KITCHENER -- The last dedicated video store in Waterloo Region will live to see another day.
Far out Flicks in Kitchener was set to close at the end of the month but a new deal with the landlord will keep the doors open for a little longer.
"There are still a lot of movie lovers and people who want to own hardcopies," said Rolf Glemser, who opened Far out Flicks in October of 2002.
The video store is stacked floor to ceiling with thousands of DVDs, VHS tapes, Blu-ray discs and a whole lot of nostalgia. After the building was sold to a new landlord, Glemser said the store needed to vacate on December 30th before a new lease agreement kept the business running.
"As you can see, we have so much stuff. I had nowhere to put it. So I called the new landlord, ‘look, can we do a one year lease?' and we worked out a new deal, so another year," Gelmser explained.
Gelmser said business has been steady, estimating around a dozen customers pop in per day, with many looking to offset the challenges of streaming services.
"They will have a movie for a couple of years and then it’s out of rotation, so if you do fall in love with a movie or TV series they have, it just may not be there anymore," said Gelmser. "Plus, with our rentals, if Amazon says it’s $10 we’ll sell it to you for five."
Some customers like Nick Isaac, prefer having a physical copy of their favourite film over streaming any day.
"I’ve probably brought over a thousand movies already," said Isaac, who’s become such a regular, he volunteers at the shop in return for a discount. "It’s pretty awesome, I’m glad he’s made it this long cause I don’t know where I would get movies."
Glemser said he looks forward to the rest of the year and getting to meet other true movie lovers like himself.
"It’s almost like a new start, rebirth so to speak," said Glemser.
