The Video Difference era ended months ago, as the Quinpool Road destination rented its last DVD on August 15. With the Halifax landmark closing, there was worry its impressive vaults of indie, Canadian and old-school movie offerings would be lost (or, at least, scattered amongst private collections). Coast writer Tara Thorne chronicled the store’s credits […]
Video Difference
Posted inNews + Opinion
Behind the scenes
[Image-1] Video Difference was the best place you never worked. It was Halifax’s anti-Blockbuster. A cultural touchstone for movie lovers and second home to a family of film-loving freaks and geeks having more fun on the other side of the counter than the narrative clichés of retail employment should allow. The Coast tracked down a […]
Posted inArts + Music
How to get a job where you can make a Difference
Your standard student/artist job—server, barista, retail—is rarely in short supply in a town like Halifax, but Video Difference has always been one of the most coveted, and one of the hardest to land. Owner Tom Michael put together a three-part process: A standard job application describing work experience, education and the like; a slightly altered […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
5,500 Video Difference movies purchased by Dalhousie and Halifax Libraries
[Image-1] In a post-credits stinger worthy of any superhero blockbuster, Halifax Public Libraries and Dalhousie University have swooped in to purchase 5,500 hard-to-find films from Video Difference’s collection. The news comes just a day after the Quinpool Road and Bedford Highway landmark stopped renting movies after 34 years of business. “We’ve seen great enthusiasm across […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Video Difference is closing
“Well, all good things must come to an end,” Tom Michael, founder of iconic and enduring small business, Video Difference, says over the phone. He announced today that after 34 years of helping to keep Halifax entertained and educated, August 15 will mark the end of the line for both the Quinpool Road and Bedford […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Calling all heroes
Video Difference is holding a too-good-to-be-true sort of contest that you’d be foolish to not do. How’s that for a sell? It goes like this. Open your Hotmail, AOL, whichever your chosen platform for email is and send videodiff@eastlink.ca your name, address, organization name—which can be your office, glee club, auxiliary guild, ultimate frisbee team, […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best DVD Rental Store
Gold Winner Video Difference Silver Winner Mumford Video Bronze Winner Blockbuster (Bedford) Editor’s note: With its latest Best DVD Rental Store win in 2011, Video Difference was elevated to the Best of Halifax Hall of Fame. We have elevated Video Difference to the Best of Halifax Hall of Fame because it is the giant slayer, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Quinpool Road guided tour
Recently covered by a fresh coat of asphalt, Quinpool Road is about to celebrate with Quinfest Family Fun day on Saturday, September 17, from 11am to 3pm. It’ll be a chance to check out what Quinpool has to offer, its broad selection of merchant wares. From Greece to China, Korea to the Middle East, Quinpool […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Mitchell Wiebe at Video Difference
On Thursday April 28, from 7-9:30pm, Video Difference (6086 Quinpool Road, 425-3029) is presenting “An evening with Mitchell Wiebe.” Wiebe will provide a tour of his artwork permanently on display at the 24-hour DVD and Blu-Ray emporium. In addition, VD will serve complimentary coffee and sweets provided by another Quinpool hotspot, Ireland 32 (6220 Quinpool Road, 444-7555).
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Retail Sign
There’s a voice inside some of us that screams “I want CANDY!” on a regular basis. For those who can’t ignore that voice, Freak Lunchbox is here for you. And the design of the place, by art school-grad and co-owner Jeremy Smith, helps keep it in the mind of those who hear that voice, everything […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best DVD Rental Store
Those poor runners-up. Blockbuster, feeling the pinch of changing tech and maybe their more limited business model—that is, cookie-cutter franchises offering only the most mainstream entertainment, and good luck findingThe Last Temptation of Christ, or anything potentially controversial—have closed their peninsula stores. That makes Video Difference even more of a wonder, a three-storey 24-hour-a-day DVD […]
Posted inLifestyle
Go Local: Quinpool
One of the city’s main links between downtown and the suburbs, complete with gas stations and a McD’s drive-thru, it’s very commuter. But it’s a whole lot of community, too, serving as the west end’s Main Street. You can find all kinds of local restaurants—anchored by mainstays Athens and Freeman’s Little New York—and happening boutiques […]