Credits set to roll at Whitehorse video store

Cue the closing theme — one of Whitehorse's last video rental stores is shutting down.

"I think it's the time to move on," said Stephen Kwok, owner and operator of 38 Famous Video in Riverdale.  

"The young folks, I seldom see them. They just come in for the candy. And most of the time they're on their cellphones."

Kwok opened the store 16 years ago when many people still had VHS machines and online streaming was unheard of. He got into the business for a simple reason — he's a self-described "movie maniac."

"My wife [said] that you spend so much time in video store and looking for movie, why don't you own your video store? I say, 'Honey, that's a good idea.' So I go and open up a video store,'" he recalled.

For many years, the business thrived. Kwok describes how it became a neighbourhood meeting place — especially on Friday and Saturday nights. 

"It was very popular," he said. "It's a really good social place for everybody to come and chat ... It's a happy time, at that time."

Kwok's got close to 10,000 titles in stock, including what he figures has been his all-time most popular rental — Titanic.

But the business isn't what it used to be. Online streaming services mean people can access thousands of movies without having to leave home. The cost for internet data usage has also come down in recent years, Kwok said.

"Right now it's really a big drop [in business], and people are just coming in for the newer releases."

Selling off stock

Kwok hasn't set a closing date yet. He's aiming to sell off all his stock first.

Everything in the store is for sale, he said — except the goldfish.

"Absolutely not, that's my buddy! Maybe one day when I'm hungry I might think about it," he laughs.

Coyote Video 'taking it day by day'

Across town, at Coyote Video in Porter Creek — soon to be the only video rental store in Whitehorse — manager Cory Adams agrees business can be tough, but said he's able to hang on, for now. 

"We get younger people still," he said. "We get a lot of people that are just up for three or four months for the summer and they don't have any internet or anything, and they just want to watch movies."

Still, Adams admits it's hard to predict how long his store will keep going when so many others have "gone the way of the dodo."

"We're basically taking it day by day, because the industry is changing," Adams said. "We're noticing it changes every three months right now, so we can't predict the future. If we could, I'd be a millionaire!"

With files from George Maratos