'They don't even have a VCR': Physical media is seeing a comeback in the age of streaming, says video store owner

It’s like walking back in time into your local video shop to pick up something to watch over the weekend at Rough Cut Video in northwest Calgary.

The store is primarily focused on cult films that are hard to find on streaming sites and most of the older titles in his shop are trade-ins that customers use for credit towards new titles. Outside of that, his inventory is mostly imported from the UK and Australia.

Owner Pascal Fortin believes that physical media is still very important despite a shift in people who still purchase it.

“Before I opened, it would cost me an arm and a leg to ship from the UK,” he said. “That’s why I import from the UK and Australia, and when people that were like me saw that I was bringing in these imports, they were excited because now it’s cheaper.”

The market isn’t where it used to be 20 years ago, when people could pick up VHS tapes at the grocery store, he said.

It has shifted to more of a collectors market.

“Similar to how vinyl is where music is just as streamable and people will buy vinyl because they like having a physical copy of something and its cooler packaging,” he said.

Compared to popular streaming platforms that are widely used, physical mediums such as Blu-ray, DVD and even VHS offer more for viewers than they realize.

Outside of additional content through special features, better video and sound quality, the biggest advantage is that owners get to watch their copy of the film they purchased wherever and whenever they want.

“Sometimes a movie is not on a streaming service or it could be taken off,” Fortin said. “For people that like these types of movies, you can’t rely on streaming at all because 90 per cent of what we have here isn’t even on any streaming service.”

Another concern that people have with streaming services is that they can either edit films by cutting scenes, altering them or changing dialogue.

“When you own the disc, they can’t do that,” he said.

Even though it won’t reach the same levels of business that video stores saw decades ago, people are becoming more interested in physical media.

Some people are just tired of streaming, and others come in to see what can’t be found anywhere else.

An interesting trend he sees with his customers is younger people coming in and buying tapes.

“For the majority of them are much younger, I’ve spoken to them and they don’t even have a VCR,” Fortin said. “They think it’s cool and it’s almost like a display piece. They say they’ve heard of this movie or seen it before on streaming and they’d like to have it on their shelf.”

Nowadays, the nature of physical media shows that it is continuing to grow, with smaller film labels reaching out to bigger film studios for distribution rights to older movies that people can purchase.

Almost 100 to 150 titles are being released every month and people locally and nationwide are always making orders, he said.

Fortin’s biggest surprise was seeing how fast word spread that he operates a physical location that sells movies.

“The first week that I opened, at least a dozen phone calls were people just wanting to make sure that this was real and I had already shipped to every province within the first month,” he said.

Fortin also hosts secret double feature screenings every few months at the Globe Cinema in downtown Calgary called “Freaks Come Out At Night.”

These showings show two movies and offer a unique experience compared to streaming something at home.

Volume 8 is coming back to the Globe on Nov. 7 for $20, and anyone who is interested is invited to drop by.

“A fun movie at home by yourself is not as fun as with a crowd who’s having just as much fun as you are,” he said. “There’s a buzz in the theatre.”

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