The landscape is changing, but a movie rental store west of Edmonton is managing to stay alive in a digital world.
Movie night used to require a trip to stores like Blockbuster or Rogers Video; now you can virtually watch any movie or TV show with the click of a button.
Blockbuster stores closed in Canada by 2011, and Rogers Video followed in 2012.
“Eight years ago, we had eight stores between Stony and Spruce,” Movie World Owner Shawn Davis said. “Now, there’s me.”
Movie World still has shelves full of DVDs and even some VHS tapes, but most importantly, their customers are still coming.
“It’s still a good business,” Davis said. “All the time there’s people walking in and it’s like, ‘Ah, I haven’t been in a video store forever.’”
Ray Gaultier prefers to watch movies the old school way.
“Going online is nice, but we haven’t grasped that technology yet.”
Others are just forced to watch DVDs because Wi-Fi is not as good in rural areas.
“You’re sitting at 6, 7 p.m. and you don’t want to see buffering going on your TV while you’re waiting for your movie,” Davis said.
Davis also offers something his clientele can’t get anywhere else. He brings in the types of movies that are not on streaming apps.
“[There is] better variety,” Maysen Lubbers said. “The people are great … it’s a small town thing.”
With files from Bill Fortier
