CouchPotato
Mar 15th, 2008, 12:25 AM
Recently I went through a huge movie kick, wanting to watch everything from silent films of the 1920s through to last week's new releases. To find the old stuff, I went to many video stores around the GTA and here's what I found.
Rogers Video (many locations) (http://www.rogersvideo.com)
- Tons of locations and basically the place to go for new releases
- If you want tons of new releases, this is quite good. But they will always get the stripped down, regular editions whenever they can, not the 2 disc special editions.
- For old stuff, they're decent if you can find stuff you want to watch in their 7-day stacks. It's actually the cheapest place to rent from for old stuff. 6 x 7-day rentals = $15 only. Plus, with the Rogers rewards card, you earn 6 points. Rogers doesn't distinguish between new/old releases for points so you can get 6 cheap points this way. And they have many multi-disc collector's editions available. So, you can rent the 4-disc Gone With The Wind set for basically $2.50. That's a steal.
Blockbuster (many locations) (http://www.blockbuster.ca)
- Same as Rogers, except the signage is blue.
- No 6 movie package for 7 days like Rogers. I think their old releases were 3 for $9. I found Rogers had a better selection of classics than Blockbuster in general.
Queen Video (412 Queen St. W/480 Bloor St. W/688 College St W)
- Apparently, Queen Video is the second largest video store in North America with something like 60,000 titles. If you are looking for something, chances are Queen Video has it. But good luck finding it. Their store isn't that well organized and you will need to dig to find your treasure. Of course, you can just ask the staff to look it up, but I do think they should put search terminals in their stores.
- Rentals are something like $3.29 for a 7-day rental and $4something for a 2-day release. I found this pricing to be pretty typical amongst all indie stores.
- Absolute cheapest box sets rentals. HUGE HUGE selection of tv shows. Are you looking for the second season of Different Strokes that no one else carries? Come here. Sure, everyone's got The Sopranos, but how many stores carry The Facts of Life? You can rent an entire season of Heroes for something like $7-8 (if my memory is right). Cheapest rates for box sets in the city AFAIK.
Bay Street Video (1172 Bay St) (http://www.baystreetvideo.com)
- Located at Bay/Bloor just south of Bloor. It is the Cadillac of video stores and in my opinion, the best overall store.
- The store is a virtual Library of Congress and is super organized and clean.
- Movie sections are well organized and displayed on the wall in frames you can flip through. And because the frames are attached to the wall, they are ALWAYS in proper alphabetical order.
- They also have a searchable web site so you can look up what they have easily.
- Non-new releases go as low as $3.25. For every 12 rentals you get one free. So, it's basically $3 for a 7-day rental. So, while it's not the absolute cheapest, for the selection, it's a tremendous value.
- They will keep at least one copy of just about everything that is released to DVD. This is the only store I know of that will always buy a new special/collector's edition even if they already have a bare bones one. It is not uncommon for them to stock 3 or 4 versions of the same movie. And it's all rentable for the 7-day rate. (sometimes they do break out multi-movie box sets into individual discs though).
DVD Mansion (8425 Woodbine Ave - Highway 7/Woodbine)
- Owner is a home theater enthusiast and this store has the best high def and Blu-Ray rentals in the GTA by far.
- Great prices for new releases. I think it might be the cheapest new release rates in the city. It's as low as $3something for 2 nights if you rent 3+ I think.
- Also great prices for non-new releases. You can rent 6 for $15 just like at Rogers, but the selection is much better.
- They also get stuff early so you can usually get new releases 2-3 weeks earlier than anywhere else.
- Also a great place for tv show box sets. Selection as impressive as Queen Video's. More expensive though. And while Queen Video's box set rentals are all 7-day, the length of time of DVD Mansion's box sets are determined by the # of discs in the set.
The Film Buff (73 Roncesvalles, 1380 Queen St. E) (http://www.thefilmbuff.com)
- A pretty decent store. They've got a coffee and ice cream bar.
- Lots of selection. Not as large a collection as Queen Video or Bay St Video, but quite decent.
- Since I found just about everything I was looking for at Queen Video and Bay St Video, I didn't open an account here or rent from them. But the store seemed quite nice and friendly.
Marquee Video (1037 College St. W) (http://www.marqueevideo.com)
- Same kind of vibe as The Film Buff, but smaller. They too have a coffee bar.
- Place is pretty new I think.
- A neat and clean store.
Suspect Video (605 Markham St - Next to Honest Ed's) (http://www.suspectvideo.com)
- Sadly, their Queen St. location burned down recently
- Caters to seekers of odd/eclectic material. They still have a huge selection of VHS.
Black Dog Video (986 Queen W) (http://www.blackdogvideo.bc.ca/index.php)
- I've never been here. It's new I think.
2Q Video (830 Bloor St. W/841 Queen St. W/938 St. Clair Ave W) (http://www.2qvideo.com)
- I don't know much about this store. Haven't been there yet. But their website is pretty cool. You can see exactly what titles are in/rented out at each location.
