Mike Taylor set up his first Avenue Video business 10 years ago in Montreal West ? a second career that he happily dove into. ?I wanted to get involved and be able to sit around all day chatting about movies with customers,? recalls the NDG resident.
In 2004, he bought an existing Avenue Video location in NDG and more than doubled business there before expanding into Snowdon almost three years ago. Today, Taylor is considering shutting down his first location. ?Business is not looking good,? he says. ?It?s a daily battle to keep it going.?
If Taylor does close his store, area residents will likely find new ways to watch movies in the comfort of their homes. But the shuttering of another neighbourhood video-rental store will be the latest sign that film-viewing habits are undergoing significant changes.
Beginning in the 1980s, renting movies from local video stores became an easy way for friends and families to spend an evening together. For a few dollars, thousands of titles were available on VHS, then later DVD. In time, larger chains like Blockbuster and Superclub Videotron joined the video rental market and the competition fueled efforts by local stores to differentiate themselves. ?We often can?t compete on [floor] size or video quantities, but we compete on service and selection,? says Taylor, whose staff ? many of them film students ? can offer clients a more informed opinion when they ask for suggestions.
For Roj Coacher, owner of NDG?s Videoshoppe, getting to know his customers makes a difference. ?They come in and before they give us their number, we?ve already punched in their name,? he says. ?They?ve become sort of an extended family.?
In the last decade, options for rentals have quickly multiplied beyond physical store locations. Mail-delivery service zip.ca appeared in Canada in 2004. For a monthly fee, movies were delivered to subscribers? homes. The service now boasts over 80,000 titles, but users have to wait for the shipment.
The Internet eliminated that issue, offering both legal and illegal options for acquiring movies.
Movie pirating takes many forms, from streamed movies to films downloaded directly onto a user?s hard drive. It?s put rental-store owners like Taylor in a bind. ?They?re stealing,? he says. ?That?s going to affect anybody?s business.?
Since arriving in Canada this September, Netflix has emerged as yet another competitor to the video-rental store. It offers unlimited rentals for a flat monthly fee. Movies can be viewed on computers, portable devices, and even televisions connected to the Internet through video gaming consoles.
Elias Makos, a technology and trends columnist with CTV Montreal, sees this type of service as the final nail in the coffin for traditional video stores. ?Everything is going to be available online eventually,? he says. ?It?s too hard to stock every film ever made in a store, but it?s really easy for an online streaming centre to make them available.?
For the time being, Netflix still does not deliver on its unlimited rentals promise. Bell and Videotron impose bandwidth limits on most of their users, restricting the number of movies they can download from Netflix. Both of Quebec?s top Internet providers also own their own television stations, cable companies, and offer their own movie download services. Because Netflix competes directly with their products, it?s unlikely the download limits will be lifted in the near future.
The second problem Netflix currently faces in Canada is selection. Their back catalogue, though vast, is missing many popular movies.
Complications in the licensing of content from Canadian right holders have limited choices. Of the top 50 rated films on IMDb (The Internet Movie Database), one of the Internet?s most popular movie sites, only eight were available this January on Netflix. That means no Godfathers, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings.
New films are also not available for download when they come out on DVD. These rentals remain the bedrock of the video store business, making up more than half of all rentals, according to Taylor. For someone who got into the business partially to spread film knowledge to his customers, it?s a bittersweet part of the job. ?We get a lot of people saying ?I come here for your selection,?? he says with a smile. ?And then they just take the new releases off the wall anyway.?
With the possible closing of his Montreal West location, Taylor is now looking harder at ways to boost revenue at his remaining stores. He says his NDG location remains profitable, though its revenues declined in 2010 for the first time since his takeover. At the current rate, he thinks he?s got five years at most to change his business model.
?I?ve got to diversify,? he says. ?I need to get more retail going. I want to turn into more of an entertainment destination.?
Ideas include selling gaming cards, movie collectibles, and used video games and DVDs. ?That has to be a mindset change when people come in, they?re not just here to pick up a movie, they have to be ready to spend more on something else.?
Taylor is also looking to leverage social media in an effort to better engage his customers. His stores have a Facebook page where new releases are listed, and he also has a website where his Montreal West store?s catalogue of films can be searched.
How much longer the traditional video rental business will last is unsure. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy this year in the U.S., but its Canadian operations have yet to be significantly affected. Video rental revenues continue to spread across more and more businesses and formats.
?The pie?s been cut so many ways,? says Videoshoppe?s Coacher. ?So your profitability has gone down the drain. Yet your overheads keep on increasing ... so it is harder.?
For tech specialist Makos, video stores reflect a generational divide. ?If you?re 50-years-old, they?re not out of place, it?s just what you?re used to,? he says. ?But for the teens, the people in their 20s and 30s, a movie store is kind of like going to the soda fountain.?
Despite the tough times, Taylor plans to continue plugging away.
?It?s an uphill battle right now to get more customers, keep your current customers, and supply a good variety of product,? he says.
He?s counting partly on his knowledgeable staff. ?We?ll just have to survive on personality.?


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Daniel Reviewed by Daniel on . The times they are a-changin? Mike Taylor set up his first Avenue Video business 10 years ago in Montreal West ? a second career that he happily dove into. ?I wanted to get involved and be able to sit around all day chatting about movies with customers,? recalls the NDG resident. In 2004, he bought an existing Avenue Video location in NDG and more than doubled business there before expanding into Snowdon almost three years ago. Today, Taylor is considering shutting down his first location. ?Business is not looking Rating: 5