A landmark Halifax-area business is fading to black after 34 years.
Video Difference is Atlantic Canada’s largest video rental store, offering more than 80,000 films, documentaries and box-sets of TV series.
The business says both the Quinpool Road store and the Bedford Highway location will continue renting movies and box sets until Aug. 15.
“We got to a point, because of eroding sales, where we were no longerable to offer that,” said store owner Tom Michael. “So we thought we'd close while we are ahead of the game – closing on a high note.”
All inventory will be sold off to the public over a seven-week period, starting Aug. 20.
“We would like to thank the community for its dedication to Video Difference throughout the years. By far the highlight for all of us at Video Difference has been the opportunity to work with some wonderful people and to get to know our valued customers,” the company said Tuesday in a statement on its Facebook page.
“It has been both entertaining as well as a pleasure to provide films for every age and interest.”
Video Difference says it has employed hundreds of college students, collected tens of thousands of food items for the Parker Street Food Bank, donated thousands of dollars to the Nova Scotia Gambia Association and supported hundreds of charities, organizations and service groups through in-kind donations over 34 years.
Mikel Karschti owns 1,400 movies. Most of his collection comes from Video Difference.
“You can get movies that perhaps have been out of circulation for a number of years,” he said. “There are some that are well worth watching.”
Video Difference outlasted all the big brand video stores in the Maritimes until now. Michael says it's become too difficult to compete with online streaming services and specialty channels.
“It is also a change in customer's preference,” he said. “Motion pictures and feature length films aren't as popular as TV series.”
Greg Canning teaches film history to university classes. He always encouraged his students to rent from Video Difference.
“You can get a lot of these films online now, but you're not getting the quality or the recommendations,” said Canning. “You get a Google or Amazon recommendation which is not the same as a person.”
Canadian filmmaker Shandi Mitchell’s work, ‘The Disappeared,’ is part of the catalogue at Video Difference.
“Video Difference was extraordinarily important to me when I started my film career,” she said. “Twenty years ago there wasn't access to films so the only way for me to actually discover cinema. The world cinema was here. They really were my master class.”
Customers who bring eight non-perishable food items to the liquidation sale will receive a $5 credit towards any purchase, in support of the Parker Street Food Bank.
The company says cash cards will continue to be honoured on rentals and during the liquidation sale.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundahl.
