They stock the offbeat, the obscure, the seminal, and everything in between - and movie fans can't get enough. In Part One of
CityNews.ca's five-part series profiling Toronto's top indie video rental shops, we stop by the store that's been in business the longest: Queen Video.
Queen Video opened its flagship store on, where else, Queen St., nearly three decades ago. Since then it's amassed 75,000 titles, the largest selection in the country and the second largest in the world behind San Francisco's Le Video, and claims to be the oldest video store in Canada. Owner Howard Levman explains that when he started the shop it wasn't to rent movies.
"I opened it up as a consumer electronics store with TVs and VCRs and stereo systems, and a small little corner (for) film," he notes. "I learned right away that an independent (store) selling home electronics just can't make it, but movies do very well and the neighbourhood embraced movie renting."
Levman has done so well over the years that he's opened up two more Queen Video locations, one on Bloor St. West in the Annex neighbourhood and the most recent three years ago on College St. in the heart of Little Italy.
"It's still a neighbourhood business," he contends. "Even though our collection draws people from outside the neighbourhood, we've had regular customers since Day One, who are still around, and their children now."
The long-time store owner, who buys films from all over the world, prides himself on the sheer volume of product on his shelves.
"I have everything from documentaries to silent movies, foreign films, classics, every kind of new release imaginable, B-movies. It's an endless list, I try to get a little bit of everything," he says.
When asked whether he still finds time to catch a film here and there, Levman jokes, "I'm too busy renting them to watch them."
Howard Levman's Top 5 Essential Viewing:
Predator
Aliens
The Warriors
Kung Pow
Lord of the Rings
The Test
CityNews.ca picked ten hard-to-find films and asked each store if they stocked them. Here's how Queen Video measured up:
Harold and Maude - yes
Dog Day Afternoon - yes
The Doom Generation - yes
Big Night - yes
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys - yes
The House of Yes - yes
Cinema Paradiso - yes
Brazil - yes (standard and Criterion Collection version)
Five Easy Pieces - yes
City of God - yes
Queen Video (three locations)
412 Queen St. W. (416) 504-3030
480 Bloor St. W. (416) 588-5767
688 College St. (416) (416) 532-0555
11am-11pm, seven days a week
http://queenvideo.supersites.ca/home/
Rental cost
7-day $3.75 (most films)
2-day $4.75 (brand-new titles)
Box sets range from $5 to $15
Photos and video by Brian McKechnie