PICTOU – The days of going to a video store and perusing the shelves for movies have been declining steadily over the years. With the recently announced closure of Blockbuster stores across Canada some local movie rental shops are wondering what their future will be.
Bruce Levy opened Abercrombie Video in the early 1980s across from his convenience store on Abercrombie Road. His VHS collection had over 10,000 titles, hand selected and watched by Levy.
“Business was great before,” said Levy. “There was more profit, no Internet, no Wal-Mart or satellite TV.”
The shift to DVDs affected Levy’s business. More people buy movies today or download them rather than rent. When DVDs became the medium to watch movies, it would have cost Levy $250,000 to replace all his movies he had on VHS.
In 1994, as Levy’s rental business began to decline he moved his convenience store in with his movies to save money.
Susan MacDonald, who owns the Video Nook in Pictou, also has a convenience store with her rental business, which was part of the building when she moved from downtown to Welsford Street. MacDonald said the food and candy have helped keep her business afloat.
“You can’t complete with the technology,” she said, adding that people still rent movies but movie sales have declined.
Recently the Video Gallery at the Sobeys plaza in Pictou closed its doors.
“There wasn’t room for both of us,” said MacDonald. “There was room for one of us to survive.”
Levy said with more and more people watching movies online they are missing out on the social aspect of going to your local store and maybe running into a friend or neighbour.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Blockbuster Canada will close its remaining 253 stores across the country. In June, 150 stores were closed in an attempt to deal with declining sales and its new ownership by U.S. Blockbuster, which left its Canadian counterparts in debt. Currently there are more than 2,300 people employed at Blockbuster.
The Blockbuster in New Glasgow declined to comment on the pending closure and directed The News to Grant Thornton, Blockbuster Canada’s receiver. At press time calls to Grant Thornton had not been returned.
