Scarecrow Video

One of the coolest places on earth…
If not the galaxy

Scarecrow Video houses one of the largest and most diverse video collections in the world. They are proud to be a member-supported, nonprofit, cultural museum and accessible film arts archive that is open to all.

Scarecrow Video's history is like so many of the movies it houses - some twists, some turns, some big names in film who came to visit. Read on to learn more about our epic journey... so far.

Part I: The George & Rebecca Years (1983 – 1998)
Read on website
Part II: The Carl & Mickey Years (1999 - 2014)
Read on website
Part III: The Scarecrow Project Years (2014 - onward)
Read on website
In 2015, Scarecrow won The Stranger Genius Award, and we officially became a 501(c)(3).
In 2019, we received the designation by the State of Washington as a cultural museum.
Our collection continues to grow by 3,000 – 4,000 every year, and at the start of 2023, we are at 145,000+ unique titles.

Great variety of movies, TV shows and Documentaries availables to buy and some for rent, in different formats such as DVD's, VHS and Blue Ray

Simply awesome. Like stepping back in time. Everything you can think of. DVD, VHS, Blue Ray, everything.

A super dense movie store, with a truly phenomenal selection. While most of the movies appeared to be for-rent, they did still have a fair number for sale.

I could’ve spent hours in here.

It's so cool to see a rental place like this! My friends and I had a great time browsing and took home a couple movies for a fun night like when we were kids!

This place is amazing! Literally if you want it, you can find it, plus so many movies you have never heard about or know about that you need to see.

There's too much to describe save to say go and support immediately!

An amazing store! The staff are friendly with tons of great suggestions. This store is a movie lovers greatest dream. Go rent a video!

Heard about this down in Milwaukie, OR from Great American Video & Espresso, they both were featured in a documentary I believed called *At the Video Store"
anyways i was impressed by their selection of used titles, and theres a ton more to rent :)

Scarecrow is a national treasure. The best video selection, most knowledgeable staff, and radest vibe. If you’re local get a membership, if you’re not come in to check it out anyways!

This is such a cool place to have nearby. Wandering around a video store looking for something to watch is a lost memory until I found Scarecrow. It’s such a familiar and awesome feeling to have.

Probably the greatest institution in the whole city. They have had every single film I have ever wanted to watch including some rather obscure foreign ones. Scarecrow should probably be a national monument tbh.

No romance section!?!? 😲 lol - thought it was a little funny that so many categories exist in this massive throwback style rental shop, but not romance. Romance is slipped into whatever other type of film it may be.

I can't hold this against Scarecrow enough to knock my rating down a star, though, because of what they *do* offer: A vast assortment of film you cannot find anywhere else. My friend works for a prominent film festival and this was like his candy store. The staff was knowledgeable enough to keep up with him in conversation and they even found two recommendations that he had not heard of before.

Speaking of candy stores, they have some cool concessions like lemon/ginger Haribos and huckleberry sodas. Souvenir shirts and stickers and hoodies are available, too. You can find information regarding children's programs and film events near the front door. Scarecrow Video is everything we wanted it to be & more - even if you can't take a selfie in the non-existent romance section for your dating profile.

Mecca for video shock! The collection is so vast and varied that it would take lifetimes to view. I thank the techies for saving it for generations to come.

Great local spot with amazing selection of hard to find films.

I don't go to many video stores, but this place is probably the Powell's of video stores. It's an intensely curated palace of film of all imaginable shapes and sizes.

I went looking for dimly remembered titles and serendipity. They had both in mass quantity.

I used to get my LASERDISCS here.
After buying my Pioneer VP-1000 at Magnolia HIFI. Still have my discs,..
And Player Too !!!
...to add...
DLC will be obsolete, when you need the "Hard Copy" ☺
Tactile is still the BEST.

The best video store. You can get lost in the stacks for hours. Love the horror section but the anime section is legendary.

Megan was courteous, helpful, and patient. I was looking for info about a certain movie and she was very helpful in finding the information.

I have been a patron for about 30 years. Their collection is staggering in extent. The staff are very helpful, and the in-store catalog computer works better than it did 15 years ago. It is just amazing what is there, and I get more pleasure from ponying up once a year for a membership than I could from any one or several streaming services. The occasional “two for one“ day has a certain charm of its own. Fully to take advantage of their collection, one must learn a bit of this and that about PAL versus NTSC format and region coding, but the information is available from many sources, and one can attack one’s own hardware to make it amenable, or one can purchase appropriate hardware. Over the past 30 years, I have been to video rental stores in most major North American cities. If not the greatest in the world, as they claim, and as is easy for me to believe, I myself can certify that their collection dwarfs that of any video rental store in North American. (…unless the Canadians have a big surprise waiting for me in Yellowknife.)

A destination video store. Now a non-profit institution. Amazing place!