Considering that they offer the same DVD that you could buy online for double the price I would think that their overhead vs. profit would easily place them in the red. Some of the better stores book signings with pornstars which might help but other than that I just don't understand how they make any money at all. What gives?
Same reason mainstream brick-and-mortar stores stay in business: 1) Not everyone has a credit card. And not everyone WANTS to pay by credit card. 2) Not everyone can have porn shipped to their home/work address freely. 3) Stores offer almost complete anonymity in purchases...nobody is tracking what you buy (rentals are a different story). And then some people just prefer the "experience" of going into a "dirty movie store." Why is beyond me, definitely not my bag. I still can remember the SMELL of the one I frequented back in the 80's. Like a combination of old gym socks and Fruit Punch. But seeing wall-to-wall movie slipcovers, magazines, sex toys, etc....for some, especially someone who is not in a relationship, I bet it's almost like foreplay. And then lets not forget....most adult movie stores do NOT offer the "deep discounting" you see from the website merchants. They almost all charge higher rates, some even more than retail, just for the "experience" factor. This is how they "stay" in business. Edited by - Lubenluv on 6/2/2007 6:15:31 PM
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tittysucker86 Deactivated User
florida 218 Posts 2/07
Posted - Jun 2 2007 : 6:32PM
Blockbuster Video twenty years ago took over most of the video-rental market-share, and put a lot of small neighborhood video stores out of business, BUT: Blockbuster made a corporate decision that they werent going to rent Porn, SO the neighborhood video stores that were willing to stock porn stayed in business and made huge profits. The mark-up on retail porn? I dont know. Majority of people dont buy porn. They rent it. Why buy porn DVDS for $20 to $50 when you can rent them for one night for $3. Porn is like hostess twinkies. Its good, but who the hell wants a whole pantry full of it. Retail stores might have larger profit added on, but if you have to pay for shipping, when you buy it on the internet, then where's the savings buying it on the internet?? Doesnt the shipping eat up the savings you thought you were getting by not buying it at the store?...listen, blockbuster doesnt want to rent porn? they feel a need to keep porn off the street? fuck them!!! they helped a lot of small guys stay in business by doing that!!! ...Now Larry Flynt is in the retail business with Hustler Hollywood stores across the nation. every video is $40 to $50 in there. One night rental for three bucks is all Im spending on porn. With one exception: I will go to hustler hollywood and buy North Pole #10, cause the local video store doesnt have it, and I read that North Pole #10 has an incredible Jewel De Nyle scene. Edited by - tittysucker86 on 6/2/2007 6:36:06 PM
In Britain they team up with the anti-porn people to stop cable porn. And mail order is kind of illegal anyway.
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jun 2 2007 : 8:13PM
This subject comes up from time to time and I always find it pretty interesting. To me, it isn't the price difference vs. online that's so amazing, because really, market pressures will pretty much dictate how that works out. Brick and Mortar retailers charge higher prices because they can. What I find amazing is how poorly run most of them are. I go to one of the better ones in the Seattle area - meaning that it's well lit and reasonably well organized with a decent amount of space between the shelves, but even there, the amount of old, crappy DVDs they have taking up shelf space kind of amazes me. They clearly don't understand how to manage their inventory. When something new comes out that's really good, and all the copies sell out right away, they almost never replace those units, which to me is just lost revenue. And the old crappy stuff that just sits there, you might see them mark those down a bit, but usually they still want at least $30.00 for something like that. It's funny too, that as much as I've rented from this place over the years, they still give me problems when I have a problem with a DVD. I've had to call the manager directly a couple of times to get refunds and even then, the dude acts like I'm trying to pull a fast one on him. I've probably spent more than $5,000 in that place over the last 10 years or so, but they can't refund a rental fee? Ridiculous.
If it wasn't for the social stigma of owning one of those businesses, that's more than likely what I'd be doing right now. I would totally kill these other stores, take all of their customers and run them right the fuck out of business.
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the unknown pervert Deactivated User
I'd like to stay but I've got a plane to catch. 3243 Posts 5/06
Posted - Jun 3 2007 : 12:52AM
Plus some people want to be able to watch the film (or at least be able to look as closely as possible at the covers) before plopping down money to buy it. If I watch a piece of shit I want to do so as cheaply as possible and I want to be able to put the shit back where I got it.
