Universal Video & Electronics

This is like the lesser cousin to Time Video, around the corner on Chestnut. Like Time, it’s mostly kung fu, blaxploitation, and porn, but it lacks the other place’s dust-​covered idiosyncrasies, offering slightly more predictable fare. I’m overrating it with three stars; it’s 2.5 at best, but I’m sympathetic to these intransigent little joints that refuse to acknowledge their own obsolescence. I will say, it carries a pretty decent selection of titles from Blax, the bootleg firm that cranks out DVDs of otherwise-​lost blaxploitation movies – but that being said, I struck out asking for the 1972 Calvin Lockhart film Melinda, so I can’t really rave even there (meanwhile, Time Video has it in a self-​made plastic case on VHS and wants ten bucks for it; *sigh*, guess this is where the internet becomes useful/​necessary…)