Island Video calls it quits

After 30 years in business, Island Video decided to pack it in earlier this month, shutting down its one remaining location, the Madison Park store at 3109 E. Madison Street. We overlooked the closing, which was brought to our attention by MPB reader Kent Edebohls, who sent us a photo of the notice from Island Video owner Kent Smith posted on the door.

In the notice, Smith stated that negotiations with the landlord over a lease extension had been unsuccessful. He noted that the landlord had given Island Video rent reductions over the past two years, but that "the current level of business no longer supports the high costs of operating in the Madison Valley/Park area."

Film fans in our neighborhood had been among Island Video's most loyal customers, keeping this location going long after the Company's stores in other neighborhoods around town were shuttered. But the business model was simply no longer in tune with the times, given Netflix, Redbox and the numerous online video-streaming options now available. Sadly for some, the neighborhood movie-rental store has now gone the way of the neighborhood bookstore.

A couple of other businesses in the area have also decided to close shop in the last few months. Near the end of last year, Suess Chocolates in Madison Valley shut down, seemingly overnight. When it opened in 2009 we wondered, rather indirectly, if the neighborhood really needed another chocolate shop. It may be that the market provided the answer, though no reasons for the closing were given to Suess Chocolates' Facebook fans before the page was, like the store, suddently terminated.

Another business which recently closed in Madison Park was Aree Perlman at 4031 E. Madison St. (next to Scoop du Jour). Opened in 2004 by Ruth-Ellen Perlman, a former Microsoft communications executive, the store offered a small selection of contemporary and antique fine jewelry. Perlman held a final sale, thanked her patrons, and closed the business earlier this month. The space now houses Get Young MD, the rejuvination clinic of Dr. Teri Burnett, which had previously been located in Spa del Lago.