VHSpresso is permanently closed
There are plenty of reasons to love Seattle. If you love coffee, you can find a good cup of Joe pretty much anywhere, including a video store – but not just any video store and not just any cup of Joe.
It turns out that we can find a great Americano in the largest video store in the world, Scarecrow Video. That’s right, in a land of Redbox, Netflix, and Hulu, we have a thriving video store in our backyard with over 115,000 different titles in all formats, including VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-Ray. (Wow! Yeah, I know that’s what I said.)
In addition to their giant library of movies, they also have their own full-blown espresso bar, served with locally roasted beans by Seven Coffee Roasters in Ballard. While Scarecrow Video has been a fixture in the University District since many of today’s baristas were toddlers, VHSpresso is just shy of being three months old.
Walking back from Trader Joe’s recently, I had to stop in and say hello. I met up with the young and talented Marc, who is a barista and works in the video store. He gave me the skinny on the place while he served up my Americano.
Barista Marc Palm whipping up some coffee. VHSpresso is open Monday-Friday 7am-8pm. Saturday and Sundays 9am-8pm.
You know it’s an impressionable place when it doesn’t take much to have a flashback to the 80’s where, as a child my parents would actually rent a VHS Player, which was a HUGE thing, and bring it home for the weekend. I remember watching Some Kind of Wonderful, Weird Science, Back to the Future, Sixteen Candles, or any John Hughes films I could get my dad to rent me. I was in Cold War heaven.
Ah, it doesn’t seem that long ago since I was listening to The Smiths, U2, and The Cure in my bedroom writing love letters that went unread. All that ended when Nirvana and Pearl Jam hit the scene, bringing me back to where I’m at today, writing a blog that goes mostly unread…
Anyway, so like I was saying…
VHSpresso reminds of all the great things I love about this city. It’s diversity. It’s multi-talented baristas. It’s modern day charm. And it’s periodic wormhole to another time, before Facebook (doesn’t seem real does it?). And yet, VHSpresso and Scarecrow Video are still relevant providing new to rare and hard-to-find movie titles. If you get a chance, stop by this unique Seattle coffee shop and pick up a few vids, grab a latte for the road, and tell Marc that you read about him here.
VHSpresso at Scarecrow Video
Location: 5030 Roosevelt Way NE
Neighborhood: University District
The map below details where you can enjoy VHSpresso and get vintage, rare Beatles movies…
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