It’s the end of an era in Steinbach. Grabbing the kids and heading to the video store to pick out a movie to watch Friday night, running in to pick up a series for a weekend movie marathon with friends, or spending an hour picking through DVDs to rent is coming to an end. Earlier this week, Video Max announced that Sunday, August 29 is the last day to rent a movie as they are closing their doors.

Video Max opened its doors in 1993 and owner Colleen Legary says the decision to close after almost 28 years has been an emotional one for her and her customers. ‘You get to know your regular customers, that they're not just customers anymore, they're more your friends. You get personal with people, so It was a big announcement...a big hit.’

Legary says that the pandemic did speed up the thought of closing, ‘we had a plan and the last year and a half just kind of fast-forwarded everything. I always knew one day I would be closing, but I didn't plan on doing it yet, but things happened.’

In spite of everyone staying home during the initial stages of the pandemic with time on their hands to watch movies, renting a movie to watch at home wasn’t an easy thing to manage. ‘The colder months are generally our busier months and we were curbside for that entire time.’

The inability for customers to browse for a movie made things difficult, and Legary said they tried to come up with a solution. 'A couple of my amazing staff came in and we rushed and got our entire inventory up online. But a lot of people couldn't navigate it.’

The response to the closure of Video Max has not been mixed. Responses to their Facebook announcement generated many comments expressing sadness at the announcement. Legary says she’s hearing the same thing from customers as well. ‘A lot of them are absolutely sad and asking, ‘what are we going to do now?’

Legary feels bad for her rural customers especially, ‘I do feel for a lot of the rural customers because like ourselves we don't have amazing Internet so trying to stream stuff is a challenge.’

Video Max wasn’t just a place to rent movies, according to Legary, it was also a place where people ended up visiting while they perused the video selection. ‘they come in and haven't seen each other all summer and people just congregate and chit chat and catch up. And it's kind of a meeting place.’

With running the business for the last 28 years, it’s been an investment for the entire Legary family. ‘I have pictures of my daughter, she's probably four or five at the time. And back in VHS days. She’s sitting in the hallway putting the ‘be kind rewind’ stickers on the corner of the VHS tapes. My son worked here during high school. My husband comes out and does all the maintenance work, changing the light bulbs or if something is broken and needs repair, he's the one I call. It took everybody.’

Legary plans on selling all their inventory in a big blowout sale starting Monday, August 30th. And after 28 years of providing entertainment to the community, Legary says she will take a couple of weeks off to do nothing before deciding what is next.

What she does know is that she is thankful for the community. ‘We've had such a great customer base to support us. I can't thank the area enough. We were the last man standing and that’s something amazing, and it's because of our amazing customers and staff that have supported us through the years.’