Four Star Video was a video store on Cortland that also hosted a plant store called Succulence. Now that’s been flipped around. As of last week, Succulence is a plant store on Cortland that also rents videos:
Like a rice grain and a pinto bean, somehow, improbably, we formed a whole protein with video and plant. Virtual and organic. Entertainment and existence. And here we are; five years later, still renting videos and also offering classes on vertical gardening and terrarium building. And seeds for your vegetable gardens. And lighting for your romantic dinner. And freshly made jams and pickles and supplies. And handmade ceramics and necklaces and belt buckles. And art, both utilitarian and otherwise. And, of course, succulents, small and large, of all colors and types, in a state of joy, waiting to be taken home to nurture and nourish.
The video store? Like Joaquin Phoenix, still here! In September last year, we realized we didn’t need to separately “own” two stores on the same footprint, so we merged the two, and now our entire operation is called Succulence. And currently, Succulence has a huge video rental library, with well over 25,000 titles, and 10-20 new titles every week. Our subscription program (cleverly called Kenflix) allows you to rent without late fees and due dates. Our educated staff helps you to pick out what you didn’t even know you wanted. We still offer the opportunity to browse and touch videos with your actual hands. Yes we are constantly making changes to our layout. We must! Our responsibility is to survive. That is our intention; survival. Our plan is to be in business in Bernal Heights, whether or not we rent videos, sell plants, teach classes, or whatever. We want to be up here, at 402 Cortland, schmoozing with you, our friends, our neighbors, and those of you we have just met, offering some good honest business with care and attention. That is our plan. Thank you for supporting us.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Bernalwood 
If they do a majority of their business renting videos, dont you think that it may be confusing? I would assume that clients make regular visits to rent videos not buy plants. Maybe i am wrong. If someone is looking on yelp for a video store in their neighborhood, would 4 star still come up? If it were me personally, i would have maybe merged the word video into their new business name. I never even knew that they were anything other than a video store and i have been renting on and off for over 2 years there now. Strange move, but i appreciate that they want to remain at 402 no matter what it takes. I hope they are successful!
Sounds like they are managing their transition well. There is, of course, a very limited future for video rental, but this way they can serve their legacy market and have an ongoing vital business going forward. Good luck!
I cancelled my Netflix several years ago and happily rent from Four Star. Your customer service is terrific, and your employees are kind and friendly. Survive and thrive my local business!
We will be your next newest customer. My wife is into the gardening; our back yard is our newest project, we are considering planting fresh vegetables and I’ve been searching for a close by video place. Weekends, we are up for a good documentary or true story. Good by Lowe’s; gas is going up and the less I spend on oil, the more I have for seeds and movies! It is a win win option for all parties involved. Even my neighbors. I know it will make us very happy. Thank you for staying.
Ken is the MAN-a visionary geek! Rock on Succulence!
I’ve used Four Star for twenty years- and will continue to do so- I love it that 1. I can walk to rent a movie thereby making up for the sitting time of actually watching the movie, 2. supporting a locally owned business, my “neighbor”, and 3. finding things- movies and or plants that I would not otherwise know about due to the great staff there.
I come over here ALL the way from Glen Park. And happily. They scored major points with me by having what I thought was an obscure movie (Songs From the Second Floor, weird Swedish thing) and I do love plants that retain water. Also, good candy! I really like candy.
This is an especially great business model for Bernal Heights, given the increasing succulent-replacement requirements of people whose succulents have been purloined.