The entire time I lived in New York, I aspired to impress the video store clerks.
Specifically the clerks at Kim's Video and Music, a retail store in the East Village since 1986, sharing space with a former dry cleaning business, which eventually expanded into five locations. I remember the shelves, the basement, the hand-lettered signs, the staircase lined with old band posters. I especially remember the disdain of the clerk when I naively rented "Failure to Launch," a forgettable Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey rom-com.
