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Scarecrow Video is an independently owned, non-profit video sales and rental store.
Located in the University District of Seattle, Washington, the store was opened in 1988 by Rebecca and George Latsios as well as John McCullough. It currently stocks over 117,000 titles, many of them out of print (some require deposits that range from $150 – $1000). From the beginning the store was known as a welcome, open place for film lovers to find rare titles and be greeted by Latsios's trademark "Hello, my friend."
In 1995, Latsios was diagnosed with brain cancer and given six months to live. He responded by spending, perhaps recklessly, in large numbers of rare and unique videos, cementing the store's reputation as a Seattle icon of unique and rare titles, while ignoring other responsibilities such as federal taxes. For these reasons the store was sold in 1999. Latsios returned to his native Greece and died in 2003.
Scarecrow also offers a wide selection of foreign DVDs, over 5,000 anime movies, and DVD players and other media devices for rental (including PAL, laser disc players and region free DVD players).
In 2004, the store produced The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide, published by Sasquatch Books.
In October 2014, Scarecrow's catalog was donated to the Scarecrow Project, and Scarecrow Video reopened under new ownership as a non-profit.