Some folks (like me) hate mail order, hate to wait and like to physically touch and feel things before purchase. I also prefer to pay for things with actual cash. I like to be present when the actual money changes hands. I just don't like online shopping. If I can get it at a brick and mortar store (even if the price is higher)there's no way I'm doing it online.
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Pocketcomb_Pimp Deactivated User
1921 Posts 7/03
Posted - Jun 3 2007 : 2:02AM
All the above is valid, but I think people still have a fear of online buying. If I buy porn online will the company send me adult junk mail, could the mail go to a neighbor, how will the packaging arrive? I've been online wih porn for years now and the #1 reason I switched was price and selection. My Local store wanted 12 bucks for three titles over night Rent 2, get one free. They refused to rent DVD, because theye were worried about scratches. Many DVD's had bonus scenes, so it was an easy call for me. On occasion I have gone back, but only when I had to have a new release fast.
I don't have one place to buy/rent porn in my county..Even the local West Coast Video went out of biz..I'm strictly a renter now from Bush, which kindda sucks if I need a quick fix.
The way they stay in business depends on the area the place is in. I used to have about 26 lifetime video memberships. All of those mofos' except 3 have disappeared. Just like Merlin the Magician. One owner was murdered(not in the store but on his side business of vending out of his truck), others have moved to new locations, others out of business. The main store I still go to now is now talking about raising his prices by 50 cents. He also says he gets a lot of latino guys in there wanting memberships but can't give them one because many of them are illegal and don't have proper id or phone number. They can purchase which is fine. Two of the stores I went to were basically across the street from each other so they would play off of each other's customers. Then one of the stores closed in 2003 because the lease went up with the video prices and the owner had cancer. A month after closing the owner died. So there are many reasons why they stay or go out of business.
Well, I think when it comes to the point to where reluctant customers don't have a choice, they become resentful. If there's anything that will drive a customer away from any business, it's feeling like they're forced to do things in a way that's contrary with their wishes, regardless of whether it's easier or not. I have all the porn I'll ever need. I keep buying it and renting it because I'm forever curious and enjoy new experiences. And also because my video store is less than 5 minutes down the road. But if it comes down to not having any choice but to order it, I probably will simply fall back on my collection.
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tritone Deactivated User
1009 Posts 4/03
Posted - Jun 4 2007 : 10:34AM
You know, its funny but I never pegged you as someone that would have such serious objections to ordering online. Is it just porn or do you refuse to make any purchases/transactions online?? Edited by - hardware on 6/4/2007 11:54:51 AM
It's the same way recordstores and bookstores stay in business, despite Amazon and the like. Not all of them survive, but there will be always real stores left. I am personally a serious book buyer and allthough I have ordered from Amazon once or twice, I still prefer browsing through a nice bookstore, with knowledgable staff. Jacco
Well, I think the analogy with record stores and bookstores could work. As I've noticed with independent music and book shops, the ones that have survived and thrived are the ones that have made connections to a core audience, ones that have proven to know what their market is looking for and provide a space that makes them feel welcomed, a place where they'll find new things that they didn't know about, a place with a knowledgeable staff, and a place that is nice to come to. You gotta make connections somehow with the people. I'll always choose independent stores over faceless internet behemoths, if they do a good job. If they don't, then most people won't care if they go out of business I guess.
The majority of the porn shops I see don't just sell/rent movies. They have sex toys, magazines and boothes too. 9 times out of 10 the ones that are the cleanest and seem to be the most successful are the ones that offer a selection of DVDs under 20 bucks. They have the high end stuff and then they offer the "cheaper" stuff like DVDs from smaller companies or compilation DVDs marked down. In these stores inventory is always turning over and there's a steady stream of new stuff. Then there are the dirty smelly stores that still have VHS tapes that are over 10 years old marked up over 40 bucks. In those stores a new DVD release costs exactly the same as a DVD from 5 years ago. Their new release section is always small because the stuff from 2 years ago is till sitting on the shelves. If you go in today and return a 2 months later the inventory will be the same. These are the types of shops that I can't understand making money because they seem to rather not sell a movie than to mark it down.
