The New Year’s festivities may be over, but there’s still another reason to celebrate today.
Kelowna’s only video store, Leo’s Videos, will not be closing after all.
The popular video store was in the midst of a blowout sale when Bartel was made an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“We made the deal at 11 p.m. last night and now we have new owners,” said Bartel.
“We had over 30 people who were interested in the store over the past six months. I’m very happy we managed to make this deal happen.”
The Ksyniuk family will be taking over the store next month. Nick is now the primary owner of the store while his father Paul will take care of the finances and his brother Alex will be helping with the day-to-day operations.
READ MORE: Kelowna’s only video store owner considers sale of Leo’s
Bartel began contemplating the idea of selling his shop about seven years ago. He had a manager run the store for a while and made some different business decisions to try and keep it. Bartel took two years off from working at the store only to return in June to realize selling was his preferred option.
While Bartel said he is happy with his decision he is most pleased to know the store will be staying true to its roots of movies and board games.
“They’re staying on the same trajectory I was going on, which is keeping up with the movies and carrying more board games, which we added last November. They are going to expand on the board game side of things with the hopes of adding a table for people to play.”
Leo’s Videos will be keeping the Leo’s part of the name, but maybe looking to add board games into it. Leo’s may also be relocating as part of an expiring lease when the store was initially planned to close.
For Bartel, his future plans include running the shop until the end of January until new the new owners take over in February. He said he will also be helping the new owners settle in before he goes back to school to finish his MBA to become a middle school teacher.
READ MORE: Most expensive property in Kelowna valued at $10.3 million
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daniel.taylor@kelownacapnews.com
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