With he recession just having wiped out the big chain "Westcoast" video and most mom and pop stores, are there any stores still holding strong in NewYork, California and everywehere else. At this same time as i ask, i also wish everybody a healthy Holiday and Newyear!
At one time, the Hustler Store in my neck of the woods had an entire second floor dedicated to DVDs but that second floor space has since been cut in half in terms of DVDs.
Rentals probably slowed to nothing. A local store closing for good had at least 5OO porn dvds @ $5.00 each, many people went thru them like crazy but only a few were bought, i got some and they closed before the actual closing date. Shame, they were there for 20 years.
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Bert Piel Deactivated User
195 Posts 8/10
Posted - Dec 24 2010 : 12:06PM
It was always the same routine - -50 minute r/t drive -bring the box to the counter, clerk yells "sorry, Ass Worship is out" -end up renting crap I didn't want. Not to mention crowds of people outside. A huge relief they are gone.
Must be honest I have not been to a store for at least five years, buy everything online due to it being more discrete, here in the UK this is becoming the norm and the stores/shops are losing trade rapidly.
It's not just adult stores, it seems to be most "specialty stores" that are disappearing or already have become extinct. When I was younger I used to love browsing in book stores, record stores and video stores. Most of which appear to be long gone. I didn't grow up where I currently live, so maybe this area never had the type of stores that the area I grew up in did, but even there had lost much of what existed when I was growing up. Even the video rental stores appear to be extinct now. Now what has taken over are the 'big box' stores, which carry a little of many things, but not a great selection of anything, which has destroyed browsing.
I was purchasing a few dvds for a bachelor party in NY recently (the 1st ones I bought in a store in years). I was talking to mgr about how business was and he told me it was bad, that majority of his customers are older individuals (who are not internet savvy) or for bachelor parties and stuff. He told his lease is up in two years and he does expect to renew. He thought that the retail business for porno was be gone shortly.
Internet is killing lots of things. So it has good points and bad points. Its just logical that if people spend time and money on the internet that they can't spend it in retail stores any more.
Heavenly Heavily Hootered Hos R Good 332 Posts 4/03
Posted - Dec 25 2010 : 9:36PM
Here in Albany there is one old standby (video enviroment +) but I stopped going there years ago because of the asshole clerks, I suspect someone that provides excellent service could still survive in the internet age.
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Rosco Fuji Deactivated User
On the licking stick, Mr. Magic Dick! 3309 Posts 2/09
Posted - Dec 25 2010 : 10:23PM
Well, if they do fail, they have noone to blame but themselves. Renting or buying porn is no different than anything else. Make it easy for the consumer to do and they will. I was in Oklahoma or Arkansas recently and stopped for gas. On the other side of the interstate was the proverbial adult emporium out in the middle of nowhere. Point of note someone had driven their tractor to the store, anyway, this store was charging $60 for an Elegant Angel title. If this store doesn't survive, it's not the internet or tube site's fault, that's for sure.
So you mean WCP? is gone out of business? that's surprising? i thought they could weather the storm, but they have fell off, they were good in the 00's, they had some awesome movies.
No. He's talking about a chain of video stores. You're talking about WESTCOAST PRODUCTIONS that makes porn movies. The chain of video stores is going away not the porn studio.
I've noticed the stores I rent from are carrying les and less 'new releases' as time goes on. I'm having to buy more stuff I want to see online these days that I would've been able to rent first before. Sometimes it's not a big deal because it's something I'd want to own but many times I'd rather see just how good it is before buying it.
