Film

Blockbuster closures raise the question: Can the mom-and-pop video store survive?

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Now showing: Movies & Candy’s Trevor and Katie Layne swear video-rental stores aren’t history just yet.
Photo: Steve Marcus

Dish Network’s announcement last week that it will be shuttering its remaining Blockbuster stores nationwide raises two question: 1. Blockbuster still has stores open? 2. People still go to stores to rent videos?

They do, according to Trevor Layne, owner of Movies & Candy, an independently owned video-rental shop he opened in October 2012 on Eastern Avenue near Sunridge Heights in Henderson. The key to success, he says, is execution.

Most movie buffs are streaming new releases these days, but Layne, a longtime movie nut, knows that film fans really just want to geek out with like-minded people. To that end, he’s created a mini movie theater at his store, complete with 90-inch screen and surround sound (it’s booked solid until the end of December), and the shop is decorated with tchotchkes that will induce goose bumps in any self-respecting dork. (Full-sized replica of Crow from MST3K, anyone?) Layne has also gone out of his way to find titles that aren’t on streaming services—Linda Blair’s Roller Boogie, Andy Warhol’s Cocaine Cowboys and “nudie cutie” Chatterbox—and stands ready to dish on any movie you want to talk about. Oh, and the barrels staggered throughout the store offering 200 candy varieties have been a big hit with families.

Layne admits to being “petrified” of attempting such a business, but so far he’s pleased with the results: Nearly 10,000 customers have signed up in the first year, and he’s established relationships within the community, from schools to Girl Scouts troops to book clubs. “If you do it right and build a base,” he says, “yes, it can work.”

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Ken Miller

Ken Miller is the editor of Las Vegas Magazine, having previously served as associate editor at Las Vegas Weekly, assistant ...

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