"Alternative Films for Generation X" From The Waterloo Chronicle: December 7th, 1994 Video stores shelves lined with the latest releases, and colorized versions of classic black-and-white films, give Mike Greaves and Floyd Chan chills up and down their spines. So Greaves, 25, a film studies major at University of Waterloo, and 30-year-old Chan, who has worked in the entertainment business with bands such as Toronto’s The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir and Vancouver’s Hard Rock Miners, decided to offer movies they believe people in the Waterloo community really want. After months of research the pair opened Generation X Video and Media, an alternative video rental store, located at 69 Regina St. N in Waterloo. The 2,300 hand-picked videos offer movie lovers the best selection of foreign, cult, anime and hard-to-find videos in the K-W area.
"They were blown away. They couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to go into this pile of movies and pick them out", Greaves said of the video markets which supply stores through the province. "The reason they have it set up the way they do is because most video stores are set up to focus completely on their new releases. We’re not focused that way. We’re more interested in their art films and films of special interest". According to Chan, the store offers an extensive number of silent pictures and neo-realistic period time films and the new wave of French films and Hong Kong action films. "We probably got the largest selection of Hong Kong action films in an English speaking video," said Chan. In order to maintain the director’s original intent, they offer, wherever possible, uncut, unrated, remastered, letter-boxed, director’s cut and original language videos. As well, they don’t carry any colorized version of any black-and-white film. "We did a lot of market research and studied the idea of a non-mainstream video store. There are several in Toronto doing quite well because they’re dealing with niche markets. "Considering that this is a university town, there are a lot of students interested in the arts. We knew that the market was quite ripe in this area." The pair, realizing that both the UW and Wilfrid Laurier University offer film courses, knew that there was an untapped market in the community. Following the success of the Princess Theatre, an alternate movie house for theatre
goers, the pair knew that Waterloo was the right area to open for business. "If you rent a genre movie, your second video is half price. It encourages people to experiment at a reduced cost. What better way to discover John Woo (internationally-acclaimed Hong Kong director of action films) or (acclaimed actor/director) Harvey Keitel," Chan said.
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The
two men, who grew up together in Sault Ste. Marie, admit they’re a bit rebellious in
the video store game, but being different is what makes them unique. Instead of ordering
hundreds of randomly picked videos at a buy and sell video market, they hand picked their
own videos.
