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Santa Barbara County’s last video rental store to close

Posted at 6:52 PM, Dec 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-18 22:09:18-05

For owner Carol Boston, nearly 30 years of owning Evergreen Video in Orcutt has been a labor of love.

“My mother used to take me to the movies and we used to see all the big Disney movies, like the Computer that Wore Tennis Shoes and The Aristocats, so I always loved movies, (opening the store) seemed like a natural thing,” Boston explained.

Her love of movies has grown more and more complex over time.

“People will ask me, ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ I can’t answer that question. I have so many favorite movies and I love them for different reasons.”

But within the last few years, the way people watch movies has changed.

“People seem to be okay watching movies on their phones and their tablets,” Boston said.

That’s made it hard for her to keep up.

“The last year has been really difficult. With streaming, people don’t wanna leave their house, they want instant gratification right now. So they don’t come in as much, sales were about half this year of what they were the year before,” she said.

Now, Boston will be closing the doors of Evergreen Video in early 2019.

For customers like Paul Grennan, this is a sad loss.

“You lose the personal touch and personal touch is important,” Grennan said.

Boston hopes customers who haven’t been by in a while will visit the store one last time.

“We saw a lot when we first opened a lot of families come in with their little kids and the little kids grew up and grew up with us. Now they come in with their own children so that’s really neat to see that they can show their kids their love of movies,” Boston said.

The store’s last day of rentals is December 31. Their liquidation sale begins January 4. ​