Draxx...you hit the nail on the head my friend. I'm a retailer, I've been in the retail side of the industry for almost 9 years, perhaps I have a little bit of insight here. The retail market for YEARS had little to no competition at all, as a result these store owners got lazy and refused to change with the market when the cost of DVDs lowered and when the internet became competition. The ones that didn't evolve and become competitive got put out of business. Then the zoning issues kick in, because unless another adult store owner swooped in quick enough, that location lost it's grandfather rights. The religious zealots make it nearly impossible to open a new adult store due to zoning regulations, thus the # of brick and mortar stores dwindles. Those that want to get into the retail business find so many hurdles to securing a location that I'm sure many give up. So that leaves only the larger chain stores or those that offer fair pricing. The chain stores can only cover an area so big, so you wind up with a lot of pockets of areas full of potential customers who aren't being served as they should be. I've shopped numerous other adult store chains and there are a LOT out there that offer fair pricing, some even better than the internet. There's plenty of brick and mortar stores that offer a superior experience to internet. There's plenty of chains out there that don't cater to the "viewing room" crowd, and actually work hard to earn your consumer dollar. Those are the ones making money, because they apply retail principles that work in any industry. The chain I work for, Dreamers, is an example. Hustler Hollywood is another. Fantasy For Adults in the Northwest, Castle Megastores, Good Vibrations, Fairvilla, and there's many more. For those chains to penetrate new markets, is not so easy. There's plenty of zoning and red tape opposition to brick and mortar stores, not to mention legal hurdles, protesting, etc. There's less obstacles to starting an internet company, I think. Also, there's less overhead for an internet company, I think. Many of the e-tailers don't even carry a physical inventory, they merely use fulfillment companies like Mallcom, etc. Perhaps one day the e-tailer marketplace will be oversaturated as well, or e-tailers will begin buying one another out. However I refuse to believe that people will suddenly become agoraphobic and not shop at physical stores. It could be that the online customer and the brick and mortar customer are often two very different customers, maybe sometimes they are the same guy/girl. There will always be brick and mortar stores, just like there will always be clothing stores, book stores, music stores, etc. It's up to the retailers to provide a better experience at a great price, and the ones that do that...they make money and stay in business...those that don't....well to quote Patrick Swayze in Roadhosue..."there's always barber college". :)
Dreamers is the chain I go to. It is by far the best brick and mortar place I have seen. However, it is not without its problems. You have a problem with knowing what the most popular titles are and knowing which to reorder for the shelves that are not new-releases. I know that those shelves are primarily for selling off movies once they move off the new release shelf, but I also know that you reorder that stuff on occasion and that it generates both rentals and sales. The problem is that there does not seem to be any way for you to recognize which titles are immensely popular and never in stock. This has been a problem for years, and often affects the new releases as well. Back when Anabolic was the new and popular kid on the block it was basically impossible to find a new copy of the "Gangbang Girl" line on the shelves. The same held true for "Down the Hatch" and "Unnatural Sex." Whenever I saw one of those on the shelves I had to immediately pick it up or lose my chance for a month, and that was when I used to go there weekly. These days try finding a title by Mike John in either the Red Light District or Anabolic sections. You are likely to find "Panchocitas" (or whatever that is called) and "South of the Border" and that is about it. I don't know what is happening on the new release wall since I have moved on to the exchange program, but I would expect similar problems there. Some movies are over ordered and there are several predictable hits that you need a lottery ticket to find. While it is true that Dreamers is the best rental place I have found, you lost me as a rental customer when you changed your policies with respect to time of return. The first time I walked in at 12:07 AM and was told that my videos were late was the last time I rented there. There were many years (like at least 10) that you had intense loyalty from me. That was back when I could return tapes during the night and have it counted as the day it was when I woke up. That was when if I had some (minor) late fees the clerk might waive them or some part of them if I agreed to rent again while I was in the store. Now I go there somewhat reluctantly and only use the exchange program, and wish that I did not have trouble getting AdultDvdMarketplace to ship to Texas.
I believe we'll be seeing less and less brick and mortar porn stores in the future because of the internet. Consider how many travel agency storefronts you see around your city now, as compared to 10 years ago. The internet is now competing with alot of brick and mortar stores. Of course, the best will still survive.
i dont understand people who refuse to go back to a business when they are in the wrong. you refuse to rent from dreamers because they said you were late which was true. i dont care if its only 7 minutes, you had ALL day long to return it by midnight yet you cant manage to do that. what could you possibly be doing around 10-11pm that kept you from being able to return it on time? you seem like one of those assholes that thinks "the customer is always right".
