💿 Welcome to Christina's Corner

David Kraning's life revolves around movies. He grew up spending his days in his dad's video rental store, then later ended up buying the business from him in the 1980s. 

In the last few decades, however, he's watched from the sidelines as more people opted for streaming services and stopped coming into the store. David realized earlier this year that he would have to shutter his doors, and, to put it lightly, it bummed him out.

• “I realize technology has changed, people’s viewing habits have changed,” he told the Washington Post. “But I think of that old song, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star,’ well, streaming killed the video store.”
• David began selling as many DVDs as he could to prepare for his business' closing. But he couldn’t help but think of a special customer who still came in to look at movies multiple times a week: Christina Cavanaugh.

Christina, 35, has Down's syndrome and loves stopping into David’s store three days/week. When Christina’s mom, Toni, discovered the rental store would be closing, she was devastated.

• “I’d talked to Toni about needing to close, and I could tell she was distraught about it,” said David. “Her daughter doesn’t handle change very well. Coming to the shop was a big part of her day.”

About a week before shutting his doors, David devised a plan. And “Christina’s Corner” was born.

David moved about 200 DVDs to a corner of his K&B Kwik Stop convenience store next door so Christina could continue to rent movies. He made sure to bring over 50 of her Disney favorites, along with other popular titles.

When Toni saw what the store owner had done, she burst into tears.

“David is such a humble person, and he’s usually very quiet,” Toni added. “I had no idea he’d been worrying about how closing the shop would affect Christina. I thought, ‘My gosh – he’s been losing money, but he came up with a plan just for my daughter?’ Who knew this guy’s heart was so big?”