The vast collection of videos from one of Greater Victoria’s last places to rent a movie or TV series won’t be going to the University of Victoria or Greater Victoria Public Library.
UVic and the library system have turned down a request from Pic-A-Flic Video fans to buy the store’s collection of more than 25,000 titles when it closes in September.
Pic-A-Flic announced in May it planned to close after 40 years in operation when its lease ends in September. Fans of the store asked UVic and the library if the institutions would consider purchasing the entire collection.
In a joint letter, UVic and the library said it would not be feasible for them to buy the stock.
Both have seen the use of DVDs “decline substantially” over the past five years, as more people choose streaming services, they said.
The library saw a decline of DVD and Blu-ray checkouts from 977,000 times in 2018, or 26 per cent of total checkouts, to 376,123 in 2022, or 15 per cent of total checkouts, a library spokesperson said.
As checkouts of other collections increased in 2021 from pandemic lows, the number of DVDs taken out continued to decrease.
The library is not considering purchasing any of the store’s titles. However, UVic said it might consider buying some of the anime and criterion titles.
Pic-A-Flic owner Kent Bendall said he was not surprised by the answer.
Bendall was hoping to keep the entire collection together when the store closes, but that hasn’t panned out, he said.
“It looks like it’s going to be a big sale in September.”
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
