Our establishing shot

We Luv Video is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing essential, weird, and rare physical media. We’re a volunteer-run, membership-based, old-school video store and microcinema located in the North Loop neighborhood of Austin, TX.

Conrad Bejarano fell in love with movies while working at Sound Easy, a video store in his hometown of Mesa, Arizona. He carried that passion with him when he moved to Austin, opening the first I Luv Video in 1984. I Luv Video expanded to include locations all over Austin, even adding pizza shops to complete the movie-viewing experience.

Then came Blockbuster, ravaging local video shops in its wake. To set themselves apart, I Luv Video focused on adding rare and unusual movies from all over the world to their shelves. If there was a specific movie you were looking for, chances were you could find it at I Luv Video.

The explosion of online streaming platforms presented another challenge and, like so many other beloved local businesses, the pandemic was the final straw for I Luv Video. After nearly 40 years in business, I Luv Video closed shop in 2020. The store’s final location on Airport Blvd was recognized as the largest and oldest video shop in the world, with over 120,000 videos on its shelves.

Rewinding for a moment

Fast forward a bit

In 2022, Macy Cotton and Ryan Teel were enjoying margaritas at happy hour when they decided to pick their most ambitious dream and go after it. They wanted to spend their weekends with a bowl of popcorn, a box of candy, and a video they selected from the I Luv Video collection. They dreamed of reopening I Luv Video.

It seemed like a nonprofit, membership-based model would work, it has in other cities. After a successful Kickstarter, the first order of business was finding a location. As fate would have it, a former Vulcan Video location came up for rent in North Loop. Dozens of volunteers sprang into action to catalog, sort, and shelve the massive collection. On July 29, 2023, We Luv Video opened its doors and media rentals returned to Austin.

The future is physical

Streaming platforms seem to offer limitless options, yet their libraries are just a fraction of what’s available at a video library like We Luv Video. It’s not just cult classics or obscure movies, even iconic films can be impossible to find on streaming due to a litany of legal technicalities and business decisions. The We Luv Video collection lets you indulge in the nostalgia of strolling through a video store while preserving (and watching) important physical media.

The crew