Civic Video celebrates 20 years of video hire franchises, 25 years in industry

This year the Civic Video network of video hire franchises celebrates 25 years of operation under the leadership of brothers Con and George Kafataris, and Tony Antoniou.

Con and George Kafataris first entered into the movie hire industry back in October 1984, opening the St Mary’s South store, which is still one of Civic Video’s video hire franchises today.

Within three years the duo had opened five stores, with an additional five opened by family and friends under the name of Modern Video. The brothers were also joined at this stage by Tony Antoniou.

Customers in those days had to pay a hefty membership fee plus a rental fee to hire movies, with titles needing to be booked sometimes weeks in advance.

With a growing business Modern Video was now ready to take the next step. It joined the Civic Video buying group and rebranded to Civic Video in 1989.

The head of the group, Keith Williams, passed away in late 1989, and when his wife Kerry chose not to run the business on her own, an agreement was reached for Con, George and Tony to buy the management rights of the group.

The three businessmen then put a proposal to the group to become a full franchise group, and 50 of the 112 store owners at the time agreed.

The evolution from a buying group into a network of video hire franchises was necessary to focus everyone on the future, bringing together disparate businesses into one with the same vision.

Civic Video expanded in the early nineties, opening new video hire franchises and acquiring smaller groups. The company bought the Plains Video Group in 1994, Premiere Home Entertainment in Victoria in 1995, South Australia’s Video Mania in 1996 and Video City in WA in 1998.

The Civic Video group worked to ensure that the business was given every opportunity to take advantage of the latest technologies and newest systems during this period.

The three owners had such faith in the industry that they didn’t take a dividend until the 1999/2000 financial year, reinvesting into the business before this time to drive growth and market strength.

Con, George and Tony have encountered many challenges throughout the history of Civic Video home entertainment franchises, from proposed two tier pricing to the more current threat of movie piracy.

With no doubt that the rental and retail landscape will evolve and change, a recent Australian Video Rental Retailers Association paper confirms that the movie hire industry is still in good condition.

Despite an overall contraction, the report notes that video hire franchises have higher profits per store today than they did five years ago.

The team at Civic Video is looking forward to continuing to be innovative leaders in this channel, working with its partners to deliver entertainment to the whole family.