Video Sparkles (Parkway Forest Plaza)
- Many years ago I rented from this tiny Mom/Pop store in the Parkway Forest Plaza next to the IGA.
- It was unique in that you basically prepaid for rentals, something like $25-$30 for 10 rentals. But it wasn't taxed and was super cheap. They only rented new releases.
- I found it too difficult to get the movies back to them by 5pm the next day, but the place was very cheap though.
Jumbo Video (1000 Gerrard st) (http://www.jumbovideo.ca)
Videoflicks (1701 Avenue Rd) (http://www.myvideoflicks.ca/Welcome.html)
- Haven't been here in over a year, but this store is also very good in terms of selection
- You can get 7 non-new releases for $11. I'm going to have to check them out again. 7 for $11? Damn. That would make them the lowest in the city.
- Entire catalog can be downloaded as a pdf file
Online renting (http://onlinedvdrentalguide.ca/)
Of the online rental places I have tried zip.ca and cinemail.ca.
zip.ca
- Since one of zip's warehouses is in Toronto, you can get about 15-20 discs a month if you 1) are at home when the mail arrives and 2) you can watch and return it the same day. This also assumes that the discs you want are in stock and shippable on any given day.
- If you are after new releases and high def material, the really popular stuff, don't expect to receive 15 discs a month.
- But if you have a huge list of old movies you want to see and don't care about what order they come in, zip.ca has the largest selection amongst online places and on a per disc basis, is the cheapest.
cinemail.ca
- Located in Winnipeg, you can expect to get about 12-15 discs from them a month so per disc, it's slightly more expensive than zip.
- They don't put new releases into rotation until about a month after they are released, so don't expect new releases right away.
- They are smaller, but have the second largest library. Your chances of getting what you are after I'd say is slightly better than zip, but your per disc cost is slightly more. Worth it though.
Other Miscellaneous
There are various other ways to rent videos in GTA.
- The GoodLife Fitness at Lawrence/Vic Park lets members take home movies for free. You have to be a member of course.
City News recently did a series on indie video stores in Toronto. Here's what they covered:
1. Queen Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19709.aspx)
2. Suspect Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19738.aspx)
3. Marquee Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19789.aspx)
4. Black Dog Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19817.aspx)
5. The Film Buff (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19859.aspx)
Please post your experiences with any of these stores or other stores not covered.
Does anyone know anything about these places?
- Ammo Video (662 College St)
- First Choice Video Club (Bloor/Ossington)
- Movie Art Decor
- Mr. Movie
Rogers Video (many locations) (http://www.rogersvideo.com)
- Tons of locations and basically the place to go for new releases
- If you want tons of new releases, this is quite good. But they will always get the stripped down, regular editions whenever they can, not the 2 disc special editions.
- For old stuff, they're decent if you can find stuff you want to watch in their 7-day stacks. It's actually the cheapest place to rent from for old stuff. 6 x 7-day rentals = $15 only. Plus, with the Rogers rewards card, you earn 6 points. Rogers doesn't distinguish between new/old releases for points so you can get 6 cheap points this way. And they have many multi-disc collector's editions available. So, you can rent the 4-disc Gone With The Wind set for basically $2.50. That's a steal.
Blockbuster (many locations) (http://www.blockbuster.ca)
- Same as Rogers, except the signage is blue.
- No 6 movie package for 7 days like Rogers. I think their old releases were 3 for $9. I found Rogers had a better selection of classics than Blockbuster in general.
Queen Video (412 Queen St. W/480 Bloor St. W/688 College St W)
- Apparently, Queen Video is the second largest video store in North America with something like 60,000 titles. If you are looking for something, chances are Queen Video has it. But good luck finding it. Their store isn't that well organized and you will need to dig to find your treasure. Of course, you can just ask the staff to look it up, but I do think they should put search terminals in their stores.
- Rentals are something like $3.29 for a 7-day rental and $4something for a 2-day release. I found this pricing to be pretty typical amongst all indie stores.
- Absolute cheapest box sets rentals. HUGE HUGE selection of tv shows. Are you looking for the second season of Different Strokes that no one else carries? Come here. Sure, everyone's got The Sopranos, but how many stores carry The Facts of Life? You can rent an entire season of Heroes for something like $7-8 (if my memory is right). Cheapest rates for box sets in the city AFAIK.
Bay Street Video (1172 Bay St) (http://www.baystreetvideo.com)
- Located at Bay/Bloor just south of Bloor. It is the Cadillac of video stores and in my opinion, the best overall store.
- The store is a virtual Library of Congress and is super organized and clean.
- Movie sections are well organized and displayed on the wall in frames you can flip through. And because the frames are attached to the wall, they are ALWAYS in proper alphabetical order.
- They also have a searchable web site so you can look up what they have easily.
