![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7581-480x640.jpeg\")
Inside of Video Wave of Noe Valley are thousands of movies, shows and video games and rows upon rows of selections to peruse. Photo by JL Odom.<\/p>\nOn an off-and-on rainy Friday afternoon in San Francisco, one store on 24th Street has been busy since opening at 1 p.m. Customers peruse packed shelves in sections labeled \u201cNew Releases,\u201d \u201cSci-Fi\u201d and \u201cComedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owner Colin Hutton talks shop about old classics, special features, directors, remakes and more, while also checking a customer\u2019s account status.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like you still have a free rental available, so you can use that today,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a scene from the early aughts, but it\u2019s most days at Video Wave of Noe Valley, the only standalone video rental store still open in the city.<\/p>\n
When he bought the business in 2005, San Francisco had video stores everywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut by 2008, because of Netflix by mail, not even streaming as much, almost every other store closed,\u201d Hutton said.<\/p>\n
Monthly subscribers, help sustain the store.<\/p>\n
During my in-store visit, I watched Hutton move between the counter and shelves filled with DVDs, Blu-rays, VHS tapes and four generations of PlayStation games.<\/p>\n
He spent time with every person who walked in, chatting with them about possible rental selections. Connecting customers to good movies, he said, is \u201cdefinitely one of the most fun parts about what I get to do,\u201d Hutton said.<\/p>\n
Hutton, a former librarian finds that managing a vast video inventory is comparable to running a library filled with books.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike a librarian, I know the contents of my collection,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I like working with the public, answering questions and being helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
His ability to recall details\u2014from plotlines to actors\u2019 filmographies to how many versions of \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d he stocks\u2014has become part of the experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how Colin remembers what each of these films is about, but he always gives a good review. He can give you the short version or the longer version and make recommendations as well,\u201d said Carolyn Kenady, a Noe Valley resident.<\/p>\n
Kenady was casually wandering the aisles that afternoon. It had been a while since she\u2019d last visited. She mentioned an interest in renting recent Oscar-winning films and recommended \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d noting the store\u2019s strong selection overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge resource,\u201d she said. \u201cI can come in here and learn a lot, even if I don\u2019t walk out with a DVD.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenady has been stopping by periodically since Hutton and his then-business partner relocated the store in 2015 from 1431 Castro St. to its current location. She\u2019s also a monthly subscriber. Even if she fails to use it, being a subscriber makes her\u00a0 feel like she\u2019s helping to keep the store open.<\/p>\n
Memberships range from $9 (\u201cbasic,\u201d includes one free monthly rental) to $24 (\u201cweekly renter,\u201d includes four free monthly rentals). Hutton keeps printed sheets detailing rates at the checkout counter, along with a handout listing rental prices.<\/p>\n
Hutton introduced Video Wave\u2019s rental subscription model in August 2019, reaching 550 members by early 2020. Memberships dropped during COVID, but he is now at about 600. To work, he says, he needs roughly 700 to 750 subscribers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith everything going on in our country, supporting local business takes on new meaning,\u201d Kenady said.<\/p>\n
Hutton, who bought his partner out, has run the store alone for about a decade, handling rentals, memberships, donations, inventory, displays, cleaning and customer service. \u201cI don\u2019t have much of a life other than running my store and watching movies and trying to be helpful,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
His biggest issue \u2013 after sustainability \u2013 is space management for his nearly 30,000 titles.<\/p>\n
Inside of Video Wave of Noe Valley are thousands of movies, shows and video games and rows upon rows of selections to peruse. Photo by JL Odom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always acquiring new things,\u201d he said. \u201cMy stacks are getting way too high.\u201d<\/p>\n
And why do people go to a video store?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople tell me all the time, and it\u2019s true for me as well, that this is a cathartic, escapist thing\u2014to choose not to watch the news all the time and instead watch something else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hutton creates rotating displays including a \u201cStaff favorites\u201d shelf. Robert Redford and Rob Reiner sections are currently available, along with an \u201canti-fascist, dumb President, fight-the-power mini-section,\u201d curated in response to current events.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I have to do something, and I can\u2019t do much. It\u2019s a weird time to be pretending like it\u2019s business as usual,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the reasons people come here is that you can just see so much more at one time than you can see streaming,\u201d Hutton said. \u201cI have seven to eight times what most streaming services have available all the time\u2014and my collection doesn\u2019t change every month.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I don\u2019t have everything, and I know I\u2019ll never be able to get everything, but I have a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Video Wave of Noe Valley is located at 4027 24th St., San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Store hours are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. (closed Wednesdays and Sundays).<\/p>\n
![\"Bookshelves](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7576-853x640.jpeg\")
The vast selection of movies in Video Wave of Noe Valley \u2014 ranging from silent films from the early 1900s to new releases \u2014 is one of the reasons people are drawn to the store. Photo by JL Odom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On an off-and-on rainy Friday afternoon in San Francisco, one store on 24th Street has been busy since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1556,104487,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-287025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-mission","tag-noe-valley","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}