Lyonel Doherty
Times-Chronicle
We’re going to miss that jingle at the door, those creaking floorboards and that all-too-familiar voice saying, “That’ll do it.”
Well, by the end of November, it will finally be a wrap for Oliver’s Sundance Video as the end credits roll in the closure of Oliver’s beloved video store.
It’s hard to believe that the iconic business will be no more, but for owner Bill Unwin, it’s time.
“We’ve been at it for 24 years, I’m 72 years old so I figure it’s getting time to retire,” he said in the back office surrounded by countless DVD shelves.
“Secondly, through COVID, we’ve had the ups and downs; I’ve basically been supplementing the business the last 18 months because I really felt there was a need for a video store in town through COVID and people being sequestered in their houses.”
But at some point you have to say enough is enough and know when it’s time to pack it in, he pointed out.
Unwin also cited online streaming channels and high-speed Internet as another contributing factor.
“That hasn’t been a big factor, it has cut our business down, but it was still quite viable until COVID hit.”
Combine all that with “old age” and the writing is on the wall.
After 30 years in the wholesale building supply business, Unwin and his wife moved to Oliver to semi-retire. Well, you know what that means? Ya, you’re working full time again as busy as usual.
“We always liked movies,” he said, recalling the small mom and pop video store called Sundance Video in 1997.
“We sort of thought we’d enjoy the slower pace,” he added.
The business grew steadily back in the VHS era, when movies originally cost $130 to purchase. (Now you can buy them for 50 cents or $1.)
Unwin recalled when the movie Titanic came out; they pre-sold them to 35 customers at $40 each. Then Walmart started selling them for $5 cheaper.
“We were telling our customers if you want you can cancel your order and go to Walmart, but none of the 35 people took us up on that, they all paid the little bit more money to support local business.”
Unwin said they would always bring in multiple copies of movies for people.
For example, one of his first purchases was Con Air starring Nicolas Cage. The former Sundance owner suggested buying a copy, but Unwin said he wanted 15 copies so that multiple customers could rent it at the same time. That was the difference between Sundance and the other video stores.
“We wanted the business to run like ‘Cheers’ on TV, we knew everybody’s name. My wife was big on that; we trained our staff to call people by name, get to know them, get to know what movies they liked.”
That’s the sad part about leaving the business, you’re leaving people you’ve known for a long time.
Unwin recalled having up to six staff members working in Sundance during its heyday when it was shoulder-to-shoulder on Friday and Saturday nights. Those were the days.
He would often hire local students to help run the place.
“That was another one of our big goals was to give the high school kids the feeling of what a big city business was run like; firm open and close hours, how to handle customers, how to handle problems with customers.”
They left with a much better understanding of how to operate a business and what is expected of employees.
Sundance Video is still renting movies, but the plan is to sell off its entire stock, starting as low as $1.34 ($1.50 with tax). Got a favourite movie? Now you can buy it for cheap!
“Hopefully by the end of November, pretty much everything will be sold,” Unwin said.
While he reminisces about movie days gone by, it’s Sundance’s last curtain call. The end credits have almost finished, and the screen is fading to black.
Unwin has no doubt brought smiles to many a long face in Oliver on nights (and days) when reality was too much, so they left it behind to make way for a little fantasy, action or adventure.
Thanks, Bill.
It was a blast!
The Life and Adventures of Sundance Bill . . . sounds like a good movie.
(Photo by Lyonel Doherty)