- Non-new releases go as low as $3.25. For every 12 rentals you get one free. So, it's basically $3 for a 7-day rental. So, while it's not the absolute cheapest, for the selection, it's a tremendous value.
- They will keep at least one copy of just about everything that is released to DVD. This is the only store I know of that will always buy a new special/collector's edition even if they already have a bare bones one. It is not uncommon for them to stock 3 or 4 versions of the same movie. And it's all rentable for the 7-day rate. (sometimes they do break out multi-movie box sets into individual discs though).
DVD Mansion (8425 Woodbine Ave - Highway 7/Woodbine)
- Owner is a home theater enthusiast and this store has the best high def and Blu-Ray rentals in the GTA by far.
- Great prices for new releases. I think it might be the cheapest new release rates in the city. It's as low as $3something for 2 nights if you rent 3+ I think.
- Also great prices for non-new releases. You can rent 6 for $15 just like at Rogers, but the selection is much better.
- They also get stuff early so you can usually get new releases 2-3 weeks earlier than anywhere else.
- Also a great place for tv show box sets. Selection as impressive as Queen Video's. More expensive though. And while Queen Video's box set rentals are all 7-day, the length of time of DVD Mansion's box sets are determined by the # of discs in the set.
The Film Buff (73 Roncesvalles, 1380 Queen St. E) (http://www.thefilmbuff.com)
- A pretty decent store. They've got a coffee and ice cream bar.
- Lots of selection. Not as large a collection as Queen Video or Bay St Video, but quite decent.
- Since I found just about everything I was looking for at Queen Video and Bay St Video, I didn't open an account here or rent from them. But the store seemed quite nice and friendly.
Marquee Video (1037 College St. W) (http://www.marqueevideo.com)
- Same kind of vibe as The Film Buff, but smaller. They too have a coffee bar.
- Place is pretty new I think.
- A neat and clean store.
Suspect Video (605 Markham St - Next to Honest Ed's) (http://www.suspectvideo.com)
- Sadly, their Queen St. location burned down recently
- Caters to seekers of odd/eclectic material. They still have a huge selection of VHS.
Black Dog Video (986 Queen W) (http://www.blackdogvideo.bc.ca/index.php)
- I've never been here. It's new I think.
2Q Video (830 Bloor St. W/841 Queen St. W/938 St. Clair Ave W) (http://www.2qvideo.com)
- I don't know much about this store. Haven't been there yet. But their website is pretty cool. You can see exactly what titles are in/rented out at each location.
Video Sparkles (Parkway Forest Plaza)
- Many years ago I rented from this tiny Mom/Pop store in the Parkway Forest Plaza next to the IGA.
- It was unique in that you basically prepaid for rentals, something like $25-$30 for 10 rentals. But it wasn't taxed and was super cheap. They only rented new releases.
- I found it too difficult to get the movies back to them by 5pm the next day, but the place was very cheap though.
Jumbo Video (1000 Gerrard st) (http://www.jumbovideo.ca)
Videoflicks (1701 Avenue Rd) (http://www.myvideoflicks.ca/Welcome.html)
- Haven't been here in over a year, but this store is also very good in terms of selection
- You can get 7 non-new releases for $11. I'm going to have to check them out again. 7 for $11? Damn. That would make them the lowest in the city.
- Entire catalog can be downloaded as a pdf file
Online renting (http://onlinedvdrentalguide.ca/)
Of the online rental places I have tried zip.ca and cinemail.ca.
zip.ca
- Since one of zip's warehouses is in Toronto, you can get about 15-20 discs a month if you 1) are at home when the mail arrives and 2) you can watch and return it the same day. This also assumes that the discs you want are in stock and shippable on any given day.
- If you are after new releases and high def material, the really popular stuff, don't expect to receive 15 discs a month.
- But if you have a huge list of old movies you want to see and don't care about what order they come in, zip.ca has the largest selection amongst online places and on a per disc basis, is the cheapest.
cinemail.ca
- Located in Winnipeg, you can expect to get about 12-15 discs from them a month so per disc, it's slightly more expensive than zip.
- They don't put new releases into rotation until about a month after they are released, so don't expect new releases right away.
- They are smaller, but have the second largest library. Your chances of getting what you are after I'd say is slightly better than zip, but your per disc cost is slightly more. Worth it though.
Other Miscellaneous
There are various other ways to rent videos in GTA.
- The GoodLife Fitness at Lawrence/Vic Park lets members take home movies for free. You have to be a member of course.
City News recently did a series on indie video stores in Toronto. Here's what they covered:
1. Queen Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19709.aspx)
2. Suspect Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19738.aspx)
3. Marquee Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19789.aspx)
4. Black Dog Video (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19817.aspx)
5. The Film Buff (http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19859.aspx)
Please post your experiences with any of these stores or other stores not covered.
Does anyone know anything about these places?
- Ammo Video (662 College St)
- First Choice Video Club (Bloor/Ossington)
- Movie Art Decor
- Mr. Movie