Ologram, Let me live, Independence Day and many Disney, but the buyer does not have the documentation and ensures that he will return in a while.
The family explains that clients often come from many parts of the State such as Metepec, Atizapán, Satélite, or Santa Mónica, but that they have four or five that have been fixed for 20 years. Felipe, Mrs. Musme or a client who rents the same movie week after week for years. “We have seen families grow and loyal customer deaths. Most are already old, but our buyers, a large part, not only come and rent the film. They stay time, we talk, we tell each other how we are doing. It is what these stores had and that is still alive here, ”explains Alberto.
Viveros street, where the family's place is, is full of shops. The Yucatecan guayaberas store has not been able to cope with the almost three months of pandemic. The gift shop also sports a 'For Rent' sign. And the chicken restaurant. The Ramírez Rosas Video Center, against all odds, remains open for the most nostalgic.
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