Why the video store isn't extinct - yet

Kent Bendallhears it at least once a day someone will come inand tell him, "Oh, I can't believe there's still a video store in town."

He owns Pic-a-Flic Video in Victoria, one of the country's remaining independent video stores. But it's a tough time to be in the business.

Many longtimerental stores have shut down this year, in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Cape Breton. This week, Video Difference, the landmarkNova Scotia video business, announced it would be closing its two stores this fall.

"It's like looking into a mirror," Bendall said."I'm like, 'That could be us.That could easily be us.'And you know, I try to figure out, 'Well why didn't it work for them?'"

• Has convenience killed the video store?
• Why this Yale librarian insists VHS tapes are worth saving

It's a struggle to stay open. Bendall relies a lot onloyal customerswhokeep himafloat by renting out British television series and older movies that aren't available online. He saidofferingniche content is key to survival and might even lead to a bounce back.

"If you look at things like books and vinyl records, those were proclaimed dead, and anyone who owned a bookshop or a record store, you know, were thought to be crazy, but they both made a comeback," he said.

"I think the video store can definitely make a comeback as well."

Writing's on the wall?

Thedecline in video stores hasbeen blamed on streaming sites like Netflix, illegal downloading,waning interest, less product being offered to videostores,even theclosureof chain stores like Blockbuster and Rogers Video.

Peter Kilburn, who runs the Ontario company Movie Experts, links the declineto the period about five years ago when these chains started closing inCanada and drove many customers online.

Kilburn'scompany interacts with a lot of video stores, providing them withmagazines and posters showing new releases as well asordering and purchasing information for some titles.

Hefiguresthere are now between 250 to 300 independent video stores left in Canada,mostly in small towns. That's a dropfrom an estimated 600 in 2012. Beyondthat, he said there areanadditional 500 convenience stores, general stores and gas stations that sell movies.

At its peak, Kilburn's businessemployed 14 people. Now it's three,but he stays hopefulabout the industry.

"I could rhyme off 50 or 60 small towns where the video store is still thriving," he said."We're still here."

'Enjoy it while it lasts'

Howie Levman is less optimistic.He said it's only a matter of time before the video storegoes extinct.

"It's not a happy story," he told CBC News. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

Levman owns Queen Video on Toronto's Bloor Street. He had two other locations downtown, but was forced to close them because of slow sales, including hisflagship Queen Streetlocation.

When that storeclosed earlier this year, Levman sold off 50,000 movies which he likened to a resource library.

"I had movies literally from all over the world that were hard to find. And it was the last time that neighbourhood was going to have access to that massive library."

Bendall saidthat's one of the hardest parts of seeing the stores close.

"For the towns that had like one or two stores and they've closed, it's a huge cultural deficit," he said."It would be like if a town library closed."

There havebeen efforts to re-energizethe industry, including the launch of an independent video store day, similar to record store day. But Bendallsaid the future isup to the customers.

"People, if they care about movies and film, they should really support their independent video store if they are lucky enough to have one, because once they're gone, they're gone."