It outlasted Blockbuster.

It lived through the advent of Netflix, Redbox and bootleg sites where films are free.

Though it took more than a year, it even reopened after a 2005 fire gutted the store.

After renting films in Anaheim for 25 years, Movie Town is finally closing.

Movie Town video store in Anaheim is closing March 10 after 25 years because they can no longer afford their lease. Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

A customer looks through movies still on the shelves and available to buy at Movie Town video store in Anaheim. The store is closing March 10 after 25 years because they can no longer afford their lease. Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

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Longtime customers Esther Walzer and Manuel Rocha search for videos to buy at Movie Town video store in Anaheim. The store is closing March 10 after 25 years because they can no longer afford their lease. Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

Daniel Rappelhofer, assistant general manager of Movie Town video store in Anaheim is closing the business March 10 after 25 years because they can no longer afford their lease. Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

Manuel Rocha, longtime customer at Movie Town video store in Anaheim looks through a stack of videos to buy. The store is closing March 10 after 25 years because they can no longer afford their lease. in Anaheim on Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)



Some of the videos still available to buy at Movie Town video store in Anaheim. The store is closing March 10 after 25 years because they can no longer afford their lease. in Anaheim on Wednesday, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

When faced with a rent increase that would have necessitated a raise in prices for customers, Assistant General Manager Daniel Rappelhofer said, “The owner just decided that it’s better to go out on top than to go down failing.”

Movie Town will vacate its Brookhurst Street storefront by March 10.

Longtime customer Esther Walzer, 83, said Wednesday she’s “very sad to see it go.”

There are so few other video stores around, she said, she’s not sure how she’ll get her movie fix now. “Watch Netflix, I guess.”

When Rappelhofer, 43, took a job tending the video store’s VHS collection he said, he “thought I’d do it till I found something else.” That was 22 years – almost half his life – ago.

Movie Town is now lined with empty shelves, and all the remaining inventory is for sale. The aisles are decorated with worn-looking cardboard cutouts advertising “Pirates of the Carribean,” “The Hulk,” and a display for “300” with Gerard Butler’s head held up with packing tape.

Rappelhofer isn’t sure what he’ll do next, but said he loved his job – joking with the customers, watching most of the movies in the store and hearing excuses for why people returned their movie late.

“The craziest one happened to be the truth,” he said. “The guy was bit by a brown recluse. His movie came back a month and a half late.”

After the man showed him the scarring on his leg from the spider bite, Rappelhofer waived the late fees.

Rappelhofer said he’s planning to put a post on sites such as Yelp to thank customers and let them know the store is closing, but “I haven’t done it yet, only because it’s like writing a eulogy.”