SASKATOON – The basement of Christ Church, Saskatoon is like a two-for-one time capsule: half video store, half grandpa’s house in the ‘80s. There’s a gold shag rug on the floor, mismatched afghans on the sofas, and a tank of a television set tying the room together. And then there’s the movies. Save for a few spots on the wall that have been decorated with vintage posters, the room is lined with shelves of Blu-Rays and DVDs.
“Yeah, it’s definitely got that rec-room vibe,” says the Rev. Mark Kleiner, incumbent. Nutflakes – a pun on the streaming giant Netflicks – is the video store/community centre that’s been operating out of the building since 2021.
At Nutflakes, there’s no membership fee and rentals are technically gratis (donations, however, are accepted, and benefit CHEP Good Food, a local charity fighting food insecurity). Don’t have anything at home that can read a DVD? They have players available. And if you’re just looking to browse and talk with the volunteer staff about your favourite scene in Leprechaun 2, you’re more than welcome to.
At Nutflakes, the hang is really the point. Mr. Kleiner came up with the idea during the pandemic while thinking up ways to serve the community at large, and it was founded by volunteers. Nutflakes is part of the “third spaces” movement that is addressing Canada’s loneliness epidemic: the idea that everyone needs a comfortable place beyond home or work where they can mix with their neighbours and just be themselves. A communal living room. Or in this case, a video store.
When Mr. Kleiner pitched the idea for Nutflakes to a group of volunteers at his church, he acknowledged the concept was maybe a little out of step with the times. “It seemed kind of joyously anachronistic,” he says, but he bet on “a homespun little pop-up video store” attracting people from the neighbourhood and beyond, and for nearly five years, it’s been doing exactly that.
“We get a really wide-ranging demographic,” he says. Some visitors are just curious to experience the novelty of it all; others are there because they might not be able to afford another entertainment option. Mr. Kleiner says he’s noticed families coming to Nutflakes because they want to show their kids an alternative to “just scrolling endlessly through digitized choices at home.”
“Do we want to bring back the … Blockbuster (store) experience? You know, not so much,” says Mr. Kleiner, who doesn’t hold any special nostalgia for the golden age of home video. Before streaming, the corner video store filled a different, more transactional need, he says. You were there to grab a stack of new releases and retreat to the solitude of your living room.
Options for accessing movies are greater today, even if neighbourhood rental stores have largely vanished. When it comes to acquiring physical media, Nutflakes was able to quickly build its library by collecting donated Blu-Rays and DVDs from people in Saskatoon.
What’s in short supply now is a reliable place where people can gather, and for the two days of the week when Nutflakes is open, Mr. Kleiner and a team of dedicated volunteers welcome visitors to feel at home. “It’s a very low stakes community-sourced and community-run operation, but I would say that’s the whole point — and its charm.”
CBC Saskatoon
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