On March 8, 1990, Jorge Bravo and four friends opened Friends. The video club located in the town of Caseros, on Juan Manuel de Rosas at 3342, was one of the longest running in the west. Both Jorge and the rest of the partners invested 140 dollars (which at that time were 140 pesos) and began renting only 80 titles.
"Jorgito" – they want him so much that no customer conceives of calling him otherwise – bought his friends the rest of the video store and became the visible face of the trade (along with his wife Andrea) until 2014, when films in physical format became, at least for most, something of the past. After 30 years, Friends is still around although its shelves now contain sweets, cigarettes and bookstore items, among other products.
It is that although Jorge was able to reinvent himself, as it is so fashionable to say in these times, he never forgets the years of the video store or the regular customers of the place, to the point that despite the years he continues to remember the membership numbers of each one. "It was all movement and joy. It was a place for recreation and until Sundays people came and went from the premises, "recalls the merchant of Tres de Febrero.
The video club Friends, in Caseros, was one of the longest running in the west.
From the 90s to the early 2000s VHS (Video Home System) was all the rage. Jorge still remembers that TheLion King and Jurassic Park were the most rented cassettes on Friends. And although towards the end of the 90s the catalog of cable television offered more and more movies for the fear of video stores, everything continued as if nothing in the local Bravo.
Some of the VHS that Jorge keeps on the shelf of his premises, with the boxes in which he rented the films.
In fact, technology was what made both Friends and almost all video stores increase sales and rentals with the consolidation of the DVD.
From 2004, for almost 10 years, Jorge's place was full of titles. From blockbusters to small independent films. Even, as was customary in those days, he also sold chocolates and popcorns to accompany each film. It seemed that there was no better possible scenario, but the street began to do its thing.
While piracy already existed with VHS, the popularization of DVD facilitated the distribution of trout movies. Some began to be downloaded from the Internet and others were filmed directly from cinemas. Although the quality was not the same, the price difference in relation to the original titles began to be a temptation and customers who went every weekend to the videos began to approach the street stalls.
"You don't watch movies as a family anymore. Now everyone looks at a thousand things on their cell phone. The warmth of renting a movie was lost," says Bravo.
Anyway, Friends held on again. Just like he did with cable and even with an imposing Blockbuster that opened in the area. But in 2014 he couldn't resist anymore. The arrival of Netflix in homes changed everything.
"In video stores it was different. You walked, searched, lifted the boxes and read the back. Then you chose and even started talking to the guy in the box to ask for some advice. You knew it took a risk but you rented it anyway. This is what was lost: commitment." The phrase is not from Jorge, but from Quentin Tarantino, the iconic director of feature films such as Street Dogs and Violent Times, who also worked in a video store in its beginnings. However, the owner of Friends feels something similar.
Since closing Friends as a video store, Bravo understands that the same thing happens: "Everything became much colder. Before it was to take one or two movies to watch with family or at a special time. Now everyone is seeing a thousand things on their cell phone. He missed out on that warmth of renting a movie."
From video store to "service" for the neighborhood: "We will always be Friends".
Jorge (an obsessive conscious of order and cleanliness) cleaned with Blem and flannel until the last movie he rented. "I was glad how clean it was. I don't forget the smell of lavender," says Nazareno, a former client in the neighborhood who is still in touch with Bravo.
Since it stopped being a video store, Friends became a kind of maxikiosco, although Jorge prefers to talk about his store as a "service". "Many people come sad and with the need to talk. We try to have a particular treatment with each client and make them feel at ease. We take shifts for older people, we never charge extra for charging the SUBE and we have prices for everyone. Everything in this life happens to be helpful and solitary, "says the founder of the video store.
After 2014, the video club became a maxikiosco and bookstore.
He is so beloved in the neighborhood that there is no customer who does not greet him during the realization of this note. And so dedicated is he to each person who enters Friends that more than he says, he is aware that no one waits at the door more than 10 seconds to enter the premises.
That's why when the video melted he didn't want to change the name of the place. "We'll always be Friends, it's a brand," he says. From the first moment, everyone who rented a movie in the local west zone immediately became a friend and today remains the same although that "magic", as Jorge says, is no longer there.
Of the best times only the popcorns remained (he always sold the same one and never changed his supplier) and more than 1000 films that survived the transformation of the premises and were stored in Jorge's house. "Many tell me to put them back on display."
Year 2009. Despite the rise of piracy, the video store resisted until the arrival of streaming platforms.
He even remembers that during the pandemic, when they were delivering products of all kinds with shipping applications, a former client asked him if they were still delivering movies at home. "Clearly there was a nice memory," says Jorge.
For now, today Jorge celebrates that they managed to be "tied" after years of debts and suffering, enjoys his wife (who continues to attend with him) and his sons Román (25), Alejo (23) and Gastón (18). And with his head held high, he remembers his best years on Friends. "Do you remember the mailbox through which you returned the films during the 24 hours? I put it before the Blockbuster," he closes with a laugh.
