A video store owner in Idaho set up a special movie section to help a longtime customer with Down syndrome keep her daily routine after the store closed.
Many of us find comfort in small routines—morning coffee, evening walks, or visiting the same store each week. They help us feel steady, especially when life gets hard or uncertain.
Some people depend on those habits even more. That’s why this story matters. It’s about how one man kept a promise to someone in his community by simply doing what he could with what he had.
Christina Cavanaugh, 35, lives in Pocatello, Idaho. She has Down syndrome and is mostly non-verbal. For over 20 years, she visited The Video Stop every day around 3:30 in the afternoon to rent a movie.
She often picked the same movies, always at the same time. Her mother, Toni Cavanaugh, explained why it matters so much. “She doesn’t ask for very much, she asks for very little, so when she does express herself, I try and accommodate her.”
Even though they own many of the movies Christina chooses, she won’t watch them unless they come from the store. “She’ll only watch them if they’re from the video store,” Toni said. Every evening after dinner, Christina watches her rented movie. That routine brings her peace.
The Video Stop had been part of the community for over 30 years. David Kraning, the store’s owner, said keeping it open became too difficult. “Last year, just looking at the financials, it wasn’t sustainable to try and keep the video store going.”
But the thought of closing it weighed heavily. “This was one of my first jobs and I remember back in high school, her bringing her daughter in, getting the movies.”
Toni said David had every reason to close the store earlier. “He probably should have closed sooner, oh dear, but he kept it open for her.” She also said the thought of explaining the closure to Christina felt overwhelming.
“I think ‘devastated’ is a really good description, because I thought, ‘How am I going to explain this to her? What are we going to do?’ It’s just so much a part of her life.”
Christina had already gone through something similar before. Another store she liked, Great American Video, had shut down. She used to call it “Beast” because she had rented ‘Beauty and the Beast’ from there. She called The Video Stop “Babar” for the same reason.
After the other store closed, Toni drove her there so she could see the locked doors for herself. “She doesn’t understand things closing,” Toni said. “She still wanted to go in, and it is really heartbreaking to watch the anguish.”
David didn’t want to see that happen again. He owns the convenience store next door, K & B Kwik Stop. In the back of the store, there was an unused space once meant for deli storage.
“That area was going unused, and I thought, ‘OK, it wouldn’t be too much terrible work to just retrofit it, put some shelving in there, and move some of the movies over, and just create kind of a mini video store corner for this kid, so she still could have her normal routine that she’s used to.’”
That small corner is now filled with shelves and DVDs. Christina still comes in at her usual time, picks a movie, and checks it out. “That somebody would do something so kind, for her specifically like that—he wasn’t thinking about anything else except her. That’s huge,” said Toni.
The staff at the Kwik Stop know Christina well. New employees are trained on how to interact with her. During checkout, she says the phone number on the account one digit at a time. After she says each digit, the employee has to repeat it back.
“They ask for the phone number on the account, and so she gives it to them, but she goes, ‘2,’ and looks at them, and they have to say, ‘2,’ or she won’t move on,” Toni said. “They’re really, really good to us there.”
Jennifer Klassen, the store manager, said, “They’re family. It’s part of her routine, seeing all of us. So, yeah, she’s just family.” Toni agreed. “How can your heart not melt when you just see how good they are about taking care of people in their community?”
When Toni first saw the new section, she told a staff member, “Oh, it’s Christina’s Corner.” That’s not the official name, but that’s what everyone now calls it. Though others can rent from the shelf, they only allow it for people they know will bring the movies back.
Toni said the change brought great relief. “It’s huge because it was a really heavy thing weighing on me … and then to find (this) out, it’s like being sentenced to prison and then getting a reprieve. That’s how much relief it was.”
Sometimes the kindest acts are the quiet ones. This wasn’t a big plan or a grand gesture. It was one person noticing another and doing what he could. That’s the kind of care that makes a community feel like home.
This story reminds us to look around and care for each other, especially those who depend on us. We don’t always need big solutions. A small effort from the heart can go a long way.
Let’s thank God for people like this video store owner who notice the needs of others and choose to act.
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