“Is this really a new DVD store?” a woman asks incredulously after walking into Vinegar Syndrome, a new retailer on the busy Roncesvalles Avenue strip.

It’s a question that co-owner and operator Andy Williams has been getting a lot since late October when he opened this haven to physical media, just across the street from the Revue Cinema.

Williams happily replies, “Yes,” and takes the curious visitor on a tour of the store’s offerings.

With its walls of DVDs and Blu-rays, this store may evoke memories of Blockbuster Video, but the space is much smaller and the films are much stranger than the latest releases featured in that long-gone blue-and-yellow-logoed chain. Also, unlike other local video haunts Eyesore Cinema and Bay Street Video, Vinegar Syndrome doesn’t rent — it only sells — so it will need to find an audience that is willing to shell out $50 for a title like “Bloodsucking Freaks” or “Mark of the Devil.”

Since launching in Bridgeport, Conn. in 2012, Vinegar Syndrome has become well known in the film community for preserving cult, grindhouse, horror and other genre films from the 1960s to the ’90s in pristine transfers with new cover art and often with bonus features. When film stock degrades over time, it gives off the distinct, sour smell of vinegar, which the store and its parent company, a film restoration and distribution business, have taken as their namesake. Before setting down brick-and-mortar roots here, Vinegar Syndrome sold its products online for delivery to cineastes across Canada.

Williams has been with the company for almost five years, initially handling Canadian distribution, and says that his bosses, who have stores in Connecticut and Colorado, were always open to expanding to Toronto.

“They basically said, ‘Andy, where do you want to put it?’” says Williams, who preferred a place with a “community vibe” and found one near the Revue Cinema. “It was almost a no-brainer, because you’ve got all these film fans that are literally 50 feet away.”

He carried over that love of cinema by bringing in a pair of seats rescued from Massey Hall before its renovation, as well as a “Night of the Living Dead” poster, honouring that film’s director, George Romero, whom Williams randomly met years ago in a Toronto coffee shop.

“We hit it off and started having these weekly meetings for coffee. It wasn’t until a few months in, when I asked him what he did before he retired, and he said he was a director, and I was like, ‘You’re George Romero!’” says Williams. “He became a dear friend before he passed away.”

It’s that type of serendipity that Williams hopes will extend to the store, and customers will find something there to keep them coming back.

“I think there’s enough people that love the tangible act of owning something and putting it on when you want to,” says Williams. “There’s nothing wrong with streaming. It’s very instant gratification, and it gives you many options. But owning a piece of physical media is a big thing still.”

As you enter the store, the left wall features Vinegar Syndrome’s own releases. Then, as you move through, there are more general releases, including several films that have garnered cult status, like the original “Death Race 2000.” There are even coffin-shaped displays featuring VHS tapes and vintage paperbacks. Williams has also been driving around the GTA looking to buy vinyl collections, which he says will take up the yet-to-open basement level, where there will also be VHS tapes for sale.

It’s an interesting time for physical media, as some experts feel DVDs and Blu-rays just might be ripe for the kind of renaissance that vinyl has enjoyed for more than a decade. One reason is that they are getting more scarce, as industry players abandon the formats. Netflix, originally a rent-by-mail business, sent out its last disc in September, and Best Buy announced it would stop selling DVDs and Blu-rays by the end of the year. Streaming services continue to flourish, but their ever-shifting libraries add and drop content all the time.

“If you own a physical copy, people can’t take that away from you,” Williams says. “These days, it’s common to look for something online, and all of a sudden, it’s gone. Or it’s been cut because something in it has been deemed inappropriate. For anybody who loves any kind of art, if you’re getting something that hasn’t been tampered with, that’s important.”

Collectors have been pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Vinegar Syndrome. One recent Wednesday, Chris Roberts, 61, who drove in from Mississauga, had a copy of “House,” a horror movie from 1986, in his hands.

“I bought their videos before (online), so I knew the label,” says Roberts. “Someone told me they were opening a store here, so I decided to check it out. I think it’s great.”

That same afternoon, Matthew Macdonald, 25, who works in the film industry, popped into the store after hearing about it while at a screening of “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” at the Revue, and wanted to see if he could get a copy on Blu-ray.

“I’m a big fan of slasher (movies) — the cheesier the horror movie is, the more fun I have with it — so I heard that that’s exactly what this store has,” says Macdonald.

“I’m very much pro-physical media because not everything is available on streaming, and streaming doesn’t give you all of the bonus features and all the useless little doodads. I will always support it because it’ll go away if we don’t.”