One of Williamsburg’s last video stores wants you to rewind with a beer and your favorite flick.
Videology plans to open a bar and screening room this fall in its Bedford Avenue location to give its discerning cinephiles something to snack on while devouring Fellini and Godard.
Film buffs James Leet and Wendy Chamberlain, who opened their video store seven years ago, believe that serving alcohol and ambitious hors d’oeuvres during screenings will allow them to compete against the burgeoning forces of online video rental and independent cinemas.
“We have something to offer that Netflix doesn’t — obscure foreign films you won’t find anywhere else,” said Leet.
The 40-seat bar will serve a mix of moderately priced domestic and imported wines and 10 draft beers, which Leet guarantees as “really good stuff,” and the snacks look even more impressive.
The tentative menu features croquettes with Acme smoked salmon, gourmet popcorn, craft pickles, plus brisket and pork chili, Mexican posole, and pea soup, and grilled cheese sandwiches.
The 30-seat screening room is the latest entry into the “movie bar” category spearheaded by DUMBO’s popular gastroscreen, Rerun, inside ReBar.
But history is not on the side of video stores, which have been closing throughout the film-mad neighborhood — both Vec’s Video and Metro Flix in Williamsburg shuttered in the past two years
Chamberlain and Leet are unfazed.
The pair plan to organize film trivia nights, director question and answer series, and even movie-themed cult comedy shows, such as mystery science nights hosted by the Raspberry Brothers that will be appointment viewing in the neighborhood.
And Videology may even introduce a monthly membership service that would cost similar to NetFlix and other online enterprises, though they are still working out the details.
One thing customers won’t have to worry about the store’s supply of DVDs, which may even grow after the bar opens.
“Video stores are rarer and rarer these days, so we hope this will allow us to keep renting to the neighborhood and build our collection,” said Chamberlain.
Videology [390 Bedford Ave. at S. First Street in Williamsburg, (718) 782-3468], noon-midnight. For info, www.videology.info.
