Skopje’s Video Stores of the 1990s and Early 2000s: A List of Places We Remember

This article was supposed to be a list of Skopje’s video stores from the 1990s and early 2000s. But while looking through old membership cards, I remembered that I too once wanted to open a video store and a place to watch films. It was going to be called “Video Café”. To explain how I came up with the idea, I had to go via Italy, medicine, London, a love affair over the phone and my mother’s basement. If you are here only for the video stores, feel free to skip the autobiographical introduction and go straight to the list. I won’t be offended. I used to fast-forward tapes too.

Old Stories in a New Guise

As I get older, the stories I tell increasingly repeat themselves. This one is no exception. But bear with me: we will get to the films and video stores. Like any good film, this one has its own origin story. Only its main character spent a long time not knowing what kind of film he was in.

Skopje, 1998. At a crossroads in life, a student newly returned from Italy and full of fresh experiences and dreams, I enrolled in medical school. Why medicine? That is another story, for another film. Let us say I spent a year or two struggling to study things that did not interest me, hoping the interest would come later. It did not. What did interest me? Literature, film, music, philosophy, language, culture. Hanging around outside the little Pingvin shop next to Zot, with the metalheads and two or three big bottles of beer, I was drinking my young life into oblivion. I had enough interests for several lifetimes and no plan for this one.

Then came 1999 and the Kosovo war. Macedonia, our motherland, took in hundreds of thousands of refugees, while I took off for London to stay with my sister, who was married and had a two-year-old child. To keep me from wasting my days there too, this time pining for home and the girlfriend I had left behind, they found me a job at my brother-in-law’s brother’s company.

The company was called ReFilm. It sold films and organised screenings. I entered films into a database, learned HTML, took orders, packed video tapes into envelopes and sometimes posted them. Sometimes they let me watch films and write about them, and the texts were then used in screening flyers. Dream job! Someone was paying me to be around films and watch them. But my stay was short. My girlfriend decided that “love over the phone” was not for her, and I decided love mattered more than films. I packed up my dreams and went back for her. Sadly, the relationship did not work out. The films stayed.

Fast-forward to 2000 and “my mom’s basement” in Debar Maalo, where I had “moved in”. The basement became a gathering place for my crowd: metalheads, rockers, Lost Boys and girls. We watched and exchanged films. I enrolled in psychology, read philosophy, watched films and listened to music with friends. Once again, I was living something resembling my dream. I had books, tapes and people I could talk about them with endlessly. But something was missing. An income, for example. You cannot depend on your parents forever, and I was already 23. My new girlfriend, Bi, was studying and working at a language school. I earned a little from freelance writing and translation, but dreamed of more. And then it came to me.

The basement had two rooms. “One will be the reception area, with tapes, catalogues and posters. Pulp Fiction and Clerks first. The other will have a television and a sofa stretching from end to end. We’ll serve drinks too!” I told Bi excitedly, already picturing the shelves, the films and the people who would come. She was used to listening to my dreams and supporting me. I, meanwhile, was used to opening things in my head long before checking what it would take to make them happen.

I already had a large video tape collection at home. My sister and brother-in-law had introduced me to Trier, Wenders, Jeunet and Marker. My own favourites were Tarantino, Fincher and Smith. The imaginary catalogue also had room for Jarmusch, Lynch, Kubrick, Gilliam, the Coen brothers, Cronenberg, Kitano and others. Enough different directors to keep the conversations on that sofa going forever.

I joined all the nearby video stores and began copying every arthouse film I could find. “Arthouse”, of course, was a broad category whose boundaries were mostly determined by me. We’ll start with piracy and see how far we get! A business plan in one sentence. In my head, I already had a video store and a little film club, and I called it “Video Café”. To get it started, I needed films.

This is a story about the video stores I joined — and a few others that have stayed in the city’s memory.

