Avenue Video

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The Avenue Video Logo

Avenue Video is a chain of video tape, video game and DVD rental shops located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1 History
2 Current operations
3 Emerging Threats
4 Current Locations
5 Key Competitors
6 Indirect Competitors
7 External links

[edit] History

Established in 1985, the Avenue Video chain exploded during the 1980s to comprise a number of franchises in the Montreal area. The chain entered the market to fill the growing demand for vhs cassettes rentals (fresh from its recent victory with rival format Betamax) for viewing in newly acquired videocassette recorders (VCRs).

The chain suffered throughout the 1990s, however, due to increased competition from more established competitors such as Blockbuster Video and Superclub Videotron, and the decreased profitability of the overall video rental business. Finally, the Avenue Video chain dwindled to just two locations by the end of the decade.

In the Summer of 2000, Michael Taylor bought one such location and moved its stock from its space on Greene Avenue in Westmount to its current location in the Montreal municipality of Montreal West.

By 2003, Michael Taylor began to court the owner of the remaining location on Monkland Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grace, another Montreal municipality. During 2004, he gained majority control over the location and began to initiate a number of changes which culminated in a complete renovation of the look and workings of the Avenue Video Monkland location during the summer of 2005.

[edit] Current operations

Mr. Taylor is currently working with Movie Experts, a co-op dedicated to the success of independent movie stores, in order to increase the customer base and overall success of his business.

Michael refocused his strategic efforts during 2005 by employing a corporate strategist in order to fully realize what, in fact, the corporate persona of Avenue Video was to become. Throughout 2005 and 2006 he will continue to flesh out this vision in order to combat the threats outlined in the following section.

He has also begun to shift focus to DVD sales, a sector of the DVD market that is currently experiencing a period of explosive growth fueled by the ownership society model promoted by the United States. The DVD rental business, by contrast, is currently either stagnating or declining depending on the source consulted.

[edit] Emerging Threats

New threats to the conventional video store business model continue to emerge. During the past three years the online DVD rental business has drastically increased in size. It caters to those who rent large volumes of DVDs per month, as a customer could potentially rent many more movies per month with a subscription from such websites as Zip.ca than they could paying per movie at a brick and mortar store.

Since 2003, a new chain of automated video stores called Videoself begun popping up in Montreal. Based on a European business model, the chain succeeds based on low employee salary costs, high volume of new release movies, and minimal floorspace requirements. All three of these factors result in lower rental prices charged to customers. They also offer specials whereby customers can rent new release movies for 4-6 hour blocks for $1.

In the beginning 2005, Blockbuster Video instituted an "End of Late Fees" program that saw them completely discontinue the policy of charging penalties for movies returned past the agreed upon due date. This was partly in defence of the emerging online DVD rental business, and partly to win over angry customers from competing chain and independent video rental stores.