Leading Edge Video Thirroul owners John and Marion Wallace talk about nearly 40 years in the video shop business

However, John, 78, and Marion Wallace, 76, are preparing for another busy school holiday period at their Thirroul store.

"It's starting to pick up now, but it doesn't really kick on until after Christmas," he said. "January is our best month of the year."

The couple first opened a video store in the suburb in 1982. They moved to their current location on Lawrence Hargrave Drive in the mid-'80s.

The business has traded under its current name of Leading Edge Video Thirroul since the early '90s.

Mr Wallace worked at the blast furnaces in the steelworks for more than 20 years, but said by the early '80s "they were shutting down the area I was working in".

Therefore, the couple took a "risk" and opened a video store business.

"I got interested when videos first came to Wollongong - there was only one shop in Wollongong and we used to get our videos there," he said.

"It was packed every time I went in there."

Mr Wallace said initially their store, North End Video, was a 50-50 mix of the Betamax and VHS formats, which at the time were locked in a battle to become the premiere form of home entertainment.

Throughout the years, their children have worked at the store as formats such as DVD and Blu-ray came into vogue.

Mr Wallace said it had been a "really exciting industry" to work in.

"It's exciting, all new releases, and there used to be conferences overseas," he told the Mercury.

"It's been a great journey for us," Mrs Wallace said. "It just took off the minute we opened the door.

"I've loved meeting the people, it's been fantastic. It's bittersweet that (the video shop) industry is coming to an end."

Mr Wallace said video shops still held appeal for film fans who "can't get what they want on Netflix"; namely classic films that may have fallen by the wayside.

Mrs Wallace said their success was built around their vast collection of movies.

"Right from the start, we started getting foreign films in, Australian films in, and classics," she said.

"We just built up a great clientele over the years."

The business still sells items from their collection of more than 1000 VHS tapes to customers who enjoy the retro appeal of the format.

While their client base spans a range of demographics, the couple say they often have customers bringing in their young children.

"They bring them in and say, 'this is what we used to do on a Saturday night'," Mr Wallace said.

The business' current lease is up next year, and the pair are contemplating retirement. "We'll decide next year what we're going to do," Mr Wallace said.

Marion picks her favourite flicks

Marion Wallace has established a sizeable following among the shop's customers, who enjoy her rental recommendations.

Having watched "hundreds and hundreds of fabulous films", she therefore decided "to make my own area (of the store)".

"Because in a shop of this size, movies get lost, even if they're alphabetically arranged," she said.

"They get lost, and they might not go out for years."

During the past several years, Mrs Wallace has found these gems and placed them in a section of the store designated as 'Marion's picks'.

Her selections span from classics to foreign films, and a range of other genres.

"It's very popular now," she said. "It's got a huge following now, (particularly among) older people. People like to re-watch old movies."

However, Mrs Wallace said it was "too hard" to single out an all-time favourite film.

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