Skopje’s Video Stores

Skopje’s video stores — places we went intending to rent a film, but often stayed to browse, ask for a recommendation or wait for someone to return the tape we wanted. I began compiling a list of video stores from the 1990s and 2000s. Some names and locations I remember personally; for others, membership cards, advertisements or directory entries survive. Who knows, perhaps this list will grow into another map, like the Map of Alternative Skopje in the 1990s.

This is an initial inventory. For some stores, we know the name but not the exact address; for others, we remember the location but the name escapes us. These very gaps are a reason to gather memories while we can still connect them to particular places.

Alek, Manakifilm and King on Surviving Membership Cards

Alek

The surviving Alek membership card features a blue hand, the club’s stylised name, the telephone number 091/220-118 and membership number 1215. As I remember it, the video store was in the tower blocks opposite Ramstore.

There is also testimony about Alek from the time it was operating. On 2 January 2006, in the “What Is Your FAVOURITE SERIES?” thread on Kajgana, user BusHav wrote in post #66 that the store was in his building and that he had spoken to the owner about obtaining older television series, including “’Allo ’Allo!”. The post attests to Alek operating in early 2006, but does not confirm that the series mentioned were actually acquired.

The location in the tower blocks opposite Ramstore is also mentioned in a later recollection, “Crumbs of Skopje”, published on the Ognenite Dzverovi na Damjana Facebook page. The years when the store opened and closed have not yet been established.

Manakifilm

The Manakifilm card is simpler: black and white, with a filmstrip motif, a large “VIDEO STORE” heading and a full address:

21 A2/3 Partizanski Odredi Boulevard, shop no. 5, Porta Bunjakovec, 91000 Skopje.

Whether this video store was connected to the later production company is currently unclear.

There was also a video store called Baraka in Porta Bunjakovec. For now, I cannot say for certain whether Manakifilm was later renamed Baraka, whether they were different shops or whether they occupied the same premises at different times.

KING DVD Video Club

I have kept my King membership card, numbered 1677. It carries the words “VIDEO CLUB” and “DVD video”, the address 41b Partizanski Odredi, 1000 Skopje and telephone number 091 220 240. The club was opposite the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

In a Kajgana forum mention from April 2008, King is described as a former video store opposite the Faculty of Civil Engineering whose premises were already occupied by a betting shop. This suggests that by then it had stopped operating at that location; the exact year of closure remains unknown.

The card has also been shared in the Time Capsule group.

Novo Lisiche, You Fool! So Close, Yet So Far (for Those from the Centre!)

A photograph of an old direction sign, taken from Ognenite Dzverovi na Damjana, prompted me to ask in the Aerodrom Municipality — Citizens’ Patrol Facebook group. The responses showed that the neighbourhood had several video stores, and that the sign may have pointed to one farther away from where it stood.

People mentioned Albatros and Trim, placing them in “Kenef Maalo” rather than immediately beside the police station. Others remembered two or three stores in the three brown tower blocks and said the sign behind the station pointed towards them.

Another location is opposite Bate supermarket. Members remembered that the store was run by two brothers, Zoran and Goran, who also had a pinball arcade next door. According to one recollection, a veterinary practice now occupies the former video store. Others remembered a store beside the supermarket itself, as well as one in the passage opposite, on the left towards Bumbari Park. It is not yet clear which descriptions refer to the same shops or what their names were.

One member mentioned AS, behind the former Bel Mercedes radio-taxi office, and another store in the row of buildings near the small post office, which they thought was called Niki. They remembered video games and billiards there later. Another store was mentioned opposite the little aeroplane, between the buildings, in the low building by the fountain and little church, roughly thirty years ago. The comments also included the location “Bato 11, in front of the third entrance”, without naming the store.

From one forgotten name, we arrived at an entire neighbourhood network: video stores, pinball arcades, billiards and premises that changed their purpose. Exact addresses, years of operation and connections between names and premises will require further checking. But at least we now have more starting points.