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tritone Deactivated User
1009 Posts 4/03
Posted - Jun 7 2007 : 4:58PM
I think he was upset that his years of patronage to this shop seemed to count for nil. They enforced this rigid "late fee" without regard for any special circumstances. To them getting those few extra bucks meant more than preserving goodwill with a loyal, paying customer who spent truckloads of cash in the past. mod: please don't quote entire posts when a snippet will do. Edited by - hardware on 6/7/2007 5:08:28 PM
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tritone Deactivated User
1009 Posts 4/03
Posted - Jun 7 2007 : 7:21PM
I think he was upset that his years of patronage to this shop seemed to count for nil. They enforced this rigid "late fee" without regard for any special circumstances. To them getting those few extra bucks meant more than preserving goodwill with a loyal, paying customer who spent truckloads of cash in the past.Jesus Hardware, I am not some newbie. I thought the whole paragraph was relevant and it was only a few extra lines. Edited by - tritone on 6/7/2007 7:21:14 PM Edited by - tritone on 6/7/2007 7:21:45 PM
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conquistador Deactivated User
Hellhamster. 2947 Posts 10/03
Posted - Jun 7 2007 : 7:26PM
I'm not sure about elsewhere, but in Toronto what seems to keep the shops alive is their location in relation to where the tourists go. Everyone who visits Toronto walks down Yonge St which is where all the porn shops are. Or Church St if they're homosexuals. Some people buy at shops because they don't want XXX stuff sent to their house (of course people buy online also because they are embarrassed about shopping in a real store).
With that delicious attitude I can only imagine what a joy you would be in customer service. What I was describing was my reaction to their change in policy. A change I was unaware of until it bit me. If you reread my post I went on at some length describing their previous policy which included never charging customers in that position.
@tritone - per the Forum Etiquette, Please don't quote people's entire posts - quote only relevant sections or address the person by name. Most people can read in sequence, so the only time I will agree that it may be necessary to quote the proceeding poster is if said poster has made a long, rambling post that touches serveral topics, and which you only wish to address a portion of. Obviously, quoting the entire post fails that test.
so you admit to having been late before and they waived the fees? hey, they can only waive so many times. stop being a fuckin idiot and return it on time. thats like saying a bank should refund you the overdraft fee every time you decide to be an idiot and not manage your account. they do it one time and thats it because you have been acknowledged of the policy. seriously, dont be a god damn idiot that needs someone to hold your hand for you.
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jun 8 2007 : 1:43AM
For what it's worth, I think Learned Hand is right. Look at it this way, the store made a decision to rigidly enforce a policy. That's their decision. They have a right to make it. But, based on that customer experience, LH also made a decision. Who made a better decision?
The store I worked for ( part of a large national chain ) was doing next to no business before I left. It was an absolute mystery to me how the company managed to keep us open. We had two preview booths that generated some profit, but we didn't do nearly as well as the store up the street ( part of another chain ) that made almost every penny from 24hr arcades.
i dont care who made the "better" decision. learnedhand knew that the movies are due by midnight. if i was a business owner, i could give a damn if i lost business from someone that keeps giving me trouble. customers come and go.
....for me it's been the internet that has made porn-buying even possible here in the UK....the bricks & mortar stores I visited here over the years had one thing in common...they were all rip-off merchants, unwilling to let buyers examine the merchandise, literally trading on the fact that very few customers would take a complaint to trading standards people for redress...to rent porn you had to seek out a mainstream, independent rental place, build a relationship with the owner until, after what might be months, they agree to share 'under-the-counter' porn for a price.... ....I've bought plenty of DVDs on-line, from all over the world (well US/EU anyway), and have never had any problems with delivery, packaging, junk mail, e-spam, identity theft or credit card fraud.... peace & love SRx best cure for migraine - masturbation & marijuana. Peace & Love!
Why is that? No it isn't just porn. I don't like the online shopping experience. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it in general for people who do like it. It's just a personal preference. Like not liking yellow or purple. I don't do the ebay thing either. I don't buy stuff I don't need so I have nothing to sell and if getting a good deal is that important, there will be 100 garage sales within 20 miles of here today and every day until it's cold.
