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| - I'm a little surprised that I'm the first to yelp this place, since my pre-review Google hunting revealed that it already has a lot of fans. For instance, it didn't make it onto blog.to's list of Best Video Stores but numerous commenters took the time to give it a shout-out as the best "uptown" video rental place.
And justifiably so!
Upstairs (so named because it lies at the top of a very steep flight of stairs) boasts a very well organized and frequently refreshed selection of titles with an emphasis on decidedly middlebrow flicks, as well as a well curated array of artsy, foreign, cult, and other esoterica. You know that Sundance gem that all your urban-sophisticate, thick-framed-glasses-wearing friends have been name dropping for the last month, and that you've been meaning to see, but keep forgetting the title of? Chances are that (if it's any good) Upstairs has it. They also stock most decent HBO, amc, etc. series -- think Breaking Bad, Mad Men, etc. They usually have several copies of most things, although on one occasion I had to come back a few times because someone decided they just couldn't part ways with one of the Breaking Bad discs.
Though the people running it clearly know from cinema, they have a good eye for customer service: they're friendly, it's spotless and well organized, and the rates are reasonable. I like that you can take out New Releases for a full week for just $5.00. Also open 'til 11 PM 7 days a week.
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