An Advertisement from June 1991

Magazines from the period also offer valuable insights into the businesses that existed then, including video stores. Digging through the archives would uncover many examples, but for now here are just two video-store advertisements from an intriguing Macedonian magazine published in Serbo-Croatian, Micro Computer World (this magazine deserves an article of its own!). Its June 1991 issue contains an advertisement for a video store at 2/2 Bojmija Street in Skopje. In the centre is an unusual monogram of intertwined letters, most likely reading JPS. Since the name is not written out separately, this reading remains unconfirmed.

The advertisement lists video tape rental and the sale of technical goods on consignment. The store was also an authorised distributor of MCW magazine. The contact numbers are 091/233-789 and 207-232, and the address ends with Skopje’s then postal code, 91000. This advertisement gives us a specific location and a reliable date: a video store at 2/2 Bojmija was advertising in June 1991.

Updates after publication

After the article was published, the list began growing with each new memory. One person remembered a name, another the entrance at the back of a building, and a third still had the tapes.

Owners and their relatives also got in touch: Jelena Kovachevikj confirmed the location of Rudi, her father’s video store; the owner of Bobby described its selection of auteur and alternative films and the neighbouring stores; and testimony from Stefanol described operating with 24 video machines as early as 1987. Zharko Maslarkovski mentioned Meshtre, which his brother opened in a trailer in Hipodrom in 1989 — a trailer the family still keeps.

Behind the names and addresses, the people who created these places and those who grew up with them began to emerge. Memories sometimes differ, but comparing them is precisely what helps us gradually piece together this scattered film history of Skopje.

The original post, table, list and map have been updated with these memories and accounts.

A List of Skopje’s Video Stores

The list draws on personal memories, surviving membership cards, advertisements, directory entries and online discussions. The operating years of most stores remain unestablished.

