Retro DVD stores are a dying part of UK high streets with just a few independent shops of their kind remaining. Steve Webber is the owner of one special shop called Northgate Video, a similar concept to a Blockbuster. It has been open for 43 years and the store, located in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk offers customers the opportunity to step back in time.
Speaking to the Express, Steve revealed he’s an avid film-watcher and movie lover himself and he’s shared his top five films of all time. But not only this, he has also revealed which DVDs are most popular for his customers and there’s some films on the list that you might not expect.
Steve says: “Nowadays the most popular request is whatever comes out new. The rental side of the business is very small now. I sell a lot of secondhand DVDs and I have a regular clientele and all the different DVDs in front of me as well.
“The problem is that a lot of the new films nowadays don’t actually come out on DVD because they’re all made by the streaming sites and they go straight on there and then we make it on DVD three to four months afterwards. So the availability of new DVDs is a lot less than it used to be.”
He says Captain America: Brave New World was recently one of the most popular DVDs requested in his store along with Killers of the Flower Moon which he says was very popular when it first came out.
Steve also said the new Sonic the Hedgehog 3 drew in quite a few visitors. He adds: “I’ve got a small number of regular customers who often come in to grab whatever is the latest film out.
“The new Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was again very popular and a lesser known one called Sisu also got quite a few requests.
He recalls: “Back in the day, horrors were always the most popular ones but that’s dropped off now.”
As a movie-lover himself, Steve has shared with us his top five favourite films of all time.
He says: “One of my top ones would be The Shawshank Redemption. It’s an all-together excellent film. It’s definitely one of the best films I’ve ever watched.
“After this, I’m a big sci-fi fan so Alien would always be on my list too. It’s an iconic film that’s got a touch of horror in it and it’s very intense at times – it keeps you gripped.”
He says next on the list are the Mission Impossible films. “If you want a good action-packed no-brainer entertainment, it’s perfect,” he adds.
“Another of my favourites is the Da Vinci Code. I love the books and the films were perfectly well done. Very, very good indeed.
“My final choice that’s an easy watch but still very entertaining is Independence Day. It’s one that’s great to see on the big screen and I find it spectacular.”
Steve recognises his shop is unique and says he receives a fair amount of visitors for another service he offers which is transferring video onto discs.
Often, customers find themselves with some old footage on a camcorder or similar device that they’re keen to get a hard copy of and Steve is able to transfer this for them.