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| Music Traders became home to Movie Village after it closed |
This was not a cheap form of entertainment. In 1977, JVC introduced the first VCR for home use which included the ability to record for 2 hours. The cost was just under $1500. In today's dollars, it would be like a family spending $5500. Sony's Betamax released in 1975 was also priced in the $1500 range. The early movies available like Bridge on the River Kwai and Butch Cassidy had to ordered from a catalogue and were not inexpensive. Blank tapes were $20 or over $70 in today's dollars and movie tapes were $50 to $100 each which in today's dollars meant movies started at over $150 and up!
It is easy to see why the rental market for videos was the way to go. It was very expensive for the early adopters. I remember seeing a Betamax machine in 1979 at a friend's house. It was a huge box and worth a down payment on a home during those years. And that is no exaggeration. I recall not being impressed by the movies. None were new and I was not familiar with Hello, Dolly! or The King and I except seeing them at Rainbow Stage. Like a lot of people at the time, I longed for Star Wars.
In my house we only got cable and a colour TV a few years earlier. Videon arrived in Winnipeg on the west side of the Red River in 1968. We had a black and white TV at the time. The screen wasn't huge but the cabinetry around it was. Cable even at $5 a month was a lot for my family so we didn't pick it up until late 1971. We only got a colour TV in 1973. It was only a year earlier that pretty much all prime TV from the U.S. was broadcast in colour.
My family would not be the first to get a VCR. However, the availability of videos and places to rent them sort of reached a critical mass around 1981. It was Christmas that year and in 1982 that many people got as a family gift, a VCR. For my family it was 1982 and for me the main reason was so I could see Star Wars which was being made available for the first time as a rental.
It was in 1981 or 1982 that the first video rental place in my neighbourhood on Academy Road near Lanark Street opened. The store was inside what used to be a sporting good store owned by present Royal Sports owners.
Video Zone on Academy Road had one wall of Beta tapes and the other wall had VHS. For some time, I believe you could even rent a Betamax to watch your rented video. Not sure when Adi's arrived on Academy Road but I thought a year or two later. Multiples of certain video stores started to arrive until there was well over a hundred and perhaps just under 200 store renting videos if you eventually included adult and 7/11 stores.
Academy Road:
Video Zone: Lanark Street. Early arrival to the video rental business.
Adi's Video: Oak Street, one of a number Adi's.
Autumnwood:
Windsor Video: 1069 Autumnwood
Britannica:
SIR Video: Later Rogers Video
Corydon Avenue:
Just New Releases: Lanark Street at Corydon Village Mall
Adi's Video: Tuxedo Village Mall
Dakota:
Bill's Home Video: At Meadowood. Now a Liqour Mart across from St. Vital Centre
Goulet:
Goulet Viideo: 145 Goulet...now a Goodwill.
Grant Avenue:
Jumbo Video: Kenaston Village Mall which was replaced by a Rogers Video.
Rogers Video: Kenaston Village Mall across from Superstore at Grant
Blockbuster Video: Grant Park Shopping Mall
Blockbuster Video: Charleswood Shopping Mall
Henderson Highway:
Adi's Video: At Martin Street
Lakewood:
Jumbo Video: Later Blockbuster Video at 12 Lakewood
Country Video: 35 Lakewood Southdate Centre...now a Pet Valu.
Osborne:
Movie Village: Rosyln Road. Huge selection and one of the longest lasting at that location before moving next door to Music Traders
Blockbuster Video: Wardlaw...now a Snap Fitness.
Marion:
St. Boniface Video: Beside Hair Passion
McLeod:
Rogers Video - McLeod between Gateway and London
Meadowood:
The Video Superstore (TVS): Later best Sleep Centre
Video Den
Adi's Video
Portage Avenue:
Movie Gallery: Garfield Street. Now Gooch's Bike Shop
Roblin Boulevard:
Rogers Video: Charleswood Square at Dieppe Road
Pick-A-Flick: Between Sparrow and Dale...later to Forest Park Mall (Charleswood Mall)
Video Den: Sparrow and Dale strip mall after Pick-A-Flick
Springfield Road
Pick-A-Flick - Springfield and Raleigh
Blockbuster - Springfield and Henderson
St. Mary's Road
Bill's Video - Across from Tim Horton's
Westmount:
Adi's Video: 414 Westmount
12 comments:
Pic-a-flick - springfield and Raleigh
Blockbuster - springfield and Henderson
Rogers video - McLeod between gateway and London
Pick-a-Flick - Strip mall on Roblin Blvd between Sparrow and Dale, then moved across the street to Park West Mall
Video Stop - Went into the strip mall where Pick-a-Flick was after Pick-a-Flick moved to Park West Mall
Blockbuster- Traverse & St. Mary's Road (now Snap Fitness and Taco Del Mar)
Rogers Video - Goulet (Dominion Shopping Centre)- now Peoples Optical
Blockbuster - Dunkirk & Parkville (now Dollarama)
Blockbuster- Osborne Village (now Snap Fitness)
Star Time Video was in Kenaston Village Mall before Rogers Video.
Jumbo Video was in Grant Park Mall before Blockbuster.
Video Den was also around at Waverley and Grant Ave in River Heights - just where the Lil Caesers is today
in the 80's we got rental videos from Sears @ Kildonan Place, Krahn's Audio-Video on Henderson @ Devon and lots of Mom and Pop video stores.
Was there not a MAGIC VIDEO somewhere on Grant/Kenaaton before Rogers Video?
Video Concepts at 1047 McPhillips and they also had a store on Pembina and at 1035 Gateway.
Microplay (Jumbo Video’s game focused chain) - Springfield and Henderson, abruptly closed in Fall 2007
Although many Microplays rent movies, the one I mentioned was stuffed in a tiny boardwalk lot so they only rented games. You seem to focus on movie rental stores so it’s up to you!
Video Stop all over the city
There was a small chain called Osborne Video. The first store opened at 700 Osborne, which had been the local library and later became Nerman's Collectibles, at least until recently. Another Osborne Video opened at 196 Osborne, at the corner of Gertrude, across the street from the Dutch Maid. Finally, an Osborne Video opened in the lower level of 478 River, where it was quickly stomped by Movie Village; currently there's a cannabis store in the space. None of these stores lasted very long, but they made a big impression on me. The first one was my local video store for quite a while.
There was also, very briefly, in 1987 or so, a mom-and-pop place at the corner of Morley and Osborne; 552 Osborne to be precise. I can't remember the name of it, but it didn't last very long either. In summary: these places were great, but thank goodness I worked at Movie Village.
I worked at a very small video store called Alpha 4 video from 1994 to 1995. I think it was on St. Mary’s Road. Or St. Anne’s, I always get those two road mixed up and haven’t lived there in 20 years. Also St. B video was hugely popular in St. Boniface off of Marion.
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