Video Store	Location	Source and Notes
MAG	Kapishtec, opposite the children’s home, in the Balila building	Personal memory. Years of operation have not been established.
Ex Alek / Alek	In the tower blocks opposite Ramstore, near Goce Delchev Primary School	Surviving membership card and forum testimony dated 2 January 2006, confirming it was operating then. According to Sandra Peshevska Mickovska, Alek and Ex Alek were the same store. Marija Zafirovska identifies the location near Goce Delchev Primary School. Goce Tuntev remembers it as Skopje’s first video store and says it also rented out a Panasonic video camera. In the comments on this post.
Ciba	Near Taftalidze	Location based on personal memory. “Ciba Video Stores, Skopje” is listed in the Official Gazette of 14 March 2001, page 20.
Riki	In the building in front of Biser Shopping Centre, Aerodrom	Personal memory. Years of operation have not been established.
King	41b Partizanski Odredi Boulevard, opposite the Faculty of Civil Engineering	Surviving membership card bearing “DVD video”, telephone 091 220 240 and membership number 1677. In an April 2008 forum mention, the premises are described as a former video store, already a betting shop by then.
Manakifilm / Manaki	21 A2/3 Partizanski Odredi Boulevard, shop 5, Porta Bunjakovec	Address from the surviving membership card. Zlatna Kniga also lists “Manaki Film” at 54-3/3 St Kliment Ohridski; the relationship between the addresses has not been established. According to Goce Tuntev’s personal testimony, Manaki rented legally released video tapes and was unique in doing so.
Baraka	Porta Bunjakovec	According to a comment on this article, it was not connected to Manakifilm. Its owner later opened the Nemo DVD rental store (in the buildings near Simpo in Crniche). Baraka was named after the film of the same name.
JPS — possible reading of the logo	2/2 Bojmija Street	Advertisement in Micro Computer World, no. 1, June 1991. The name is inferred from the monogram. The advertisement offers video tape rental, technical goods on consignment and distribution of the magazine.
Fina	10/2 Pandil Shishkov Street	Advertisement in Micro Computer World, no. 1, June 1991, reproduced in the Arno.mk article. Listed as a video store, bookshop and magazine distributor.
Dam-Dam	1 Bojmija Street	ABV directory entry as a “Video Centre”. Years of operation have not been established.
Albatros	Novo Lisiche, in the area known as “Kenef Maalo”	Name and approximate location based on memories in the Facebook discussion about Novo Lisiche.
Milton	In the white buildings in Kapishtec, behind Piccolo café	Added to the list based on a memory shared on the Arno.mk post.
ABC	In the tower block next to the Construction Workers’ Hall	Testimony of Igor Angjelkov.
Top Ten	Nikola Vapcarov Street, near the square	Testimony of Igor Angjelkov and Marija Zafirovska.
Epicentar	20 Veljko Vlahovikj Street	Testimony of Urosh Veljkovikj.
Trim	Novo Lisiche, in the area known as “Kenef Maalo”	Name and approximate location based on memories in the Facebook discussion about Novo Lisiche.
AS	Behind the former Bel Mercedes radio-taxi office	Mentioned in the Novo Lisiche discussion. Exact address and years of operation have not been established.
Niki — unconfirmed name	In the row of buildings near the small post office in Novo Lisiche	According to a Facebook recollection, video games and billiards were offered there later. The name is recalled with uncertainty.
Kodak	Near the old bus terminus in the older part of Novo Lisiche, by the brown buildings, behind the yellow social-housing blocks where the first Zhito Luks was	Location information supplied by Petar Jakimovski. The testimony is in the comments on this post. Years of operation have not been established.
Vili	On a corner of one of the paved courtyards between the blocks opposite Parliament and the Green Market	Mentioned as a neighbourhood video store in the comments below the article’s Facebook post. Testimony of Tijana Keshkec.
Bandzho	Borka Taleski Street, in a basement near the entrance to Pestalozzi Primary School	According to Dimitar Grchev in the Facebook comments, it operated in the 1990s. Exact years have not been established.
Rudi	Near Zeleno Pazarche, at the back of the building with the butcher shops, facing the paved courtyard	According to Jelena Kovachevikj, the owner’s daughter, it opened in the late 1980s and operated until the early 1990s, renting only VHS tapes. It was at the rear corner of the block with the butcher shops near Zeleno Pazarche. The Rudi copy shop, rather than the video store, later moved into the nearby pink building. She also supplied photographs marking the original location (see below). The conversation is in the comments on this post.
