Remembering Rain City Video

Rain City Video opened its doors in Seattle’s eclectic Ballard neighborhood in 1988, serving the city for nearly 30 years before calling it quits. With a collection that approached 40,000 titles, Rain City had more to offer than the Blockbuster stores of years gone by and certainly more than any streaming service, making them a true gem for lovers of movies and TV. Stocking everything from big name flicks to obscure indie productions, Rain City Video had something for everyone across their three Seattle locations, truly living up to their ‘never a cloudy day’ mantra. Here’s a throwback to when they closed up shop in 2017:

After decades of servicing Seattle’s film buffs, Rain City Video on Sunset Hill is slated to close later this month, marking the death of yet another traditional video-rental store in the Netflix era. But the longtime owner, Mark Vrieling, says he is working to move his treasured inventory online.

Contacted over the phone by Seattle Weekly, Vrieling says he’s at the store with his 26-year-old daughter boxing up videos to be sold in a final mass sale of more than 10,000 titles of a total inventory of 38,000. The store stopped renting titles last week, but the closing sale is happening from now until April 28—the day the store will officially shut its doors for good. “We’ve got about 18,000 videos that we’re selling out of the store,” says Vrieling… read more >