I've never understood how those stores could actually stay in business. I still go in stores where certain titles are 50-60 bucks a pop. Bad enough that the 'new releases' cost that much but they'll have movies that are 2 years old at that same price. I know dealer cost isn't anywhere near that price so I don't know why they'd rather be stuck them with rather than eventually mark them down and move product. I've always figured it was better to move the product at a reduced profit than sit on inventory that haven't moved in years. Plus, usually in those stores the stuff that's actually marked down to sell is usually the worst of the worst compilation stuff or stuff made by companies you've never heard of before starring girls you've never seen. And even that stuff is overpriced. But then porn shops aren't the only ones doing this. BEST BUY, CIRCUIT CITY, TOWER RECORDS, FYI would all have a few sales here and there but most of their stock was sold at "suggested retail price" which was always more than you would pay for the same stuff anywhere else. When a new season of a tv series comes out there it is sitting right there on the shelf besides the previous seasons at the same price. Maybe consumers would take a chance on season 4 if they could buy seasons 1-3 at a lower price. Why do they expect people to buy a movie priced at 30 bucks when it's selling at WAL-MART or TARGET for under $20 and online it's even cheaper? I heard a report than BEST BUY is downsizing their DVD department because they think DVDs will eventually go away. I think they would've had much stronger DVD sales if they marked them down to more reasonable prices. maybe it's more important to move product and have happy customers that trying to make very penny of profit they think they can get away with. That's why most of those other stores are going away or are gone.
As someone else mentioned, regular video rentals (like blockbuster) are going away, so I would think adult video rental wouldn't last long. The only adult shops that I see doing ok are selling a lot of toys, bdsm gear, and lingerie. For movies, it's way more convenient and cheaper online. For $20, i can own hundreds of scenes, browse to find what i want, and its discrete. There are also adult versions of Netflix, if that's your thing. I don't like to see people lose their business, but as a consumer, online adult shopping is a lot more appealing.
the old days it sucked to get home only to find out the movie you rented ended up in a fast forward fest. Ah, I remember the local stores back in the early to mid 90's! That's when I would rent anything by Evil Angel and I could tell if it was in because the cassette was red. I remember looking at a box cover going "holy shit I'm renting this" please be in!!
Well here in Chicago some stores have been closing. Not as many but I do have to say that I stopped buying movies from stores due to the high prices on DVDS. Buying online is way cheaper then going to any store. I recently bought the Elegant Angel Superstar package for $60.00. In the store one dvd was going for $35.00. So, if they are closing I wouldn't be surprised, people are looking to save a buck.
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Dec 27 2010 : 4:03AM
Completely agree about the overpriced DVDs, I guess they never figured out that people can buy for more reasonable prices online but the location was probably out of their hands as a lot of cities purposefully make zoning for porn shops hard as hell and try to drive them out to the boonies.
At least where I lived, Netflix started taking over a long time ago, and due to the video rental stores in the area ignoring DVD releases until it was too late. There was a hole in the market and Netflix jumped on it. Certainly can't blame them for that.You do realize that for a brick and mortar store, the prices are higher than an online store I assume. Online stores are located where they can either stock a large inventory, and thus save when buying from a distributor, or where they can drive to the studios to buy themselves, and thus save when buying from a distributor. Also volume comes into play. Your best brick and mortar store doesn't come close to the volume of your worst online store. Higher volume at a lower cost means you still can make profit.And if a brick and mortar store is duplicating the movie in the back they are counterfeiting. If you are indicating that a title only costs for duplication and production then you are mistaken. The studio has to store the title, duplicators don't hold onto them for the studio. Storage and employees cost money. They have to promote the title, or at least they should. The reps that come here and the banner ads that you see up there ^^ aren't free. And this is necessary, look at how many threads complain when a title hasn't been properly represented. For instance, I'm a fan of features and horror films, I just learned today that Zero Tolerance was releasing Psycho, and that was from a negative posting about it. It would have helped them to have come here earlier and posted about it, maybe some production stills. Put a positive image in my mind first. I bet most people reading this are aware that Devil's Film released This Isn't Christmas Vacation recently. That's because they have had a flashing ad right up there ^^^^. Ads and representatives cost money. Now, the distributors have to store the title, in a fashion where it is easy to ship it to their customer (stores) and package up what they sell to their customer (stores), which all costs money. Your store has to have a storefront where customers can come in, which costs money, and a staff to stock and sell it to you, more money. Don't forget that someone is paying to move the title from the duplicator to the studio to the distributor to the store, which wasn't factored in yet. And don't forget, as you pointed out already, the production itself hasn't been paid for yet. Now, everyone has to make a profit in this.
