Storeowner profile
What is/was the name of your video store?
book and video annex
Where was the store located?
schaumburg, Illinois (United States)
When did you open/buy this store?
1981
In your own words, please tell the story of how you got involved in the video retail
industry. When did you open your first video store? Why did you decide to do so?
was in college saw a film hardware wars a star wars spoof. open a used book store with comics. started selling movies then renting movies. rented beta and vhs
Describe your video store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features, and why did you choose to design it this way?
shelving was home made wood. later a couple of years later went to wire rack with baskets was a family run store
What were your customers like? What particularly memorable customers
or events do you remember?
love the customers and helping them find a sleeper hit movie watch over 12,000 films during our run 1981-1995
What were your employees like? What qualifications or expertise did
you look for in an employee?
mostly high school kids all were pretty good dave erik sandy pam a great person another one cant remmember her name a fun gal was into alice cooper and someday running a wildlife center
What video formats did your store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store? How did this selection change over time?
beta was stop in the first 2 years every one swith to vhs due to the longer playing time. early on blank tapes were 12 15 bucks
In addition to mainstream Hollywood movies, what other kinds of videotapes
(for example children's, exercise, or X-rated) did your store rent/sell? Where were
these videos found in the store, and how important were they to your business?
we carry around 200 adult films first out of a book then a little room. they help but were not the mainstream flow of money
What other services/products did you offer besides the rental or sale of
programs? Did this change over time?
video repair people use to fix them till they got to cheap
Did you ever rent VCRs or other hardware to your customers? If so,
how important were hardware rentals to your business?
earl on we use to rent the machines because the cost of new ones were around 800 dollars but soon every family had one
During the period that you worked in video retail, what changes did you see
taking place in the industry as a whole?
we started with 500 movies ended up with 12,000 at the end hits became the main choise. people were not going to watch a old bond film had to buy more and more to keep pace with demand. remember 10 copies of hunt for red oct cost us around 750 dollars then we used rent track to bring in 50 or more copies of movies
Are you still in the video retail business? If so, please describe your current
involvement in the video industry.
still selling movies on ebay under the sellers name videos_and_more still selling books and other items