The situation was dire. I didn’t have work. The proceeds from my first welfare cheque had evaporated. To eat, I scrounged from Kensington vegetable stands. I needed a job.A friend told me there was an opening at Queen Video. I didn’t know a lot about movies, but I’d worked in retail and restaurants before. I applied and I got a position as a video clerk. Eleven dollars an hour. I felt rich.But I didn’t know yet how rich I’d become.After 35 years in business, the flagship store on Queen Street is now closing up shop. I worked there for one of those years, and what I learned during that time transformed me.[. . .]When I first met Howie Levman, the owner, I expected him to be a film buff. He’s not really. He’s a businessman above all. He opened the store in 1981 selling televisions and VCRs with just a few movies. It was clear that what he wanted to do was put films on the shelf that people were going to rent.The store is at Queen and Spadina, the beating heart of downtown Toronto, so that meant a lot of interesting people. Hippies, punks, rockers, nerds, the early evolutionary kin of the Bellwoods hipster. Film geeks come in all sorts.But the store wasn’t just for them. The shelves were always stocked with dozens of copies of the biggest hits and they went like hot-cakes.On any given night, the aisles were bustling. A customer would tell you about a film you should see. No academic review – just “have you seen this?” So you took home one more film and learned a little more.
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