The Best Video Film & Cultural Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary at the start of 2025. Since its opening, it has been serving coffee, hosting events and, of course, films to the community.
The video store, located at 1842 Whitney Ave., was founded by Hank Paper after his career as a screenwriter ended. The current store is the second location after it moved down the street from the original location.
“[The original store] was super small,” said Rai Bruton, administrative director at Best Video. “It’s near where Cafe Amici is … It was on Whitney Ave., but it was much smaller than the location that we’re at right now.”
With movies now offered on every streaming platform, Best Video still finds it important to have physical copies.
“We just got in our copy of “Deadpool” about a week ago, and we got “Twisters.” So we make sure we get the newest films that come out,” Bruton said. “But then we’re also very good about doing the back catalog, getting the new form films, not just the big blockbuster films, but things that you might not be able to find on Hulu or on HBO Max and all that stuff. So we do try to really make sure that we have the big ones, but also the things that people like.”
Customers of all ages enjoy many aspects that Best Video has to offer to the community.
“The video store is a well-kept, almost too well-kept secret gem of the Hamden area,” said Jesse Tague, a Quinnipiac student who frequents the store. “It’s a film enthusiast’s dream”
Unlike most video stores now, Best Video still offers VHS tapes. The Hamden community has continued to show an outpour of love for VHS tapes and rare movies even in the current digital age.
“We just had our best fest last Saturday, which was a celebration of all things physical media,” Burton said. “We sold a bunch of VHS. So it was nice to see that people still do care. But, it’s just the fact that a lot of these films aren’t available. When Hank Paper sold the place, they sold a lot of the VHS, because people figured no one’s going to care about VHS. But a lot of things that people are looking for now never came out on DVD. They’re only on VHS, so we’ve done a really good job of holding on to the rare copies that we do have now.”
On a nightly basis, the video store turns into a music hall or movie theater. Best Video hosts all kinds of events for the community, from concerts to movie screenings. On its website, there is a calendar of all the events.
“We do a lot,” Bruton said. “On our busiest months, we do like 25 events a month. “Recognition helps get people out. So things that do very well here, we make sure that we try to keep it the same day of the week.”
Consistency is key to Best Video’s events. Bruton said that on the first Wednesday of the month, the store does jazz trivia nights, which are a huge hit. It hosts jazz nights on the second or third Wednesday of the month to keep the same theme. The mindset is that it’s an “easily recognizable day of the week for them so that they can get here,” Bruton said.
The music events started around COVID. Since people were wary of coming out, the store and previous owner, Hank Hoffman, decided to host acts outside as a way to bring the community together.
“We built a deck, so that was really a way to keep people together,” Bruton said. “When they didn’t feel comfortable being inside of an actual building, we were able to say, ‘Hey, you guys can still come out and it’s a safer option.’”
Movie screenings and concerts have been huge hits with the community, from both the audience’s and the artist’s points of view.
“People love to play here,” Bruton said. “I just think it’s awesome that musicians, but particularly local musicians, have a great place where they sound good, they’ll look good, and that the community wants to hear them. People want to see films. They want to see films together. So just finding ways of bringing people together after we really couldn’t be together for such a long period of time.”
Holding events is crucial to the Hamden community, it brings people together and offers a safe place for them to meet others and enjoy their time out.
“It’s 1 p.m., so in about two hours, there’s going to be 30 kids in here running around after school, grabbing their candy, grabbing their snacks,” Bruton said. “So we offer a place for the children, but also a place that their parents know they are safe. We offer a place for musicians to play their music, for up-and-coming directors or people to show their films. We really try to just serve whatever they need, whatever is going to be best for the community, as well as serving our mission of bringing people together through film and through music and through coffee.”
After Hank Paper sold the store, Best Video became a non-profit to continue serving the Hamden community. It now continues to give back to film and music lovers all across the greater New Haven area.
“I was told that they got the idea to become a nonprofit from the community because Netflix and everything was taking over,” Bruton said. “But there are still people who come here every day that said ‘We want you to be here. This is necessary for us. We love film. We can’t get this anywhere else.’ So they became a nonprofit. What makes it so important is the fact that we’ve expanded and become a real community space for people to come meet. People do work here. People will hold work meetings. We do not just the music and the screenings, but we have political talks. We just really are for the community, and we’re a safe place for people to come. And you can’t find that everywhere.”