Peo	By the triangle, near Stara Rampa	According to Slavcho Stojanov in the Facebook comments.
Zeppelin	Several locations, including Ruzveltova Street, about 50 metres from Partizanski Odredi towards Kapishtec	According to testimony from former owner Slavcho Stojanov in the Facebook comments, it operated approximately 1988–2008, and on Ruzveltova during 1994–2002.
Spock	Tower block B-17, opposite the Red Cross	Goce Tuntev — personal testimony, supplied as an addition to the list. Years of operation have not been established.
Shrek	Tower block B-19, opposite the Red Cross	Goce Tuntev — personal testimony, supplied as an addition to the list. Years of operation have not been established.
Pop No. 1	Kapishtec Shopping Centre and the passage in the red JAT building opposite the cathedral	According to Aleksandar Pejchinovski and Todor Chalovski, it operated in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Stefanol	Near Universal Hall	According to owner Olgica Rusimov Pavlovska, it opened in 1987 and was one of Skopje’s first four video stores.
XXX	On Kliment Ohridski	Location according to Marija Zafirovska. According to Sandra Peshevska Mickovska, the store on Kliment Ohridski Street, formerly JNA, was named after the Vin Diesel film xXx. It may have been a DVD-only rental store. The testimony is in the comments on this post. Years of operation have not been established.
Omega	On Chedomir Minderovikj, near the cathedral	According to Marija Atanaskovikj, the store existed in the early 1990s.
2001	In Biser Shopping Centre, Aerodrom	According to Aleksandar Fric Jankovikj.
Kiki	53 Jurij Gagarin Street, Kozle	According to Mitko Angelkovski.
Shpic	Opposite Vero in Aerodrom	According to Zlatko Lakordov.
Maher	5 Jane Sandanski Boulevard (near Tobako)	According to Gavrilo Milovanovikj.
Sofi	In Aerodrom	According to Gavrilo Milovanovikj.
Megdan	19 Vladimir Komarov Street (Aerodrom)	According to Gavrilo Milovanovikj.
Meshtre	In a trailer in Hipodrom	According to Zharko Maslarkovski, founder of the hip-hop group Puka Kozmetika, the store was opened by his older brother Aleksandar, nicknamed Meshtre, in 1989. The trailer survives at the family’s holiday home.
Bobby	Taftalidze 1, behind Narodna Tehnika, near Fotka	According to new Facebook testimony from Bojan Ivanovikj, the logo featured the African continent. Owner Bobi Ivanov also joined the discussion, saying he offered auteur, arthouse and alternative films and still keeps the tapes.
Chaplin	Taftalidze 1, on the corner near Komenski	Name and location according to Facebook testimony from Bojan Ivanovikj.
Apple	In the house opposite the building at 95 Partizanski Odredi, south of the location identified as today’s Audiokultura	According to Bobi Ivanov’s testimony, it was about 50 metres from his club.
Garfield	Behind the building at 97 Partizanski Odredi	Location according to Bobi Ivanov’s testimony. Years of operation have not been established.
Nino	109 Partizanski Odredi, entrance at the back	According to Bobi Ivanov’s testimony, it operated in a former bicycle-storage room.
Klasik	Butel 1; location indicated on a map	Name and location according to Facebook testimony from Aleksandar Gizharovski.
Save	Madzhari	According to Facebook testimony from Vlatko Lakardov.
Manaki	In or beside Narodna Tehnika on Partizanski Odredi	A new recollection from Gordana Vrencoska adds location information.
Valijant	In the underground premises near Skopjanka Shopping Centre	An adult-film video store in the underground premises near Skopjanka Shopping Centre.
Video stores with unknown names	Novo Lisiche: behind the police station, by the car park; in the lowest of the three brown tower blocks, with other stores also recalled in the towers; beside Bate supermarket; opposite the supermarket, in the passage towards Bumbari Park; at Bato 11, in front of the third entrance; opposite the little aeroplane, in the low building by the fountain and little church; in the building behind the place known as “Kaj Bazhe”. Stara Rampa: inside the small shopping centre, on the upper floor, near Sheherezada and the post office. Sky Soft near St Petka in Crniche is mentioned as a possible video store, but was probably a gaming arcade or game shop. Frederic Chopin Street, in front of the entrance to Kuzman Josifovski-Pitu Primary School.	Personal memory and the Novo Lisiche discussion, supplemented by comments about Stara Rampa. Some descriptions may refer to the same premises or stores already named. According to one account, the sign behind the police station pointed towards the brown tower blocks. It has not been established whether the unnamed store near Stara Rampa was Peo.

