Gary Dennis has a lot on his mind. Since announcing that his Upper West Side video store would have to close in December, saying the rent had proved too pricey, he’s been fighting for commercial rent regulation while comforting a steady stream of heartbroken customers.”

He took a quick break from these weighty issues yesterday afternoon to talk about pods and blobs.

“Do you think the pods were communists or McCarthyists?” a longtime customer and neighborhood resident, Louise Yelin, asked.

“What about the red blob? Now there’s a communist,” Mr. Dennis, 45, answered.

Ms. Yelin, a literature professor at Purchase College, had just shown her class the 1956 version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” because of its Red Scare undertones.

Such exchanges of film knowledge have made Movie Place a hotspot for film buffs and curious amateurs alike for the past 17 years. If the store were a movie, Mr. Dennis would be its star, offering a script full of anecdotes, jokes, and impressions ranging from Lucille Ball to Liberace.

The comedy routine turned sad when the building that houses the store at 237 W. 105th St. was sold in April. Already facing stiff competition from NetFlix and national chains, Mr. Dennis said the new owner’s 100% rent increase was impossible. Calls to the building’s landlord, Ralph Braha, were not returned.

In an effort to save Movie Place, three siblings — Naomi, 17, Shira, 15, and Benjamin Telushkin, 13 — recently stood on a nearby corner and collected 2,500 signatures for a petition demanding the store stay open.

“We made this pact, after seeing so many stores close down, that if Movie Place was closing, we’d fight for it.” Naomi Telushkin, a high school senior, said, “We had janitors, lawyers, young couples, old couples, all like, ‘Oh my god, Movie Place!'”

What makes such a diverse group stand behind a store? There’s expertise: The staff members are self-described film nerds who must pass a written test to get their jobs. There’s variety: The store has more than 24,000 rare and mainstream titles, including Mr. Dennis’s personal collection. There’s personality: Instead of the regular NetFlix envelope, Movie Place customers are greeted by teenagers who deliver their rentals. “They might look like hoodlums, but they’re adorable,” Ms. Yelin said.

Although saying he is “not at all” optimistic about his store’s fate, Mr. Dennis is using his story to push for protection of independent businesses. On Wednesday evening, he took his fight, and the Telushkins’ petition, to the Community Board 7 meeting. According to Ms. Telushkin, the board members added their signatures.

“I told them that we shouldn’t be subjected to the whim of outside landlords,” Mr. Dennis said. “We’re going to become a punchline. People will say ‘You can’t throw a rock without hitting a Duane Reade up there.'”

A 44-year-old acting teacher, Allison Adler, said she had no intentions of supporting bigger businesses. She has a backup plan for movie rentals: “After this place closes, I guess I’ll just have to start showing up at Gary’s house.”