Meet the Wirral owner of one of last video rental shops in UK

Do you stream it to your Smart TV or tablet and watch it by yourself?

Do you long for the days of watching a DVD on the sofa with your friends and family?

One of the UK’s last remaining film rental shops is just a stone’s throw away and Snips Movies has just bagged out latest Best of 2024 award – Wirral’s Best Independent Shop or Business.

Snips Movies is one of only two remaining video rental stores in the UK

In April, we launched our Best of 2024 competition and we’ve given out 10 awards.

Best for Hair – LA Hair

Best for Pies – Pies4u

Best for Nails - By Taylor Jade

Best for Roast Dinner - The 21st Amendment Hoylake

Best for Cocktails – Cow Shed Bar & Grill

Best for Breakfast – At Gilly Gem’s

Best for Fish and Chips - SelFish

Best Beer Garden - The Red Fox

Best for Fitness – Clubbercise and Chill

Best for Tattoos – Speakeasy Tattoo Studio

Voting for Wirral’s Best for Dessert is currently taking place and we’re also looking for nominations in our latest search - Best for Kids.

Vote for Wirral’s Best for Dessert 2024

Nominate your favourite for Wirral’s Best for Kids 2024

Ten top independent businesses and shops in Wirral made the shortlist for our latest Best of 2024 award and Snips Movies took this year’s coveted crown.

Owner Dave Wain’s late father Peter opened the business on Cross Lane in Bebington in 1976.

Dave grew up in Heswall – he was born at Clatterbridge Hospital – and attended Calday Grange Grammar School before doing a degree at the University of Nottingham.

Owner Dave Wain worked at Snips Movies for two decades with his late father Peter

Dave, who is 47, said: “Snips Movies is one of only two remaining film rental stores in the whole of the UK.

“Back at the turn of the millennium, Wirral could boast in excess of 60 of these businesses, but now, predominantly due to the rise of Netflix and various other streaming platforms, this style of business is quite a rarity.

“My dad always harboured a desire to work for himself so in 1976 he opened Snips and sold a variety of ladies clothing and competitively priced knitwear.

“Working alongside my late mother, Val, they did a roaring trade that allowed them to expand with another two shops – one in Higher Bebington and one in Bromborough.

“The 1990s gave rise to out-of-town shopping centres while the growth of the supermarkets into more non-food items meant that the days of that incarnation of Snips were numbered.

“Downsizing back to one shop on Cross Lane in 1995, my dad experienced a rather fortuitous scenario where the gentleman who owned the shop next door – the local video shop – was retiring.

“Ever the risk-taker, he exited the rag trade, bought the stock of 250 or so VHS from next door, and on August 8, 1995, Snips Movies opened its doors.”

Dave worked alongside his dad every day for two decades, taking on board “every kernel of knowledge that he shared and holding onto it with a vice-like grip”.

Dave said: “Dad’s death in 2022 was a massive loss to the local community, so by evolving the business with his principles and my own ideas, it should stand us in good stead for the coming years.

“Initially, it was more a case of necessity over desire – a happy accident if you will.

“However, as the last 29 years have gone on, curating the most diverse range of films has become a vocation.

“This became apparent in the early noughties when the competition gradually began to fall by the wayside.

“Year after year, Snips was cutting an increasingly isolated figure in what was once a billion pound industry.

“What began as a tentative stopgap to steady a small business, has led to success and notoriety with a documentary in production and recent features in The Guardian and Sight & Sound.”

Twenty years ago, Snips Movies’ competitors were other movie rental shops but now it’s Netflix, Amazon and other streaming platforms.

Snips opened on Cross Street in 1976 and became Snips Movies in 1995

Dave said: “Arguably, it’s an easier fight now as watching films is becoming an elitist pastime.

“Thirty years ago, everyone - irrespective of income - had access to the same films via a network of well-stocked video stores and television channels that curated a broad selection of films to broadcast.

“By 2024, this had changed dramatically, because the number of movies you can access depends on how much money you have.

“This circumstance is restricting current and future generations of cinephiles and film lovers by pricing them out of their burgeoning hobby or vocation.

“To restrict access to the arts for the sake of corporate greed is something that Snips will always rally against.

“Snips has one of the largest rentable movie libraries in the world with more than 16,000 films, and every single one is available to hire for as little as £1.67 (if renting three for five pounds).

“If you’re a student, a carer, a teenager, a teacher, a nurse or even a banker, you can browse more than a hundred years of cinema history for a minimal price and return them at your leisure.”

Dave says his customers want to be social and share the experience of watching a film, something which streaming platforms are trying to steer users away from with separate accounts for each family member.

He said: “Watching movies has become a very solitary pastime and it shouldn’t be that way.

“We’re living through a mental health crisis in the UK and our dependence on convenience shopping has had a major impact on the erosion of small local shops and our neighbourhood communities in general.

“Many customers simply enjoy the act of browsing, chatting about films and sharing recommendations with each other.

“It makes many of them feel part of something and enables them to play a vital role in a movement that keeps physical media alive.”

There are more than 16,000 films at Snips Movies

Dave has seen more new renters in the first half of 2024 than in the previous three years combined.

Many of his customers travel from Liverpool, Chester, Frodsham and Oswestry to rent a film.

He has seen his customer demographic shift and it’s mainly 18-30s visiting the shop with a few over 40s too.

Dave said: “To see such passion, knowledge and curiosity from the younger generation fills me with joy.

“As one of my regulars commented to me this past weekend - “Dave, do you know there’s two young women sat on the floor over there discussing Ken Loach films?”

Dave was thrilled to find out he’d made the shortlist for our latest award – Wirral’s Best Independent Shop or Business 2024.

He said: “Thirty years ago people expected to see a movie rental store on the high street but in 2024 they don’t.

“Much of my time is spent trying to get the shop noticed.

“In fact, one of the biggest complaints I get from customers is that they didn’t know about Snips years ago.

“Making the shortlist has really helped spread the word about the business.

Therefore, whatever the result, I knew the shortlist would be a great opportunity to spread the word about my business.

“I was delighted beyond belief to hear that Snips Movies had won!

“The fact that a video store – as we still call it – managed to win a Best Independent Business Award in 2024 almost defies logic.

“It shouldn’t exist and many passers-by come in just simply because they don’t believe it exists.

“Hopefully this award underlines the fact that Snips exists for a reason.

“It’s not a novelty shop or a nostalgia trip, it’s a genuine alternative to streaming.”

Dave added: “This achievement belongs to my customers, not me.

“When all their peers are shelling out for income draining subscriptions to a multitude of streamers, they’re the ones that have steadfastly driven, walked or travelled by public transport to patronise a true anomaly.

“They’re rebels, unswayed by convention and determined to keep the choice of what they watch in their own hands, not in the grasp of conglomerates who can erase it on a whim.

“My customers are absolute heroes.”