POULSBO — Talk to Craig and Cindy Smith and it won’t be long before the conversation naturally drifts to movies.
Self-proclaimed movies buffs, the Indianola residents are in their element running their three video stores, the newest of which is Peninsula Video in Poulsbo. After 18 years in the business they still love watching movies, talking about movies and most of all recommending movies.
“Myself and my employees, we try to get to know the customers’ tastes so we can recommend more and more movies to them,” Craig said. “I have even recommended movies to customers that I didn’t necessarily like, but that I thought (the customer) would like.”
Craig has a degree in theatre from Evergreen State and both Smiths are members of the Roving Players Theatre. A friend first suggested the couple start a video store, knowing their backgrounds in theatre and their love for watching and dissecting movies.
Two other video stores and nearly two decades later, the Smiths realize it’s not going to be easy jumping into a market like Poulsbo where other independent movie stores have been wiped out in recent years by national movie rental chains.
But formidable foes don’t have Peninsula Video shaking in its “Be Kind Rewind” stickers.
The Smiths figure there’s still a niche to be filled in Poulsbo.
“We don’t plan to go head to head with (the national chains), we’re alternative, we’re smaller,” Craig said. “We’re going to have copies of new releases but our niche will be a broad selection of film — a full film library. Silent films, independent, foreign, documentaries, cult. We’ve got sections inside of sections.”
The Smiths cite some of their most recent film favorites as “Moulin Rouge,” “Shadow of the Vampire” and “Memento,” although their all-time favorites are older movies like “The Third Man” by Orson Welles, “The Wild Child” by Francois Truffault, Charlie Chaplin movies and original creature features. They say independent films, which usually get overlooked by the main movie-going public, are their true passion and one they hope to share with customers in Little Norway.
And they’re willing to look long and hard for that special movie you might be craving, Craig added. Peninsula Video will reserve movies and take requests as well. They also exchange films between their three stores to offer customers a broader selection.
Not only is Peninsula Video family-friendly, meaning no adult films, the Smiths add the more unusual movies housed in their libraries are great family entertainment. All four of their children grew up watching items from their film library and the Smiths attribute this in part to three of the four being heavily involved in theatre today.
“Although I think my kids are a little harder to please at the theatre because they’ve seen so many movies,” Cindy joked.
