A beloved Santa Monica video store will remain open for the foreseeable future thanks to a last-minute rally by donors to avoid its closure.
The legendary Vidiots is getting a donation from film producer Megan Ellison and longtime customer Dr. Leonard Lipman.
"This all this just happened, and we are beyond thrilled," said co-owner Cathy Tauber on Friday night. "We will not be closing. We will be around for hopefully a long time."
Tauber and co-owner Patty Pollinger announced earlier this week they were going to close the store in April after years of severe financial losses.
Ellison, whose production company Annapurna was behind films "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Her," wants to partner in improving the store.
The possible closure triggered testimonials from film fanatics on social media, an ode to the store by The Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Joe Morgenstern and a declaration by writer Elina Shatkin in an LA Weekly essay that "I Went to UCLA, But My Real Film School Was Vidiots."
Even actress Olivia Wilde responded with an all caps "SAVE VIDIOTS!!!" to a tweet Ellison sent before the deal was made public showing a photo of the store.
News of the donations was met with tears of joy from employees and customers at the store Friday. Tauber and Pollinger did not disclose the amount of the donations.
