South Street has a new DVD-rental store

Steve Brasovankin says he didn’t open his new South Street used CD and DVD shop, Pop Culture Vulture, to ride a rising surge of ‘90s nostalgia. Or out of some deep-rooted quest to revive a dying form of media.

At 71, Brasovankin, just really, really likes CDs and DVDs.

“I have 5,000 items up here,” said Brasovankin, standing amid shelves bursting with discs. “And I got another 10,000 in the basement!”

Having operated a used music and movie shop on South Street in the early 2000s, Brasovankin saw the decline of CDs and DVDs with the rise of streaming services. Now, he’s not only selling his now-vintage wares but also is confident there’s still a market for consumers who prefer a trip to the shop for music and movies. He’s even offering a DVD rental service.

Brasovankin is charging $1.50 for a two-week rental. No late fees.

“I tell them, ‘Just don’t keep it, and that’s fine,’” he said, of the handful of customers who have rented a DVD since he opened over Memorial Day weekend.

Pop Culture Vulture is an overstuffed, unsorted closet from the dawn of the millennium. Racks of CDs and DVDs crowd the narrow space. Little is organized.

“I just got it all on the shelf,” Brasovankin said.

The mishmash represents his eclectic tastes, he said.

Public Enemy, Iron Maiden, and Grateful Dead CDs share shelf space with digitally-remastered copies of Casablanca, Monty Python movies, and Ken Burns’ 1994 documentary, Baseball.

To Brasovankin, who bursts with enthusiasm for music and movies released on polycarbonate plastic, all of the aged discs are equally beautiful. A Northeast Philly native who now lives in Elkins Park, he says he’s always been a man out of time.

“I grew up in the age of vinyl, which I hated,” he said. “It scratched and it warped and it was a pain in the ass. I don’t understand why these kids love vinyl.”

When CDs gained popularity in the 1990s, Brasovankin immediately became a collector, preferring the durability, sound, and bonus tracks of the cheaper-priced discs over the warm analog of vinyl.

“CDs were a big improvement,” he said, with the zeal of a true believer.

Don’t get him started on the superiority of Blu-ray discs.

“You can’t beat a Blu-ray,” he said.

For the past decade, Brasovankin has housed his discs in a shuttered storefront in Mayfair. Finding an affordable spot on South Street, he said he wanted to share his love of CDs and DVDs with fellow collectors, and buyers who may find charm in the outmoded media their parents once hoarded.

“People think this stuff is great,” he said.

He’s at least partly right. The vinyl resurgence still dominates. In 2023, nearly 50 million EPs and LPs were sold in America, the largest year for album sales since 1991, according to Billboard. But CDs are also enjoying a modest revival. In 2023, 36.83 million CDs were sold nationwide, a 2.7% increase from the previous year.

Although he doesn’t keep steady hours (“Call for hours and appointments,” a sign reads), he says customers are finding the shop, and mostly younger ones, for whom he’s even begrudgingly set out a few vinyl selections.

“I’m just getting into vinyl,” he said.

Besides his thousands of discs, which he sells for $4 to $12, the shop is chock-a-block with movie and music ephemera. There’s vintage Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones concert posters, tin signs depicting early Superman comic book covers, and old toys, like his prized Wolfman head. He’s holding out hope on the DVD rentals.

“I haven’t gotten much response to it yet,” he said.

On a recent afternoon, Brasovankin sat in a folding chair at the counter, blasting a CD.

“It’s Laura Nyro and Patti LaBelle,” he said, shouting over Nyro’s 1971 album, Gonna Take a Miracle. It was recorded by Gamble and Huff at Sigma Sound. It’s a great doo-wop album.”

He turned the CD down just enough for a customer to hear his sales pitch.

“I have an amazing collection,” he said. “Dig it!”