^ True, people do need to make a profit, however, iam talking about the movies that are not new that can run to $60.00,not new releases. Regarding bootlegging, that is not what i meant. Reproducing it in a machine on a little silver shiny disc costs little when done in huge volume, same method as any dvd, including artwork. The rest of the costs , i agree. The stores of yesteryear that had VHS to rent made it better, bulky yes, but cheaper to rent. Dvd's more expensive. Regarding Redbox, they did come in at a good time, unknown to them was that the massive recession would help them along alot as there is almost no video stores anymore! [mod edit: quote removed] Edited by - killbillvol69 on 12/30/2010 11:31:17 PM
I long ago went to porn retail websites for buying and renting my porn DVDs, in addition to paysites for downloading directly off of the internet. Where I happen to live, the nearest 'adult' store is a 45 minute drive away. Their rental prices are actually pretty decent, or were, anyway, but they're just too far away from me to be convenient. And of course, their prices to actually buy were always a lot less reasonable. If I were going that way several times a week, anyway, I might be a more regular customer. But I don't. In this town, there used to be a mainstream chain video store with a back room. I rented from there sometimes, but two videos for three days would cost $11. And this was nine or ten years ago. And in any case, in my area both adult stores and mainstream video places with back rooms have relatively limited selections of adult videos, and don't usually get the new releases right on the release date. The adult stores give more room for sex toys and novelties, lingerie, and sexy costumes than they do videos, and the mainstream video stores obviously focus on mainstream movies. But as far as what Flash was saying, in the little population 10,000 town that I currently live in, that mainstream chain video store closed, but the locally owned video store is still going strong. And the Mom and Pop store has never had hardcore porn either, their small mature section was always strictly softcore. But they have a lot of the cult classics and other older movies. But the main secret to their survival is that they've become the hangout spot for the comic book and table top role play game crowd. And they sell comic books, role play games, and decorative figurines. And they also happen to have a banquet room available for rent, but that's probably partly an accident of the location they moved to five years ago or so.
I've mentioned before that my local seems to always do well (while all other indie stores are gone), presumably due to their *huge* adult section. I say "section" but really it's an entire store -- they bought both units and made a doorway into the neighbouring unit. They just bought the third unit along, and plan to open it as a novelty/lingerie store, marketing to women. In fact, one of their main goals all along has been to be inviting to all and sundry, including women in particular. Perhaps that's why business is good -- everyone feels comfortable. Anyway, I enjoy going out there fairly regularly -- it's an easy way to see shifting trends, and pick up titles you never heard of.
This is generally true, but often when you take post/packaging into account, some of the dvds at my local are cheaper, especially once the title has been pre-viewed and hanging around for a while. But yeah, in general, there's simply no way stores can compete with online merchants. I simply enjoy going to the store, so I still go and don't mind paying the extra few bucks every now and again.
Oh, wait, maybe I was. I think my brain is befuddled and I'm conflating things -- I thought we/you/I were talking about the fact that brick n mortar stores have to pay higher prices, therefore the customer does too. Like, the higher price for customers is due to the higher price for the store. Sorry if I derailed your point.
I used to rent from the locals..one near where I work that only had porn, and lots of it..but they closed. Then I resorted to West Coast Video for rentals..they once had a huge room in the back (had to be careful walking out and be afraid you might run into your neighbor!)...they closed. So now I just rent from Bush. It takes about 2 to 3 days to hit my mailbox (on the right coast)..but it's worth it. I have the package that allows 6 out at a time, but they are always flowing with their quick return button. There is not one porn dvd store/rental in my county. And I would never buy a porn dvd..just too expensive.
A lot of the stores we're talking about here are trying to run their stores like the VHS days. Back in those days the movies weren't really priced to sell. The money was made from rentals and movies were priced much higher. Nowadays the movies are actually priced to sell but some stores insist at marking them up at much higher prices. One of the stores I rent from has actually dropped their selling prices to more reasonable levels and is probably selling much more product. Now they have new releases fronm certain studios at $24.99 and $29.99 and the high end studios like EVIL ANGEL, JULES JORDAN and DIGITAL PLAYGROUND at about $39.99. Meanwhile I still see some stores who sell all new releases at $49.99 to $59.99 even though the prices have dropped from most companies. Some stores may be able to get away with those prices if they're the only game in town or have a customer base that doesn't buy online. But even they would be better off dropping their prices and selling more product for less. No one is going to visit a store regularly if buy one DVD is a major purchse.
