Before Netflix, there was Blockbuster.
Saturday evenings spent wandering the aisles of a video rental store, searching for the perfect movie to accompany a cosy night in was a familiar ritual for generations of families from the mid-70s through to the early 2010s.
These days, the ritual looks a little different, replaced by endless scrolling through streaming services, only to find something most in the room will watch with one eye, the other fixed on their phone.
But in one Langford home, time has rolled back to the 90s, with couple Shaun and Catharina Peterson pressing pause on the past.
The pair have transformed a room in their home into a nostalgic nook, crammed full of memorabilia, hundreds of VHS tapes, retro-game consoles and CRT television sets casting that warm, familiar glow that modern flat screens just can’t replicate.
Sister Act, Gremlins, Back to the Future, all seven seasons of The Golden Girls and seemingly every Disney movie under the sun – you name it, they’ve got it.
“Gilmore Girls is my absolute comfort show,” says Catharina, who describes herself as an “elder millennial.”
“My poor husband has probably watched that three times a year, every year, all seasons.”
“I default to the really cheesy 80s action movies,” adds “regular millennial” Shaun. “Bloodsport, Predator, Terminator, the Batman movies – all the mindless stuff; put it on, hear one or two punchlines, things blow up.”
The idea for the nook came from Catharina. Working from home for Island Health, Catharina says she needed a place to escape the daily grind and space to enjoy the pop-culture preservationists’ vast collection.
“It’s just comforting,” she says. “It might look very overwhelming because there’s so much going on, but for me, I walk in here, and I just relax, and I feel safe – I can just be me.”
For both, the space offers a chance to reconnect with a simpler time.
“I feel really lucky to have grown up in the 90s, in a time before social media, before everything was recorded,” says Catharina. “I could still go out and be myself and not worry about somebody filming me and then making fun of me on the internet – like ew.”
The couple’s enthusiasm for the 90s has since spilled beyond their Langford home and into downtown Victoria.
At the Bay Centre, Shaun and Catharina opened the doors to the ‘Nostalgic Nook’ Oct. 1, inviting folks to step back in time and experience a little retro retail therapy.
Alongside a curated collection of memorabilia for sale, the couple has also resurrected the video store experience, with hundreds of movies on VHS available to rent, as well as VCR players for those who no longer have one tucked away at home.
Visitors can also settle into a replica living room reminiscent of classic 80s and 90s sitcoms, or challenge a friend or family member to a two-player computer game.
“We’ve lost that sibling rivalry – you don’t have that throwing the controller at your brother or sister’s head and screaming, ‘You just lost me a life’ or ‘Why did you fall down that hole again?’” says Shaun.
As the business grows, the couple have plans for rotating seasonal displays, more interactive experiences and space for other collectors to showcase their own treasures.
“We’ve got big dreams, big goals, and I’m really hoping we can pull this off,” says Catharina.
But beyond the nostalgia and retro treasures, the couple hope the Nostalgic Nook will offer something more: a place where people can slow down, reconnect with fond memories, and make new ones.
For Catharina, one of the most rewarding parts of the experience is hearing visitors share the personal memories sparked by something in the collection.
“When people tell me those stories, I feel so privileged,” she says. “It’s so nice that people are willing to share those stories and like let their guard down, that’s really what I want.
“I want people to go in the store and go, ‘Wow, this reminded me of when I was a kid,’ and tell us these stories.”
To find out more about the Peterson’s Nostalgic Nook, visit: www.nostalgianook.ca.