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Alan's Alley Video Store To Close A Year After Moving

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A year after moving to a new building and averting fears that it might close, revered independent video store Alan's Alley is going out of business.

After 26 years in operation, the video store at 164 W. 25th St. will close its doors at the end of the month. Beginning July 1, the building will undergo a three-month replacement project for its passenger elevator, and thus, Alan's Alley will have to close, according to an announcement published on Facebook.

Efforts to find another space in Chelsea have been "fruitless," according to the flier.

All the DVDs at the store are being sold at "ridiculously" low prices, including new releases, action movies, classic and contemporary films distributed by the Criterion Collection, other classics, foreign films, children's movies, dramas, comedies, gay interest films, and British and American television series.

The video store had previously operated at 207A Ninth Ave. in Chelsea from 1988 until July of last year. It has long been known in Chelsea for its vast selection of about 40,000 films of all genres on VHS and DVD – serving both a devoted neighborhood customer base and producers of television shows such as "The Today Show" and the "Colbert Report" in search of hard-to-find clips, DNAInfo recalled.

A year ago, Alan's Alley announced that it was being forced to close due to "rising rents and changes in technology."

Speaking to DNAInfo last month, owner Alan Sklar said he was looking for new space in Chelsea but could not find much at the time. He earlier told Jeremiah's Vanishing New York he did not think he would be able to find another place in the city with affordable rent.

But a year ago, the store announced that it had "happily risen from the ashes" and went on to move to the fifth-floor location on 25th Street.

Sklar's cat, D.J., was a fixture at the old Alan's Alley location, but was not allowed to move to the new one, DNAInfo reported. Sklar has also worked alone at the new location while he previously had employees, the publication reported.

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