The thrift store that replaced Red Hot Video wants to barter by day and film at night.
Red Hot Video is finally taking it all off. After announcing plans to close up shop in January 2012, and then flagrantly waving around its big, red Adult DVD Blowout Sale banner for the past year, the all-ratings video store is pulling down its signage to make way for Buddy's Barter Thrift Store.
Buddy's Barter Thrift Store-slash-production-studio…
There are big ideas for this place, but today there is a crowd of chairs and small tables near the front door waiting to go inside, a graveyard of white DVD racks, some exercise equipment, a holster, a sock monkey. One woman purchased a Cliff's Notes for $1. And then there's Buddy's own baby blue convertible Porsche in the store's window. It needs some TLC, according to Lionel Heredia, one of Buddy's associates, but runs in good condition. Asking price is $10,000.
Buddy Clark, the 82-year-old owner and Venice resident, understands that some neighbors bemoan a thrift shop opening in place of a business they weren't sad to see go, but he plans to make this new endeavor a trade up for the corner of Lincoln and Lake, just across from Cafe 50's. They plan to have everything in its place within the month.
"This is where chaos meets opportunity," Heredia explains. He refers to the thrift store as well as its location on Lincoln Blvd. "We get the poorest of the poor to the super wealthy."
This dichotomy, however, is creating tension with neighbors who wanted Red Hot's replacement to be a little more Tradesmen (a well-curated and thoughtfully designed menswear boutique on Lincoln at Superba), and a lot less second-hand store.
The goal for Buddy's Barter is to be thrift store by day, production studio by night. They're still working out details, and there are many to be worked out, but plans include movable walls made from repurposed DVD racks. They want it to be a place where artists can film and record and where producers can find props for movies. Inventory will probably include Red Hot Video signs. Heredia says that the business itself would be the perfect storyline for a new reality series. Hint, Hint, Hollywood.