4 Star Video

If you've wandered into the former Dr. Video location recently, you may have noticed the change in management and it's new name, Four Star Video. What you might not know is that the Four Star Video sister-store in Bernal Heights has been around for roughly 20 years.

Four Star Video's current owners include Dave, a San Francisco native with a legacy of small businesses under his belt, and "young guns," Jeremy and Jamie. Their ideas for the store revolve around "Offering genuinely nice, go-the-extra-mile service, rather than the snobby, apathetic attitude. Stocking independent and international titles that are hard to find elsewhere. And going so far as to get ahold of DVDs like rare vintage cinema, British TV and experimental music videos."

Jamie and Jeremy brainstorm ideas like cool independent film events, while Dave concentrates a lot of his attention on being vibrantly active in the community. As co-president of the Cortland Merchants Association, along with Cathy Guntli of the Liberty Cafe, he's helped plant trees and decorated them for the holidays, installed benches, organized clean-up crews, and offered scholarships for local youth. Community building is an essential component to the store, and they pride themselves on being a community center, where their customers talk to them about local issues or their families as much as they talk to them about movies.

Despite concern about the the future of independent video stores, the owners of Four Star Video foresee a long-term need for comprehensive, accessible neighborhood video libraries. Their confidence has been boosted by recent recognition - they were named "Friendliest Video Store" in SF WEEKLY and one of the "Top 5 Places To Rent A Flick" by 7x7 MAGAZINE. The energy they've put into the store has created a buzz and a loyal clientele. So when their friends at Dr. Video asked them if they wanted to take over their Potrero Hill location, they felt ready to do it and were happy to ensure that the neighborhood continued to have a quality independent video store.

They've been hard at work re-organizing the store, and giving it a fresh new graphic identity. Changes include: grouping INDEPENDENT titles, adding more TV series, increasing the quantity of New Releases, and stocking up on rare DVDs by directors like Yasujiro Ozu, Fritz Lang, Kurosawa, Godard and Fellini. Very soon, they'll be opening up the 2nd floor of the store, which they've nicknamed THE ATTIC. Once open, THE ATTIC will include more rare and obscure titles, a lot of weird old gems on VHS... stuff like Andy Warhol movies, early Peter Greenaway shorts and Pam Grier movies, music videos, campy 60s titles, and so on. In the future, they hope to use the space in versatile ways, for instance: exhibiting film-related art pieces and screenings of works by local video artists. It's very important to them that they're not just a store, but a "place" where people can exchange ideas about movies and other cultural topics.

4 Star Video is located at:
1521 18th St

Rental Policies
• $3 to rent a movie for 3 nights / $3.75 for New Releases
• Kids' movies rent for 5 nights
• Pre-pay 20 movies for $50
• Every Wednesday is $1 Wednesday (excluding new releases)

Instead of a per-day late fee, an overdue rental will just renew to
you at the initial rate every 3 nights. The pre-paid "block" was acknowledged as "the best deal in town" by SF WEEKLY.

More Info
• To be added to the their email list, send an email to 4starvideo(at)sbcglobal.net with subject matter: ADD
• Reservations on any title can be made by phone at (415) 826-2900, and they can also transfer titles between stores