Wa Yi Trading

For fans of Hong Kong and Asian movies and music, Wa Yi Trading Company has been a rare gem among downtown Chinatown’s plethora of often suspect «trading companies» and entertainment counterfeiters: a seller of strictly LEGITIMATE music and movies. No boots. Seriously.
And they’ve survived, albeit barely, I’m sure. They’re now located in their third Dundas/​Spadina location since the late 1990’s. I can’t say if they were located somewhere else before that, but I’ve been a regular – off and on – through three iterations of the store. In fact, I often wonder if I’m the only customer who actually buys discs there instead of lottery tickets, and if I’m possibly the only person in Toronto who still buys Hong Kong movies on legitimate discs at all.
And yet, as the once rampant scourge of DVD piracy has dwindled in popularity as new Chinese immigrants find other westernized things to rip off and sell out of cookie-​cutter storefronts in every Chinese borough from downtown to Pacific Mall (and, soon enough, beyond) the Wa Yi has stood by its guns, selling only legitimate DVDs, VCDs, CDs and Blu-​rays, a fact firmly noted on the sign in the stairwell out front. The Hong Kong entertainment industry, frankly, should be grateful.
Originally located on the south side of Dundas, just between Spadina and Huron Streets, the store was, to this fully-​addicted Hong Kong digital cinemaphile circa 1996 – 97, a cornucopia of delights, packed to bursting with music CDs, magazines, newspapers, stationery, knick knacks, comics, and best of all, row upon row of VCDs (aka VideoCDs, the two-​disc precursors to DVD) and eventually DVDs. At that time, there were a handful of places downtown and in the China-​burbs of Markham and Richmond Hill where you could score massive quantities of Hong Kong’s altogether unique brand of entertainments, but the pirates were already on the horizon.
In time, perhaps in response to the scourge of counterfeiters that blighted the area (and still do to some degree), the Dundas Wa Yi migrated to a slightly smaller shop on the north side of the street in the same block, and just last year (2011) they migrated once again, a couple of doors east to their current downstairs location. Cheaper rent, I was told. Not surprising to hear that in this city.
It’s been a one-​man show for a while now, the same genial fellow who’s been running the place since day one most likely. The south-​side location used to have a modest staff (family perhaps?), but I haven’t seen them in ages.
I should point out that Wa Yi Trading used to be part of a chain. They had two additional locations, one in Times Square plaza at Hwy. 7 and Leslie in Richmond Hill, the other in Market Village next to Pacific Mall at Steeles and Kennedy in Markham. This latter location was actually across the aisle from the last Golden Harvest cinema to go out of business in the GTA. I was fortunate to catch THE STORM RIDERS in this theatre in 1998. Not long after that, though, it was gone. Both of Wa Yi’s northern locations survived well into the decade, but eventually closed up shop.
But the downtown Wa Yi location keeps on keeping’ on. At times I suspect most of the owner’s business comes from selling lotto tickets and Chinese language newspapers and magazines. But the vast majority of the shop is dedicated to DVDs, VCDs and Blu-​rays. They still stock new releases, though of late I’ve noticed gaps. While I hope this isn’t a sign of an eventual abandonment of discs altogether, I can’t say I’d be surprised if it was. Such seems to be the fate awaiting most DVD retailers and rental outlets nowadays, what with the rise of streaming and downloading by people for whom a quality audio-​visual presentation is secondary to simply seeing as many programs as possible on as many devices as possible, usually without paying. Hooray. :(
When I visit Wa Yi, I often spend a good hour fingering the merchandise looking for titles which may or may not already be part of my massive personal collection of Hong Kong cinema (most of them in the service of a project I one day hope to complete). I always find something worth taking home.
If you’re looking for bargains on older, legitimate DVDs and VCDs of Hong Kong movies that may have slipped under your radar, this is the only place to go in the entire GTA. The back wall is literally crammed with VCDs (Hong Kong, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and even American movies) that are all reduced to 4/​$ 10. A nearby section of clearance DVDs yields plenty of interesting material to watch. And it pays to flip over the DVD and Blu-​ray packages as well, as there are ongoing mark-​downs awaiting discovery.
There may come a time when the Wa Yi is no more. I’d highly recommend a few trips before then to have a look at their still-​impressive, legitimate home entertainment offerings. It’s a sight you just don’t see any more.