Eyesore Cinema declares October 15th Video Store Day

Record Store Day, as many music fans know, was launched back in 2008 as a way to celebrate independent record shops and the role they play in delivering good music to fans across the globe. Over the four years it's been celebrated, Record Store Day has become a bigger and bigger event, marked by hundreds of special record releases and in-store performances from major bands.

Now Toronto's Eyesore Cinema wants to do the same for Independent video stores. Facing what looks to be an even more precarious economic situation than record stores (bye, bye Blockbuster), the idea is to send out a positive little reminder that using Netflix and iTunes to find all of one's movies may not be the best way to ensure that you're watching the best stuff that's out there. "Its purpose is to promote the idea of supporting your local, independent video stores," reads Eyesore's description of the event. "Stores owned and staff by actual human beings who have dedicated themselves to the medium, can be relied upon for reviews and recommendations and who truly love what they do — otherwise, why else would they still be doing it?"

There's no doubt that the cause is a good one — indie video stores are a crucial bit of film culture — but I suspect it'll be significantly more challenging to market Video Store Day than its musical counterpart, which has been bolstered by the participation of heaps of huge bands over the years. But with roughly 500 video stores on board, there's loads of potential to build some momentum in the first year of the event. What do you think? Will you get out to your local vid shop on October 15th?

Each store will be planning its own festivities, so check out the main Facebook page for more info.

Photo by Roger Cullman