Civic Video in Mosman is a franchise but it’s owned by a gorgeous couple who are assisted by a young but well-DVD-versed team. The delightful Lois who owns the shop is film buff and we’ve had many a Margaret and David style joust. Given the wide demographic of the staff you’re likely to get a good recommendation regardless of your genre preference. Being a franchise there’s some insistence on the Hollywood blockbuster type films but they’re placed alongside lots of intelligent alternatives. We go there for their great range of Foreign and Indie films and also the great selection of ‘Television Series’ DVDs including some lesser known American and British sitcoms. A well-stocked documentary section and heaps of kids titles means there really is something for everyone at this store.
PHILIPPA B.
Place rating: 2 Sydney, Australia
If video stores are a dying breed, someone’s forgotten to mention that to Civic Video in Mosman, ‘cos it always seems to have a bunch of people inside. And we’re often there ourselves — it’s conveniently located. I don’t think it’s success is due to doing anything exceptional. It’s range is reasonably current and broad. It does a good spread of television series(which I think are harder to come-by elsewhere than movies) but I’d like to see them extend the loan period. It recently upgraded its layout, but to no great avail. On the days that the owners are on site I would say it was well-staffed but its collection of part-timers is a bit motley(often more interested in chatting to one another than serving you). And most disappointing of all, despite their diligently running disks through a cleaner before you borrow them, there are too many times that we’ve found our rental scratched or dusty.