I went to a club in San Bernardino and the porn shop next door said business was good. Location perhaps? I also went to a shop in the 808 that only sold DVDs and they too said business was great. My favorite shop's owner always says that I'm his best customer, that I keep the place open, etc. But when I asked him how things really were, he said they might not be as good as before but they are really good. It's next to a college campus so that might help.
we recommend our dvds sell retail for $39.95 (single disc) and $44.95(double disc) tops....its unfortunate that some retailers are still adamant about charging 59.95 and even 69.95 sometimes for dvds....stores are really starting to stock up on cheap dvds these days, because the prices are at an all time low...you can buy hustler barely legals for about $1 wholesale these days, this is becoming the norm with studios these days.
The growth business sector here is thrift stores. I bought the season 1 box set of The L Word for $1, at a church-run store. The female cashier checked out the cover for a while before bagging it. Including porn in thrift stores would have some legal complications, but there is a market for it, at least as much as the junk and ragged clothes they sell.
Shake for me girl... I wanna be your backdoorman ! 2776 Posts 10/07
Posted - Jan 2 2011 : 12:36PM
I re-visited a store about 20 miles from here the other day. Just wanted to see what they had on the shelf. They always had a ton of dvds mostly comps but some features and classics mixed in. I was stunned to see all the toys still there but maybe 1/10th of the dvds. There was absolutely nothing there I wanted to even look at. They were all the ultra cheap comps that can be had for a dollar or two by the store and then marked up to 19.95 or more.
Best Buy and Circuit City were in a different class from Tower and FYE. Tower (now defunct as a chain) and F.Y.E are what's called "pure play" stores in that they only sell/sold music and video. Best Buy and Circuit City for years used music as a "loss leader". They sold music and video for almost no profit in order to drive traffic into their stores to sell washing machines and refrigerators. And it worked. Numerous other "pure play" stores like Sam Goody, The Wiz, Waxie Maxie's, Strawberry's and more, found themselves unable to compete. CC is gone, but Best Buy still continues to sell product cheaper.Best Buy is cutting down on space on both CD and DVDs because sales for both are down in general. But they still sell for less than most places.
Even Borders Bookstores are feeling the pinch now: ("Borders Stores Miss Vendor Payments") Their bookstores are pretty huge, and they're mostly located in upper-class suburbs and downtown in cities, so their overhead is pretty considerable. They and Barnes and Noble have survived going head to head with Amazon and each other for (and increasingly Wal-Mart) for over a decade now, but it was inevitable that something would have to give. (note: in many metro areas a Borders and a B&N can be found within miles of each other) Basically, Flash had it nailed down: There is no bricks and mortar store that can possess the inventory of an online store. Hypothetically, let's say that one massive dvd and cd store opened in your town. Hell, let's say they even had a massive adult section, and had a total of, like 300,000 items in stock. That means they've got a lot of square footage to pay for. Would they be able to attract a large enough customer base from your community that could support the costs of rent, utilities, insurance, etc, at such a store?
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Capt Easy Deactivated User
132 Posts 12/10
Posted - Jan 3 2011 : 7:33AM
Nope. One reason kids can't find jobs anymore. You either flip burgers or get a law degree.
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Rosco Fuji Deactivated User
On the licking stick, Mr. Magic Dick! 3309 Posts 2/09
Posted - Jan 3 2011 : 10:35AM
Too bad that Crazy Eddie went insane, I'm sure he'd be selling porn.
I am a buyer for a few stores in Las Vegas. I can add a few things to this thread. Each of my stores has well over 3,000 DVDs on the floor at all times. We cover almost every genre, niche, and feature released. We have all the new releases from most major studios, and sale racks that offer the customer a discount. I even have a rack that has 4 dvds for $15. We also have a section for classics such as Taboo and Deep Throat among many others. You will not find a DVD from any major studio over $44.95 unless it's a major feature, ie Pirates or Speed. We are competetive with other stores, but it's tough with online sites. We have a much higher overhead, as stated previously. We adhere to Jules' stated MSRP, and are lower on other studios. Our advantage is you can pick up the DVD, look at it, and purchase it. You don't have to wait for it to ship. I also offer a good discount to people that I know are regular customers. I try to make sure they always will buy from me, and have no reason to turn to the online sites. And toys have become the #1 seller in most major stores. DVDs was overtaken a few years back. It's all about women coming in to the stores nowadays, and toys and lingere bring them in. Stores that have not adapted to this are bound to struggle.
