Oh, this is sad for me — not only because I hate to witness the slow demise of video stores but because of my personal connection to this one in particular. I worked at the Arcata branch of Figueiredo’s for years (hence my ease with all those vowels in the name). Met my wife there, in fact.
No word yet on the official last day, but the press release below says the other locations will remain open.
David and Dana Figueiredo, owners of the Figueiredo’s Video locations in Arcata, McKinleyville and Fort Bragg, have decided it’s time to close the Arcata branch, which has been part of the community for 30 years.
The McKinleyville location will still offer the same great prices and extensive selection, and there will be a drop box in Arcata for the convenience of customers who rent from the other Fig’s locations. Fig’s will be incorporating many of the Arcata movies into the McKinleyville store. David’s brother, Bob Figueiredo still operates his Eureka and Fortuna locations.
Dana and David want to thank their many patrons for their continued support and loyalty over the years, as well as the many employees who have worked with them. Without the employees diligence and dedication they would not have had the time to enjoy their family and friends, or be able to be involved in the many community activities they so enjoy.
A special thanks goes to general manager Muriel Craig, who not only curated the vast selections in the stores, but also has been an extremely loyal friend, second mother and Nana to their family these past 30 years.
David and Dana remember their two children as babies in this family business; now they’re college graduates starting lives of their own. When it doesn’t make them feel too old, they love seeing their former employees in the community, some of them with children of their own.
David and Dana appreciate the Arcata community and wish you all the best.
This article appears in Eureka’s New Boss.
Fig’s closed our Rio Dell video store several years ago. The Fortuna branch moved into much smaller quarters. Fig’s is going out. Personally, I really miss Fortuna’s Reel to Reel store because the owner there was always there to share her immense film knowledge, the most extensive I’ve encountered in Humboldt County. Movie renters of her videos got the best of service and she couldn’t withstand Spotlight’s competition or the supermarkets, then Netflix, and the other internet ways of getting films, all these ways devoid of personal contact and film expertise help.
I’ve switched to library films which our libraries keep increasing their inventory which is great. I actually can’t keep up with the “new” old films there and so pay nothing for videos–but rarely see a “new” release (sometimes these “new” releases charged extra money were years old even at Figs.)
A Co-op Film Library would work in Arcata. Why not organize one?
There is still La Dolce right? When I found out about Video Experience, I was so thrilled. They offered the best selection for films in Arcata and Eureka. I was so happy when my former classmate decided to buy their stock and open LDV when VX decided to close their doors. So now that Fig’s is closing it’s Arcata location, please support LDV!
I try to support Fig’s. I think they’re great people. But every time i rent a dvd it skips. I have a nice dvd player too. So we switched to netflix. no more missing the end of movies or dealing with skipping. Sad that times are changing. Blockbuster, tower records, spotlight, it’s a direct result of the digital age. Bummer.
I began visiting Figs weekly in 1990 as a college student, and frequented the place for maybe 10 years. Then I fell in with Video Experience for 5 years before ending my renting lifestyle.
But low and behold, in 2010 I decided to rent a film to show my daughter. I proudly dusted off my membership card I’d faithfully kept for two decades and talked up the dying movie rental industry (along with movie theaters and video arcades) with my daughter on our way to Figs.
Alas, the store clerk had no record of me as a customer, and, well, they don’t even use membership cards anymore. Man, Subway Sandwiches has a stronger interest in customer loyalty. Oh well. We stream Netflix now.
Steve, it’s true that streaming videos occurs without personal interaction. It also occur without cars being driven to and from a video store twice with each rental, among other impacts, chief among them… our precious limited time.
Regarding film expertise, the era of relying on a single knowledgeable person, or an entire store’s staff, has been replaced by hundreds or thousands of people eager to share and discuss movies without concern for geographic boundaries.
Subscribe to a streaming service, join a film forum devoted to that service, and open yourself up to a video store that has 15,000 to 20,000 movie and TV titles, a wee bit more than you find at your local video store.
In addition to getting advice from film fans online, the services have excellent recommendation systems that grow stronger with each film you rank so that the service learns what you like, and learns what to recommend to other people.
I sure have fond memories of Figueiredo’s. They sure filled a need for a long time. They gave back Teto the community. David even reopened in McKinleyville after the fire! Good luck to the employees.
I walked to Rio Dell Figs when it was there. I walk to the library. My car use carbon imprint compared to most is very low and could be lower if Humboldt County ever decided to become co-operatively self-sufficient and got off the capitalist system as much as possible–because we can’t really compete with billions of Asians willing to work long hours at low wages. Only by switching back to community self-sufficiency systems will allow us to avoid continuing degradation of America because we no longer have the bucks to build infrastructure and maintain it.
And give me face-to-face dialogue any day over electronic communication. I spend a lot of hours on internet religious discussion forums and so I know there’s tons of informative people out there willing to talk with you. But you have to hunt for them and there’s always something missing from the communication because we human beings rely so heavily on facial expressions that actually make up a lot of what’s being communicated. Can’t get that or perhaps you can with cameras but I guess I am prejudiced towards face-to-face community because it’s home and not some place in electronic space where people and information are just bits of electrons flying this way or that.
There’s still La Dolce video a few blocks from Fig’s, used to be Video Experience for 25 years I think. They’ve always been more likely to have what I’m looking for, like new foreign and indie stuff, and they’re honest with their recommendations. Though Fig’s was good for games.
I worked at the Arcata Figs when it was in Northtown at the Jaffy’s location….VHS tapes baby! Dave and Dana were great to work for.
I do have to agree with the comment about the crappy condition of their DVDs though….too many frozen movies or skipped scenes.