 This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only. |
Alternative universe was a Video Store specializing in less mainstream titles, primarily anime and foreign films. It had a lot of underground titles. They had a lot of obscure early films by now-famous directors (early Peter Jackson films) and European cuts of some popular films. It was a film geek's dream. It opened right about the time DVDs were released but before there was a push to release everything on DVD, and so they had a lot of stuff that was then difficult to find including many films (Meet the Feebles, Eraserhead) that were out of print at that time.
Opened in the mid-late 90's, it was originally located off the alley behind what is now Chipotle it looked like it was located in a left over storage space. There was 1 door, no windows, and the walls were crammed with videos. The day they opened they had less than 200 videos, within the first month, they were up to over 1000.
It later moved into the basement of the former Discoveries site down the block, then occupied by Heron Technologies. It eventually went out of business. Davis Mattress and Futon Outlet later opened up and occupied the last space they had. Eventually that store also went out of business.
The owner, Joel Hinojosa, and his wife and children currently reside in San Jose, and are still somewhat active in the Northern California anime community.
The vast majority of the stock was bought up by 49'er video, so now they have decent anime selection... It still was sad to see this place fold —StevenDaubert