What Remains to Be Discovered?

The cards preserve names, telephone numbers and addresses, but rarely tell a place’s full story. They do not say when a video store opened or closed, whether it moved or changed its name. For that, we also need the memories of people who worked there or regularly borrowed films.

I am particularly interested in the name of the video store behind the police station in Novo Lisiche, the reading of the JPS logo in the 1991 advertisement and the possible connection between Manakifilm and Baraka. More precise addresses and dates for MAG, Alek, Ciba, Riki and King would also be useful.

If you remember any of these video stores, or another missing from the list, share its name, location and the approximate period when you visited. A surviving membership card, photograph of a shopfront or old advertisement could help give a neighbourhood memory an address and a date.

Update: The Complete Working List of Skopje’s Video Stores

For those who like lists, here is the complete working list of Skopje’s video stores, updated with social-media comments after this article was published:

1. MAG — Kapishtec, opposite the children’s home, in the Balila building.
2. Alek — in the tower blocks opposite Ramstore.
3. Ciba — near Taftalidze.
4. Riki — in the building in front of Biser Shopping Centre.
5. King — 41b Partizanski Odredi, opposite the Faculty of Civil Engineering.
6. Manakifilm — 21 A2/3 Partizanski Odredi, shop 5, Porta Bunjakovec.
7. Baraka — Porta Bunjakovec. Its owner later opened the Nemo DVD rental store.
8. JPS (unconfirmed reading of the logo) — 2/2 Bojmija.
9. Fina — 10/2 Pandil Shishkov Street.
10. Dam-Dam — 1 Bojmija.
11. Albatros — Kenef Maalo, Novo Lisiche.
12. Trim — Kenef Maalo, Novo Lisiche.
13. AS — behind the former Bel Mercedes radio-taxi office.
14. Niki (unconfirmed name) — near the small post office in Novo Lisiche.
15. Kodak — Aerodrom.
16. Vili — on a corner of one of the paved courtyards between the blocks opposite Parliament and the Green Market.
17. Bandzho — Borka Taleski, in a basement near the entrance to Pestalozzi Primary School.
18. Rudi — near Zeleno Pazarche, at the back of the building with the butcher shops, facing the paved courtyard.
19. Peo — by the triangle near Stara Rampa.
20. Zeppelin — Ruzveltova, about 50 metres from Partizanski Odredi towards Kapishtec.
21. Spock — tower block B-17, opposite the Red Cross.
22. Shrek — tower block B-19, opposite the Red Cross.
23. Milton — in the white buildings in Kapishtec, behind Piccolo café.
24. ABC — in the tower block next to the Construction Workers’ Hall.
25. Top Ten — on Nikola Vapcarov, near the square.
26. Epicentar — 20 Veljko Vlahovikj.
27. Pop No. 1 — Kapishtec Shopping Centre and the red JAT building opposite the cathedral.
28. Stefanol — near Universal Hall.
29. XXX — on Kliment Ohridski.
30. Omega (unconfirmed name) — on Chedomir Minderovikj, near the cathedral.
31. 2001 — in Biser Shopping Centre, Aerodrom.
32. Kiki — 53 Jurij Gagarin, Kozle.
33. Shpic — opposite Vero in Aerodrom.
34. Maher — 5 Jane Sandanski (Aerodrom).
35. Sofi — Aerodrom.
36. Megdan — 19 Vladimir Komarov (Aerodrom).
37. Meshtre — in a trailer in Hipodrom, opened in 1989.
38. Bobby — Taftalidze 1, behind Narodna Tehnika, near Fotka.
39. Chaplin — Taftalidze 1, on the corner near Komenski.
40. Apple — in the house opposite 95 Partizanski Odredi, south of today’s Audiokultura, according to the testimony.
41. Garfield — behind the building at 97 Partizanski Odredi.
42. Nino — 109 Partizanski Odredi, entrance at the back.
43. Klasik — Butel 1.
44. Save — Madzhari.
45. Manaki — on Partizanski Odredi Boulevard, in or beside Narodna Tehnika.
46. Valijant — an adult-film video store in the underground premises near Skopjanka Shopping Centre.
47. Video stores with unknown names — at several locations in Novo Lisiche: behind the police station, by the car park; in the brown tower blocks; beside Bate supermarket and opposite it, in the passage towards Bumbari Park; at Bato 11, in front of the third entrance; opposite the little aeroplane, by the fountain and little church; behind the place known as Kaj Bazhe; as well as in the small shopping centre near Stara Rampa, on the site of Matica on JNA Street and near the former Club 50 at Mlechen. Some descriptions may refer to the same premises.