Help Support Kevin at The Lobby DVD Shop

The Lobby DVD Shop is a  little store with a big heart owned and operated by Kevin Martin, a long-time Whyte Ave. local and a go-to movie expert in the Edmonton area. 2020 will be its 15th year in operation!
The shop is a pillar of Whyte Ave—it’s been a venue for several music video shoots and the set and inspiration for  a web series. It has a loving and dedicated patronship—one couple even had wedding photos taken there!  The video store collection includes forgotten and hard to find films, which big media conglomerates like Netflix cannot and do not provide access to. Kevin loves his store and the fact that he can help curate the film watching experience for customers of all ages in Edmonton as well as some who travel from other parts of Alberta to meet their cinephile needs. Customers also enjoy browsing a vast collection of movie memorabilia and décor when they visit the shop.

As the sole employee, who works 7 days a week, Kevin supplements his labour of love (and pays his personal rent) by working as a DJ on Whyte Ave 4 nights a week (and sometimes more often than that). Kevin doesn't really get time off. 
This  labour of love is not exactly “lucrative” (which is to say that keeping it open does take effort some months to break even) and that’s the reason for this well-needed fundraiser.

Kevin wishes you to know that the store isn’t “in trouble” or in danger of closing at this point, so please don’t pepper him with concerns to this effect. But the reality is that The Lobby is the last video store in Edmonton, and video stores are a bit of a fragile breed. So, in the day and age of internet sales, and heartless capitalist big business, The Lobby’s market is relatively small despite its having a very loyal customer base.  

This fundraiser’s aim is to supplement one-(modest)month's worth of expenses so that the store has a safety net in the case of unforeseen circumstances and, frankly, ease up the month to month urgency that can be stressful at certain times of the year.  For example, Kevin just received a $500 dollar small business fee from the City of Edmonton—a new yearly charge, which under the month-to-month nature of his business, is exceptionally difficult to manage at such short notice.

Raising a month's worth of store-expenses (rent, heat—for a basement store—basic maintenance, power, internet, and basic inventory management) will allow Kevin to put the income from sales back into the shop when necessary and keep up the excellent standard of service his customers have come to expect and appreciate! 

Patrons of the arts!If you believe in supporting local businesses and you care about  maintaining (and keeping accessible) cultural archives —in this case including films from the silent German era to today’s B-movie monster movies—please give generously. Tis' the season for giving!