As context, Scarecrow is the world's largest collection of home movies in every format imaginable, 120,000 titles in total. They're based near the University of Washington, and have had a huge cult following for years. Problem is, with the increase in streaming and the huge drop in rentals they've seen a massive decline in recent years and they've reached the point where they can either close up shop and sell off their astounding collection (which contains countless movies that simply won't ever be found somewhere like Netflix or Amazon), or try a new operating model.
Their new plan is to convert the store into a non-profit with an emphasis on preserving physical media, education on film history (they already do a lot of great outreach to local schools and it seems that they want to expand on that), and more.
Going to UW I can say that Scarecrow is a treasure, and it'd be a damn shame for it to disappear. I'm a big cinephile myself, and the experience of browsing through their incredible collection, or talking with their tremendously knowledgeable staff, and finding a movie I would have never before heard of, is one that I really hope doesn't disappear.