Pulse and Cocktails - One of the big chains of sex shops in Britain. Why they say you should buy from them over the counter instead of online: [/quote] The only way you can LEGALLY buy a hardcore film in the UK is over the counter in a government licensed sex shop. So, forget buying some dodgy, unclassified film mail order that will probably never arrive and save yourself from being put on every pervy mailing list too! You will also save yourself from a visit from customs and excise or the police, as films dispatched from Europe do not have a certification and could contain actors who are under 18. It is a serious offence to view or own any film containing a person under 18. 'R18' is the legal classification given to full hardcore films, which are no different to those available in America and Europe. [/quote] Oh the lies, oh the lies, oh the lies.
Wow, that is indeed an awful pack of lies there! Do people really believe such drivel? Jacco
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jun 9 2007 : 2:01AM
As a business owner, it would be your right to make that decision, just like your customers would have the right to go somewhere else if they don't like your attitude. Customers do indeed come and go, but good business people recognize the value of good customers, and try to keep them.
Heavenly Heavily Hootered Hos R Good 332 Posts 4/03
Posted - Jun 9 2007 : 10:36AM
In the capital city of the great state of NY there are two competing brick & motor stores, both of which drove me to the internet but for different reasons. One outfit called Video Environment Plus is owned by a really great guy that knew which releases to stock, and when he himself was dealing with customers, really treated then right. Unfortunally he couldn’t be at his store all the time, and had to rely on clerks to service his customers. That was the source of his problem. I may be paranoid (doubt it) but I sensed his staff ridiculed the customers among themselves. When you approached the rental counter with a stack of tapes to rent, they were really annoyed to be interrupted from reading the newspaper or watching TV. When they pulled the wrong tape off the shelf for me, they acted like I was the fucked-up moron who couldn’t read. Perhaps the most telling example was once I witnessed a supposed first-time customer approach a clerk that was restocking the shelves with returned rentals, and indicating a special section consisting entirely of the movies of one well-known star, asked the clerk “Who’s Jenna Jameson, and why a special section for her?” The clerk that had worked in the store for several years gave a burlesque reply of “beats me” turned and walked away. After the above incident I traveled to the competing store about a mile away. As I walked into the adult area, the same first-time customer was in a discussion with that store’s clerk, who was pointing out the area where they displayed their new releases, as well as the areas where they had lesbian, bondage, oral, grannies, ect. The customer was being assisted by a clerk that made him feel welcomed. However, the owner of the second store would limit his purchase of new releases to less than a tenth of the other store. He would then rent the precious few new releases to a handful of “special” customers. The remainder of us customers got to look at the new release box on the shelf; the little plastic tags that indicated the tape was in stock available for rental wouldn’t appear for weeks. For a long time there wasn’t an alternative to these two brick-and-motor stores. However, a few years ago I hooked up with Xrent DVD, and have never returned to the local stores. The on-line selection cannot be beat. The customer service is great. Last few months they have had significant shipping problems (three DVDs shipped to me on the same day arrive in my mailbox six business days apart). What I like best about internet rentals is that before I rent a DVD, I can do a search for reviews. If one of my favorite ladies that usually make a DVD a must-rent is paired with one of the must-avoid male so-called talent (mark davis, skirt lockwood) I pass on the rental. Likewise if a review indicates that the male has wood problems, babbles the same nonsensical statement repeatedly (this behavior seems to be common to the “b” level black performers), the camera appears to have been operated by someone that has “special needs” and is unable to focus or locate the copulating folks, or that the DVD is actually a cleverly discussed compilation, I will take a pass. The bottom like is that I am more knowledgeable about what I rent, and have a higher level of satisfaction. In summary, IMHO, internet rentals allow me to avoid the asshold clerks, choose from a larger inventory, and do some simple research before committing my hard-earned $$$.
After reading the post above it makes me think of a question I've always wondered about but never asked...Is it important that the clerks in a adult video store be familiar with pornstars/movies beyond simply knowing a few names? Do people ask for recommendations from clerks? How much info do you expect a clerk/owner to know? For me personally I've never asked for anything beyond a movie title or if something's in stock. In fact it seems kinda creepy if anything beyond that is even discussed.
