Sarah Falson

Two more video shops will soon close their doors, leaving only three outlets left standing in Greater Sydney – and one of them is in the Hawkesbury.

Windsor Civic Video, owned by Guirong Wu, is the only video shop left in the Hawkesbury, one of only two left in Western Sydney (along with Video Ezy Mount Druitt), and now one of the last three survivors in the Greater Sydney region (joined by Network Video Mortdale).

On Monday Civic Video Five Dock store owner John Price will shut the doors for the final time on his flagship outlet, after being in business for 35 years. For the past two months he has been clearing out all his DVD and Blu-ray movie stock, selling more than 20,000 ex-rentals at bargain prices.

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Last week Mr Price announced he would also be closing his other remaining video shop, Civic Video Bondi Beach, on April 20. He will now commence another clearance sale, and prepare for a gruelling couple of months tying up loose ends on yet another business.

This latest round of closures is sobering news for Sydney’s video shop owners, and for their customers. Mr Wu of Windsor Civic Video said it was further evidence of the increasingly unique offering he and the clutch of other business owners provide for their respective communities.

But rather than concede defeat, Mr Wu said he planned to keep his Old Post Office Arcade shop open for as long as it took to be the last remaining video shop in Australia. And though it would be bittersweet, he hoped he could succeed in making history not only for his business, but also for the Hawkesbury community.

“[The closures are] sad for the industry, but for my goal it means I’m a step closer,” Mr Wu told the Gazette.

Closing his two remaining Civic Video stores at Five Dock and Bondi Beach is a somber affair for Mr Price, who owned an empire of video shops around the state during the industry’s boom years in the 1990s – including Hawkesbury Civic Video stores at North Richmond and Richmond.

Though the writing has been on the wall for some time for business owners in the DVD and Blu-ray hire industry, Mr Price said the recent upswing in streaming services only added to the much larger problem of movie piracy.

John Price outside his Civic Video Bondi Beach store, which announced on February 22 that it will be closing in April. Picture: Supplied

“Piracy is the most substantial reason by a long, long way. There’s other alternatives now which are more convenient than DVDs, like Netflix, but when you’ve got people who are illegally downloading the latest movies that are in the cinemas and they’re doing it for free, you can’t compete with that,” he said.

“About 2008 to 2009 piracy really started to hit hard and have a really substantial impact on the business. And it’s just snowballed.”

Mr Price said store management, along with the location of the business, would both play important roles in the viability of the few remaining video outlets.

He said he thought Mr Wu’s Windsor Civic Video store had a fair chance of being the last remaining in Greater Sydney, as it was the only video shop trading in its region, and people in the Hawkesbury were more prepared to travel than those in metropolitan areas.

“In the city, if it’s not at your fingertips, it’s all too hard,” Mr Price said. “Things have got to be next door to you if you’re living in the city.”

Mr Price said he hoped the Hawkesbury community would continue to support Mr Wu’s business, and enjoy it while it lasts.

“If they don’t, the experience will disappear very quickly,” he said. “You’ve obviously got some good operators operating these [remaining video shops], otherwise they wouldn’t have survived that long. And if they’re ‘ma and pa’ set-ups then they’ve likely invested their whole lives into the business and it’d be great if the people could continue to support them.

Guirong Wu says he plans to keep his Windsor store open long enough to be the last one in Sydney. Picture: Geoff Jones

“Back in the day I had 12 stores all over Sydney and NSW, and it’s been my life for 35 years. I had my first store at Five Dock before I had my family. It’s an incredibly sad time for me, but that’s life – I have to accept the fact that people have made their decisions about their entertainment and it doesn’t include me. I have to move on and find another way of life.”

Mr Price said the movie hire industry was a “fabulous” field to work in: “No doubt about it, it’s given me a lot of fabulous life experience and I’ll miss it a hell of a lot, including the people I’ve worked with and the customers I’ve been able to meet. But sadly, nothing is forever.”

Mr Price thanked his customers – including those who used to hire movies from his Hawkesbury outlets over 20 years ago.

“Thanks to all those loyal people who kept us alive for as long as they did. We wish them every success in the future,” he said.

This story originally appeared in the Hawkesbury Gazette.

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