'I love the physical copies': Saskatchewan's last video store
CTV
If you head southeast of Saskatoon to the Video Stop in Watrous, you’ll be transported back to a nostalgic time before Netflix. This is the original video-on-demand.
Time travel is possible.
If you head southeast of Saskatoon to the Video Stop in Watrous, you’ll be transported back to a nostalgic time before Netflix. This is the original video-on-demand.
It’s a throw-back gem that the owner Earl Hayhurst says it’s the only store in Saskatchewan that still offers customers a chance to go old school and rent a movie.
The Video Stop is bright blue and resides in the town’s former movie theater building on Main Street.
It’s a throwback to the days where watching a movie at home meant actually leaving home first to pick it out, and that is the best way to do it, according to Hayhurst.
“I love movies, I’ve always been a movie guy. I love physical copies. I love owning it, so I have it,” Hayhurst told CTV News.
He’s been in the video rental business for 31 years and stands by the rental approach. His rationale might stand in contradiction to the reason most people moved away from physical copies – convenience.
