Employee profile
What was the name of your video store?
Creative Home Video
Where was the store located?
Milpitas, California (United States)
When did you start working at this store?
1978
In your own words, how did you get started working in video retail? What
led you to choose the video industry, and this store in particular?
I started out actually in Las Vegas,NV. soon after the very first beta machines by sony and zenith hit the market. There wasn't much in the way of titles out there except 20th century fox titles on the magnetic home video label. I met a friend who got me involved in distributing the availible titles from a newspaper ad and the trunk of my car became one of the first video stores on wheels.Titles wern't cheap ethier with most at 59.00 to 69.00 per title. This was a very interesting way to make money and meet people who were film nut's like myself. the first bets tape I taped off television was forbidden planet off a late nite run on c.b.s. if I remember correctly. blank tapes were incredibly expensive with case prices usually about 14.99 for each tape and they were hard to get at even that price with availibility sometimes eratic. I left vegas and moved to the silicon valley in 1978 going to work with a high tech firm and met two gentlemen who were opening the first real video store in silicon valley called Creative Home Video. I went to work for them for about two years. I developed and promoted the store and helped them in setting others up in the now "hot" new industry. We set up the store with one of the first bar code systems developed for video rental systems. I left them to run a new store we had help set up in the nearby city if Cupertino, Ca. called Active Home Video. this store was also state of the art for its time but was a smaller store in size and title depth. From that point I still stayed working in the video business for about five more years in California. I went back to las vegas for about two more years and managed a video chain store there called Vegas Video. I also continued to set up and consult for other various customers but by that time the major players had started to take hold of the business and the heyday for the mom and pop video stores was beginning to subside.
Describe your store - what did it look like? What were its distinguishing
features?
creative home video was state of the art for its day. we literaly offered almost every availible title. We were studio test market for warners first rental program which was a percentage gross on the rental with no up front cost for the title. it didn't work for long. we sold hardware for very little over cost to convert the customer to a heavy renter with a excellent membership program.
What were your customers like? What particularly memorable customers or events do you remember?
Ive got to say that there were very few bad customers. We had only minor problems with non returns using cash deposit if they wern't credit worthy. saw only a minimum of clam-shelling as we used anti theft stickers which if tampered with would result in the customer purchasing the tape. I met lots of hot chicks at that store and made some excellent friends to. most were the first techies to the valley and they loved video.
What was your boss like? How did he or she divide the work in the store?
My bosses were both good guys they were partners in their venture and both very generous individuals. work in the store was actually divided very well when to rush was on everyone was assholes and elbows.
What video formats did your store offer (i.e. VHS, Beta, Laserdisc)? Where were
different formats kept in the store?
we stocked both beta and vhs. we kept the cases behind the title display boxes which were empty and shrink wrapped. we kept a 2 to 1 ratio vhs to beta on regular releases with more depth on hotter titles.
In addition to mainstream Hollywood movies, what other kinds of videotapes
(children's videos or X-rated tapes, for example) did you rent/sell? Where were these
videos found in your store, and how important were they to the business?
we carried all genres and at that time X-rated covers wern't so explicit so they were stocked in a area away from the childrens titles. for some reason we thought they seemed to do there best next to war and westerns you know the movies dad would gravitate to.
What other services/products did you offer besides the rental or sale of
programs? Did this change over time?
hardware, connecters, cables, almost any new acecessories we would try out unless they flat out looked to stupid.
Did you ever rent VCRs or other hardware to your customers? If so,
how important were hardware rentals to the business?
we rented vhs and beta machines from the very begining as this seemed to atract the customer to they new craze and we charged a very low rate on the machine rental and made our money on the tape rental end. we had a repair shop on premises for a while.
During the period that you worked at the store, what changes did you see take place?
Wow thats quite A QUESTION !! I think I saw it all from studios being gun shy about release of their goldmines.. to the acceptence of adult entertainment to the mainstream populace. quality advancment in picture and sound. acceptence of widescreen formats. you name it Ive seen it.
Is this store still open? If not, when did it close?
no unfortunatly they have all gone the way of the dinosaur.