Denton librarian launches Videoland TX to bring back the neighborhood video store

Katrina Barnett grew up renting movies from Payless Video, a longtime independent shop in Denton that closed about 20 years ago, as did many movie rental stores around the country. Now 38 and a librarian by day, she has started a nonprofit called Videoland TX to bring that experience back to her hometown.

"I spent a lot of time there. It was a lovely, kind of sacred, safe space where I just learned a lot about movies by wandering and existing," Barnett told WFAA. She later worked at a video store herself during the final years of those shops. She has since found that video stores come up a lot with people her age. Physical media is having a cultural comeback, and Videoland TX hopes to serve both people who miss the rental aisle and younger people who never got to browse one.

Barnett told WFAA she took inspiration from nonprofit rental stores that are doing well elsewhere: Vidiots in Los Angeles, Scarecrow Video in Seattle and We Luv Video in Austin. She also described Denton as a town that puts arts and education first, values community and is hungry for third spaces. "I like the idea of sharing that as an experience that we don't really have with streaming anymore," she said.

Videoland TX doesn't have a location yet, but its catalogue already holds a few thousand movies on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K and even some VHS. The nonprofit is still taking donations to grow the collection, and one person has offered to donate LaserDiscs. Down the line, Barnett hopes to offer VCRs and DVD players, and possibly TVs.

The nonprofit plans to start fundraising next spring. The goal is to open its own store in time for next Halloween.

This story is based on original reporting by WFAA, with additional coverage from Audacy.