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Stalag Deactivated User
476 Posts 1/10
Posted - Jan 21 2011 : 3:20PM
I used to be a regular in stores just to browse the mags. Nothing there of interest anymore. Maybe 2% of DVDs, the rest are just same ol.
My stores are in smaller towns, and the closing of Hollywood then Blockbuster has INCREASED our business, especially the mainstream side. We know and serve our audience to the utmost. We were businesspeople first and movie/porn fans second, so we superserve the customer. Redbox is a great idea, but it's no more convenient than a store. You still have to drive to it. With us the old 90s models is still working because our competition (chain stores) imploded right at the time that we were feeling a pincers movement from those chains, Redbox and Netflix. People still want to decide on a movie the night they watch it (sorry Netflix) and they want more than 60 titles to choose from (sorry Redbox). Yes, I know Netflix has Watch Instantly. So what? With the mediocre selection of titles on it, it's only a little better than watching regular TV. Now...when ALL of their movies are on Watch Instantly, then I will be afraid. =) There's something to be said about that idea. From everywhere I look, the ultimate customer wish is that they can watch, either through Netflix or their cable, any movie or show they want any time they want. But the networks and studios seem resistant to that idea. Any thoughts as to why? Our porn sales have remained excellent because our model has always been to sell videos cheaply. I don't think we pay much more to wholesalers than an online store. $1-$5 for catalog and $10-25 for new releases and high-end/gay/fetish/tranny. But since we rent we have an advantage over online stores in that each DVD unit has 2 sources of revenue: rental and sales. At $5 a rental, charging $10-$36 for selling product, we've always felt we've had good pricing. Plus, if a title is not moving, we chop the price down no matter what we paid for it. If we get a tranny title that cost $24 and rented once in 6 months, it's going down to the $5 bin. We more than make up for it with the $1 cumshot compilation DVD that rents 20 times before selling. And yes we have toys. We had them from the beginning so we beat the curve. Most importantly wrt porn titles: WE BUY SMART. We buy according to well-established customer patterns. They buy/rent high-end gay, so we stock heavily high-end gay. They buy Evil Angel, so we stock heavily Evil Angel. And on down the line. Privacy: yes, you may get caught/seen, but nothing beats paying cash for privacy. Daily we get tourists (in town for other reasons) who take the opportunity to get some porn in a place where they're 99% certain they will not run into anyone they know. Speaking of Bush DVD...while I've found good sites for renting physical DVD's with the Netflix model, I'd LOOOOOVE a website where I could pay $20 a month and Instantly Watch unlimited porn. Does anyone know of any reputable sites that do this? I'm DYING for it! And I want one site where I can stream titles from ALL the studios (not just one). RANT DONE! Sue
^ It sounds like you have a smart business model. You mention several things I always thought makes sense for stores to do... 1) Mark down the stuff that isn't moving. If you've got a movie sitting on the shelf that's been there for 2 years, I'd hink it would better to make at least some money from it than holding on to it hoping it will some day sell at the higher asking price. 2) If the movie was a rental after it's rental life has died down mark the movie down and sell it. I see some stores that try and sell ex-rentals at pretty much new movie prices. You've made money from the rentals already, no need to try and get full price for it. 3) Don't mark up DVDs to an outrageous price just because you can sell a few at that price. Perhaps it may be better to sell a lot of DVDs at a lower sales price of $29.95 instead of a few at 49.95. 4) I totally get that an actual store won't be able to have prices as low as I can get online but if the DVDs are at a reasonable price it's worth buying the DVD at the store and having it right then instead of waiting for it to show up (or not) through the mail. But if I can get a movie online for half the price, there's no way I'm going to buy it from the store...or even bother visiting that store in the future.
Introducing Natasha Carter
Posted - Dec 23 2010 : 10:34PM