In my shop, I'm the resident porn "expert." The questions I usually get are pretty vague, like, "I want to rent a porno for my girlfriend." Or the opposite; "My husband's in Iraq and he asked me to smuggle some porn to him." Then I start the 20 questions. What's your spouse's "type?" Are there any sex acts that are off limits, such as anal. Are interracial titles okay? Do you want a story, or all sex? Still it's a 50/50 gamble, particularly when you're trying to please a couple. I've had some successes and some failures. mod: extraneous quote removed - see the Forum Etiquette Edited by - hardware on 6/9/2007 5:06:26 PM
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jun 9 2007 : 6:51PM
In my experience most are not very knowledgeable, which offends my sense of how businesses should be run. PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THE BUSINESS THEY WORK IN! Sadly, most people that work at these stores seem to be at the bottom of the employment pool, so it is what it is.I agree with you here too. Although I feel like store clerks SHOULD be knowledgeable about their products, I'm pretty leery of actually talking to them and bring attention to myself. Of course, that's stupid, because they totally recognize me by now. But still, I've never really asked about anything other than availability of a title. In fact, at this point there really isn't any need to ask about anything else, for the simple reason that I know more about porn than any of them.
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deepudicks Deactivated User
If The Good Times Did Not Last Then Believe Me Me The Bad Times Shall Also Passs 100 Posts 2/07
Posted - Jun 9 2007 : 11:20PM
Buying porn across the counter from where I hail(ironically the land of the Kamasutra)is virtually unheard of. It's almost as tough as buying condoms at a chemists. Yeah everybody knows what you intend buying it for and so the smirks get wider.It's a no win situation.If you go to you neighbourhood store to buy condoms eye-brows are raised if ur single and they're raised even wider if you're married...The weird logic being if ur married and with your wife then why the need for condoms> Maybe wife has gone to her parents so you're a married bachelor again. Within this scenario itself, porn seems to be only for growing wild teenagers or bachelors.Why wud a married guy(forget the very thought of a woman even thinking of buying porn/condoms over the counter as it would scream about her character...Find it amusing...That's the ground reality in India. So what are you left with...did I hear anybody say choices? Either you go to the shady market and pick up anything that catches your fancy immediately or else you end up buying 2-3 feature film DVDS or Music videos and cushion your porn releases into them.While looking over your shoulder lest some aquaintance tap u on the shoulder and smirk "Oh so what's a nice guy like you doing here?" It's only when you have built a trust with a store over the years that they actually feel comfortable to take your cell number or e-mail id to send across a message when something interesting arrives. Rome may have been built in a day but such contacts take several years to cultivate and very few have the patience to take that route. The other option is to walk the wild side in dark alleys as shady characters flash DVD covers to entice potential buyers....In either case no guarantee of the quality or the product inside.Truly what you see is what you take home" That leaves you with the mail order option while you pray that some shady shark shall not rip your credit card to its birthday suit and while most mail orders scream of confidentiality in billing what they take no assurance of is that the delivery will reach your hands alone and not the neighbours or your boss...if ur stoopid enough to give your office mailing address to recieve porn entertainment. Since beggars can't be choosers the only option left is that any option is good enough so long as it works....When folks ask me how I've stacked such a huge collection...All I can offer is wry smile and a pat on the back...The silence says it all.
Business in the front, party in the back. 117 Posts 7/06
Posted - Jun 10 2007 : 4:54AM
I think you and most people here on ADT are only a minority of what the porn buy demographic is. I used to work in a porn shop and I'd say most of the porn buying guys (I do emphasize guys, there were very few females shopping for porn in person) probably didn't read reviews or were that knowledgeable of porn (and probably didn't give a shit about not know a lot about porn). It seems a lot of them used the 'judge the book by it's cover' (using the cover and back pics on the box) method to choose porn. When I worked there, I could count the number of substantive questions I received about porn (ex. recommendations, stars) on my hand. Usually a porn clerk doesn't need to have in depth knowledge about porn to work there, because frankly for most it is awkward for two strangers to discuss porn face to face. Most customers want to avoid that awkwardness.
