| Scarecrow Video | |
| Type: | Non-profit |
| Headquarters: | 5030 Roosevelt Way NE |
| Location: | Seattle, Washington, US |
| Founders: | Rebecca and George Latsios, John McCullough |
| Focus: | Video rental, History of film |
Scarecrow Video is an independently owned, non-profit video sales and rental store in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1988 and is based in the University District neighborhood. The store has a library of over 148,000 titles—among the largest in the United States—and is the last remaining video store in Seattle.
Scarecrow offers a wide selection of foreign DVDs, over 5,000 anime movies, and DVD players and other media devices for rental (including PAL, laser disc players and region free DVD players). 14,676 items are still on VHS. 263 items are on laserdisc.
As of 2019, Scarecrow's collection held more than 132,000 titles, about 4,100 of which were added in 2017.[1] Many of them out of print (some require deposits that range from $150 – $1000). Of the top 100 rarest titles (cross-checked against various institutions' lists), 88 of them are not held by the Library of Congress. The total number of "very rare" titles in which Scarecrow may have the only publicly accessible copy is 77 out of 100. There are 129 foreign country sections, featuring about 126 languages aside from English, available in store. The earliest original release date in their collection is from 1891.[2]
In 2004, the store produced The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide, published by Sasquatch Books.[3] Scarecrow conducts free community film screenings in its private screening room, a weekly children's story hour at its store, summer outdoor movie events at Magnuson Park and Silver Screeners movie discussion groups at Seattle-area public libraries and senior centers.
The store was opened in 1988 on Latona Avenue in the Ravenna neighborhood by Rebecca and George Latsios as well as John McCullough.[4] From the beginning the store was known as a welcome, open place for film lovers to find rare titles and be greeted by Latsios's trademark "Hello, my friend."[5] Scarecrow moved in 1993 to a larger, two-story building on Roosevelt Way in the University District with 8300square feet of space.[6] Celebrity patrons are rumored to include Quentin Tarantino, Bridget Fonda, Courtney Love, Winona Ryder, Directors John Woo and Bernardo Bertolucci, and legendary film critic Roger Ebert.[6]
In 1995, Latsios was diagnosed with brain cancer and given six months to live. He responded by spending large amounts on rare and unique videos, cementing the store's reputation as a Seattle icon of unique and rare titles, while ignoring other responsibilities such as federal taxes. For these reasons the store was sold in 1999. Latsios returned to his native Greece and died in 2003.[7]
In 2014, the store nearly went out of business due to rising competition from online streaming services. In October, Scarecrow's catalog was donated by owners Carl Tostevin and Mickey McDonough to the Scarecrow Project, a group formed by current and former store employees and long-time patrons, and supported by a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised over $100,000.[8] Scarecrow Video reopened under new ownership as a non-profit, preserving "one of the world's largest publicly available libraries of film and television".[9] The store began offering DVD-by-mail services across the United States in 2021 for non-rare titles after a successful trial during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] Scarecrow is the last video rental store still operating in the Seattle city limits after the closures of the 32-year-old Video Isle store in January 2019[11] and Reckless Video in July 2021.[12]
In June 2024, the Scarecrow Project announced another fundraising drive to allow the store to sign a new lease to remain its University District location. The store estimates that it needs $1.8 million by the end of the year to continue operating.[13]