Storeowner profile
What is/was the name of your video store?
Video Station
Where was the store located?
Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)
When did you open/buy this store?
1981
In your own words, please tell the story of how you got involved in the video retail
industry. When did you open your first video store? Why did you decide to do so?
Graduating film school in a depressed economy, the then new technology of the home VCR seemed to offered an expanding retail opportunity.
Describe your video store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features, and why did you choose to design it this way?
The store resembled a boutique book store, with films categorized by genre & video boxes were stuffed and shrink wrapped to remain on display as long as the movie was available and brought to the counter for exchange for the 'actual' tape -- a decision that was not then nor yet univeral as some stores use a marker system to indicate what films are available. A downtown urban store under 1,400 square feet, the staff and I were all twenty somethings in a block that included a stereo shop, a record store, denim store and a couple of bars. Close to the University & situated on the busiest downtown road, it was a high profile location for what was just the fourth store to open in a community of about half a million.
What were your customers like? What particularly memorable customers
or events do you remember?
Many urban professionals -- the store was located a block from the cities courthouse & lawyers were early adopters of the VCR -- but as many university students pooling resources to buy a VCR for their dorm and share movies around the campus, the staff enjoyed guessing what movies the politicians would rent -- as the nation's Capital we were frequented by many politicians and elected officials with enough profile to make them recognizable.
What were your employees like? What qualifications or expertise did
you look for in an employee?
Young movie lovers willing to work what were then outrageous retail hours -- 'ordinary' retail was restricted to six days a week, two evenings ... but video stores were labelled 'service' industry and we were open fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.
What video formats did your store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store? How did this selection change over time?
Originally an even mix of VHS & Beta we moved over time to 2:1, then 3:1 and finally abandoned Beta all together.
In addition to mainstream Hollywood movies, what other kinds of videotapes
(for example children's, exercise, or X-rated) did your store rent/sell? Where were
these videos found in the store, and how important were they to your business?
Our store had a reputation for carrying Foreign & Art films in a market area that was close to the repetory cinema and the university films school. Though never as significant as the Hollywood product, the store was 'known' as the location for alternative films.
What other services/products did you offer besides the rental or sale of
programs? Did this change over time?
None.
Did you ever rent VCRs or other hardware to your customers? If so,
how important were hardware rentals to your business?
In early days renting VCRs with movies was a significant market share, but over time VCR rentals dwindled to a minor component of the business.
During the period that you worked in video retail, what changes did you see
taking place in the industry as a whole?
The early boutique stores of under 2000 square feet and fewer than 5000 movies were replaced with stores of over 10,000 feet and as many as 25,000 movies. Per film rentals declined from an early average equivalent to a theatre ticket price ($7) to an average of barely $2 when give aways and volume pricing were factored.
Are you still in the video retail business? If so, please describe your current
involvement in the video industry.
Left video retail ten years ago after a dozen years in the business.