By Niki Cervantes
Lookout Staff Writer

January 30, 2015 -- Four days after announcing it would close after 30 years of operation, Santa Monica’s iconic and much-beloved independent video store, Vidiots, said Thursday afternoon it would not shut down after all.

“The store is not closing,” Mila Geffner, a spokesperson, said in an email. In a follow-up email, Geffner also said the store is not changing hands.

No details were immediately available. The longtime owners, Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber, referred calls Thursday to Bebe Lerner, whose office referred calls to Geffner’s email address.

Geffner’s email said more information would be available next week.

On Monday, Polinger and Tauber sent out emails announcing that the store would close April 15, reportedly unable to weather a steep drop in rentals – 24 percent in the last five months – as they wrestled with competition from the likes of Netflix, DVRs and other viewing options.

The childhood friends, who shared a passion for movies, founded the store on a shoestring, with a budget so limited they came up with the name Vidiots so it could fit on an affordably small sign.

It opened with only 800 videos; today, it offers 50,000 titles – many of them rare, out of print or otherwise obscure – and is home to movie buffs and the entertainment industry alike.

Back in the mid-1980s, when the store at 302 Pico Boulevard opened, there were no video stores in the Los Angeles that catered to the cinema art-house crowd, and Vidiots was able to fill the void. 

Its collection was in such demand that when other Mom and Pop video stores were being shuttered by big chains like Blockbuster, Vidiots thrived.

Last year, Vidiots became a non-profit, adding various events, like a trivia night, in an effort to mold it into a cinema-centric community center.

In a mini-documentary about Vidiots, Palinger says turning the operation into a non-profit helped its founders  become more aware of their mission, which is to “preserve, protect and educate.”