It's all very low-key and homey, but Brown is there to make money. His guests come from all over the city to rent one of the 1,100 videotapes lining the walls of his Tverskaya Ulitsa apartment.
Aside from a full-time job, Brown runs the only private English-language video rental service in Moscow and has kept his prices low enough to compete with regular services like Video Force and the Garden Ring super market.
"When I came here 4 1/2 years ago I realized that for a foreigner in Moscow it was a problem to watch a movie not dubbed in Russian. Many expatriates here do not have satellite dishes and can't watch Russian television," said Brown, 24, a small, lively New Jerseyan who can seemingly talk non-stop about anything. "First I asked friends to send me some tapes from overseas and then I thought why don't I try to arrange a video service of my own?"
Brown has two people in the United States who send him the most recent films, which, he said, appear in his collection two or three weeks after they are released in the United States. After eight months in business and using only classified advertising, Brown said that up to 50 people visit on some nights.
"It's a great place," said Michael, 26, a regular customer returning a Pink Panther film on a recent night.
"I can't understand Russian television much and to go out is becoming expensive in Moscow," said Michael, who asked that his last name not be used. "There is an option -- to pay 180 bucks for two in a restaurant or to pay much less and still enjoy life."
Brown said his movies also take foreigners away from a sometimes gloomy Russian reality. "When it is snowing outside a movie takes your mind away to, say, Hawaii or California."
With a 48-hour video rental costing $3 per videotape, Brown's American Video Rentals compares well with his major competitors. A newly released tape from the 800-film library of the Garden Ring stores costs $4 a day. An older video is $2 a day. Video Force, with a library of 1,400 tapes, charges the same rates.
Although Brown said the video service makes enough profit "to cover expenses," it is not his main line of work and his service is only open from 4 P.M. through 9 P.M. daily except Sunday. He has a full-time job with an American construction firm, for whom he sells engineering technology in Russia.
"This business helps me to pay my bills and to make my life here funny. I've made a lot of friends thanks to this business," said Brown. "People come here, they meet me, they meet each other. I have male and female customers who have met each other here and now they are together and they are happy."
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