Le SuperClub Vidéotron Ltée, which includes the Jumbo Video and Microplay chains, was the largest video store chain operator in Canada, with operations concentrated in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. It was owned by Quebecor Media. Since the closure of Blockbuster Canada in 2011 and Rogers' video rental operations in 2012, it had been Canada's largest video retailer: it consisted of 29 SuperClub locations and 10 Microplay stores , with many of the latter being independently owned.

History

In 2004, SuperClub took over the Jumbo Video and Microplay franchises. Jumbo Video operates 17 video rental locations nationwide, while Microplay focuses primarily on

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

s, but also rents and sells movies. The Microplay name has recently appeared on a number of in-store boutiques at SuperClub locations throughout Quebec. In 2006, most Rogers Video stores in

were closed or converted to Le SuperClub Vidéotron. There are currently 69 Microplay locations and the vast majority of them are co-located with SuperClub locations in Quebec. As of August 2005, the chain operated more than 185 locations through Quebec under the SuperClub brand. They also have locations in Edmundston,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, and Rockland, Ontario. They had also opened locations in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" because of ...

and

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

. Those stores were eventually bought out by Rogers and converted into Rogers Video stores. Their location in Square One Shopping Centre was recently closed down along with many other stores, including Cavendish Mall in

Côte Saint-Luc Côte Saint-Luc (; also spelled Côte-Saint-Luc, and known historically in English as Cote St. Luke) is a city on the island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. Geography Along with Hampstead and Montreal West, Côte Saint-Luc forms an enclave with ...

as well as Kirkland, Quebec, Dollard-des-Ormeaux,

Beaconsfield, Quebec Beaconsfield is a suburb on the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the Greater Montreal region locally referred to as the West Island. It is a prestigious residential community located on the north shore of Lac Saint-Louis, bordered o ...

as well as in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

's Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough. They also closed their location in

Hawkesbury, Ontario Hawkesbury is a Franco-Ontarian city in Prescott-Russell county in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The vast majority of its 10,550 inhabitants are francophone. The Long-Sault Bridge links it to Grenville, Quebec to the north. This bridge, crossing ...

. Their head office was located in the city of

's Saint-Léonard

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Subsidiaries

Microplay

Microplay founder Bill Pearce originally established a shop on Bank Street named Gamer Video in 1981, which rented

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, Ca ...

and

Intellivision The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 198 ...

games; it was one of the first Canadian businesses to rent video game cartridges. Gamer Video was destroyed in a fire in 1983. In 1986, Pearce and childhood friend Mason Copeland opened Microplay. At that time, Pearce and Copeland made weekly trips to the United States to avoid high markups charged by Canadian video game distributors. The store had two locations in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

and one in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

by April 1989, and also acted as a supplier to 25 Canadian video game stores. Microplay began franchising in June 1993, expanding to 28 stores, and became regarded as Canada's leading video game specialty chain. Microplay's first United States location opened in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...

in July 1994. By December 1994, Microplay was operating 120 franchisees along with six corporate-owned stores.

Locations

, Le SuperClub Vidéotron offers movie rentals at the following locations: * Aylmer * Boucherville * Buckingham * Cap-de-la-Madeleine * Charlesbourg * Fabreville * Gréber * Greenfield Park * Île-Perrot * Jonquière * L'Assomption * Lachine * Lafontaine * La Plaine * Lavaltrie * Mascouche * Mont-Laurier * Pointe-aux-Trembles * Roland-Therrien * Saint-Antoine * Saint-Constant * Saint-Eustache * Saint-Hubert * Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu * Saint-Lin * Saint-Luc * Saint-Nicolas * Saint-Romuald * Victoriaville

Logos

File:Le SuperClub Vidéotron logo.jpg, Logo used from 1989 until 2007 (the Quebecor Media name was added in 2001 after the sale of Vidéotron at Quebecor) File:Le SuperClub Vidéotron 2007 logo.jpg, Logo used from 2007 until 2011 File:Videotron le superclub logo.jpg, Logo used from 2011 until 2017

References

External links

Superclub Vidéotron website

Jumbo Video website

Microplay website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Superclub Videotron 1989 establishments in Quebec 2021 disestablishments in Quebec Companies based in Montreal Quebecor Retail companies established in 1989 Retail companies disestablished in 2021 Video rental services of Canada