For me renting DVDs from an actual adult store isn't so bad but back when smaller mom and pop video stores sold "regular" videos and the adult stuff was in a back room I always felt kinda awkward renting stuff from those type of stores. For the most part it seems that more often than not the places I go to the clerks have at least some idea of who certain big name stars are and different types of movies. One store in particular always had girls (about 20 to 25 years old) working the counter and sometimes I'd hear them talking about taking movies home to watch and how much they liked certain pornstars. Customers would come in asking about a particular actress and they could actually reccomend stuff. But even before I kept up with what's coming out and who's in what I would just look at the box and if I saw two or more girls I thought were pretty I'd just go with that. I'd never ask for anything other than a title name and hated even doing that. Some of the porn titles are just ridiculous/horrible sounding saying them out loud. Edited by - hardware on 6/10/2007 11:31:05 AM
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tittysucker86 Deactivated User
florida 218 Posts 2/07
Posted - Jun 10 2007 : 10:16AM
ryank285: I hear what you're saying about overdrafts, but is it right to charge $30 overdraft fees on overdrafts that are two bucks, or ten bucks? thats legalized extortion. and the problem I have is I use a debit-card that can be swiped as a credit card transaction, and the bank does not deduct the money from my account untill days later. they dont post the transactions quick enough. ..as for porn: listen I have aneighborhood video store that has thousands of DVDS. she put all the old VHS porn in storage. She gets new poprn dvds every week. The DVDS are 6 to 9 months old, because she buys them at discount clearance rates, but they're new to the store, and she does a big rental business. yeah, some porn stores dont know how to manage their inventory. Some of them dont know where to buy their product. Any of these lousy porn store owners ought to go to south florida where there are porn stores with up to date inventory, and see how its done, and they can ask who are the suppliers. ...but to say porn sales are down: what the hell does that mean: sales are down? you cant talk about porn sales without talking about porn rental. theres big money in rental.
i dont think its "right" to charge 33 bucks every time you overdraft but all banks do it and its a good scare tactic to keep you from borrowing money you dont have. ive had a checking account for 5-6 years and ive only overdrafted ONCE. it was because online banking was new for me at the time (i was 18) and i didnt realize that credit purchases takes longer to post than credit. ever since i was explained how it takes a couple of days for credit to post, i never overdrafted again. you either need to remember everything you bought and have a general idea of how much money you have or you need log everything. p.s. if you have a hard time from not over drafting, you should look into a line of credit. its overdraft protection and it puts money into your account every time you overdraft and its only a $3 charge.
The problem I've noticed with most of the brick-and-mortar stores I've been to is that their DVD selection is shit. I mostly find stuff like those crappy "four-hour" compilations. You won't find the latest Evil Angel or Zero Tolerance movies sold at those places. Porn rentals is another story. There's a local video store in my area that has a pretty good porn section. That place may not have every movie I wish to see, but the selection they do have is decent. The advantages to the online stores is that not only do they charge about half the price that the brick-and-mortar stores charge, they have an infintely better selection. Most of the time that's the only way to go when looking for a particular movie.
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ragingbull Deactivated User
404 Posts 5/07
Posted - Jun 10 2007 : 2:55PM
i like going to porn stores because it is a weird thinf to do, all that carnal shit out in public it is so fun, love it, i know i can get it on line and i still go with buddies sometimes its fun
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conquistador Deactivated User
Hellhamster. 2947 Posts 10/03
Posted - Jun 10 2007 : 2:59PM
Many of the posts in this topic are relevant to why brick and mortar stores stay opened. Sex Toy Sales Along with rentals it should be noted that booths can generate a huge profit from relatively little investment. EDIT: I may not have made it clear but my link goes to another thread on this forum. When I looked at the post afterwards I was afraid it looked like I was linking to some kind of sales chart or statistics. Edited by - conquistador on 6/10/2007 3:00:34 PM
Basically, alot of males over 45; still have not venture into the internet age. They are scare of the PC/Mac world. Also, some prefer looking and buying it in a store, even if it marked up 200% over that of the online stores. Many others; do not have the wherewithall to afford a PC and internet connects. So that the reason many are still doing business. It like check cashing services; where they don't have the money or poor credit to do business at the bank.
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ragingbull Deactivated User
404 Posts 5/07
Posted - Jun 11 2007 : 5:20PM
your right Harry Wild it is kind of an anachronism, but some may go for no good reason all even when they have the internet etc...
Anonymous cash purchases are worth the higher costs to me. I tried ordering online for a while and they put my address on every junk mail list there was. If brick and mortars would just put some burn-while-you-wait DVD kiosks (with some extensive backlogs)in their stores, then I'd never think about ordering online again.
