Lately the news has been full of stories of bookshops and video stores falling under the ruthless hammer of the internet and closing for good. Now one of Toronto's favourite (and few remaining) art house video stores has announced its closure.
The Film Buff East, located at 1380 Queen Street East, is one of a pair of independent video rental and ice cream shops (the Film Buff West is located on Roncesvalles Avenue and will remain open). The shop has a collection of almost 30,000 DVDs and Blu-rays with a particular emphasis on independent film, documentaries, and television programs.
In a statement on its Facebook page, The Film Buff explained the reason's behind the closure:
"I guess it's a story everyone can relate to, an example of the intersection between new and traditional ways of accessing media," said The Film Buff. "For those who remain passionate about film as an art form, it's about loss... the loss of relatively easy access to high fidelity presentations of great works of cinema. For those who see movies as pure entertainment, as a bit of escapism for a Tuesday night, they don't see what all the fuss is about. Netflix has everything they could possibly want anyways."
Starting August 23rd the Film Buff East will begin selling its extensive collection which includes many rare and hard to find items.
The Film Buff East closes its doors for good on September 2nd.
[Image via The Film Buff]
