Been going there over 10 years, just found out for certain that it won't be open much longer. Feel bad for the owners, they got new releases every day, really liked the store. Kind of expected it though since it was always in a bad location and over the past year or so it's been really dead in there, but they were there like 14 or 15 years altogether. I'd say that's a good run. Not sure how to feel.
Sorry to hear that. While I've never been quite that attached to an adult bookstore, I have been buying my comics and RPGs at the same store in my town for over twenty years--Journey Comics in Macomb, Illinois. It's the only shop in town, and has outlasted other stores in neighboring cities. If it went out of business, I don't know what I'd do. At least your store failed "honestly"--that is, to a lack of business. If it had been forced to close by anti-porn, anti-fornication militants, that would really make me mad. My sympathies to the owners--may they find new employment soon. And may you find a new place to buy you porn soon. For as certain as there will always be death and taxes--there will be porn. See? There's porn just now! _____________________________________________________________ "There can never be too many beautiful women Hypnotized for our pleasure" Edited by - wcw43921 on 6/10/2009 2:58:36 PM
Bookstore sounds a lot classier than "a place to buy porno mags and dirty movies" Haven't been to my old video store in nearly a year. Why pay $39.95 for a dvd when I can buy the same one for $12 used and also get to see a trailer of it before I buy. Appreciate the way they pioneered adult fare in the 70's and even gave a clerk $20. when he told me her was arrested one time for giving me the opportunity to buy what I needed. They did not move with the times. Can't remember the last time I sat down and watched a movie at an adult theater. Remember them. Some even gave away popcorn, soda and candy but for a $6 ticket back when you could watch "Dirty Harry" for $2. it was really no bargin. Some would even rent you a raincoat if you forgot yours. Wayne In Dallas
Assuming that you're talking about the store in Hauppauge, most of that "good run" was under the previous owner, who was also a distributor. It was a lot easier to put out new releases every day when that was an offshoot of the distribution business. Bringing new releases into the store every day is expensive. They've gotten hurt badly by a few things. The economy really hurt the industrial park that they are in. Lots of companies in there have either cut staff or have gone out of business completely. People who worked in that industrial park were always a big part of that business, way back to when they were located on Oser. As far as industrial parks go, that one has always been a really nice one. However as businesses fail, it's becoming less nice. They're also getting killed by the rent. Scott mistakenly thought that the landlord would just take back half of the store and rent it to someone else, rather than Scott having to do the legwork to get a new tenant into the space that he wanted to give up. He cleared out that space and it's just made the store look like shit, without giving him anything in return. According to Lou, they are looking for a new place for the store with lower rent. But no landlords want to rent to an adult store. BTW, a few people here know Scott & Lou. They attended AEE a few years ago (when business was much better) and attended the ADT party with me the year that it was held at the MGM Grand. Edited by - Bill on 6/11/2009 9:02:34 AM
There is one place in my town that sold DVD's and magazines, and had a "theater" downstairs. I assumed that in the age the DVD and VHS, the only reason for a "theater" is so that gay men can cruise "straight" guys and hookers can give $10 blowjobs. Neither interest me, so I never went downstairs. Still, it's a shame they are out of business.
Another reason for a theater is for "regular" guys who can't watch porn at home due to living arrangements. Or to rub out a quickie without going through the selecting/renting/returning process. Some stores (around here) have clean well-maintained arcade booths without the shadiness, with 50+ titles available, including some of the latest releases.
That's right, more choice and cheaper in my case that is. Eventhough I admit I loved going into a store and actually feel the movies in my hand before buying them.
Nothing beats the thrill of discovering a "I gotta see that right now" title, and immediately taking it home. I admit the brick&mortar experience is more expensive, with fewer selections, as compared to online dvd purchasing.
My local store is still open but there are less and less customers as time goes on. Unfortunately, the owner is trying to save money by stocking too many inexpensive titles like comps, etc.
The whole seedy factor in going to a sex shop is a must for me,i enjoy the thrill of going to the shop not quite knowing what titles will be there etc.
Very true. Before the VHS, I went to movie theaters. I quickly discovered which were simply theaters, and which were places where people had sex. I wasn't interested* in the gays or the $10 whores, so I never went to those theaters. * "Wasn't interested" is an understatement, I was repulsed. (I am passing no judgment on guys who like to have anonymous sex with other guys or cheap hookers, I'm just describing my personal reaction to seeing it.) This is probably why I jumped to the possibly-false conclusion about what was going on downstairs in the now-defunct sex shop.
i don't know how my local rental store stays in business. at 1 point they hard 4 locations-now down to 1. they also rent mainstream dvd's. they were at 1 time a big store with a small adult section. now half the store is an adult section. they also have way more adult than mainstream movies. it used to be that when the new titles came out, there would be 10-12 people waiting in the section. when you go there now, you may be 1 of 2 or 3 people there. i hardly rent from them now because they now carry more of the cheap titles than good series that i like. by trying to save money, they are turning off regular customers. cost is also an issue. many times it is close to half the cost if you rent online. i'm sure there are some who can't do the online thing, but for many of us, they have a better selection if you don't mind waiting.
I'll never be able to figure out how some of those stores make money. If they are it can't be from selling movies. I guess I can understand when they sell new releases for 40 bucks a pop but when that new release is a couple of feet away from a movie that's 3 years old selling for the same price...I don't get it. I realize that casual buyers may not know or care that a movie is a few years old but you would think that the owner would evenually mark the old stuff down just to move the old inventory or to try and make some money from it. I see that some stores would rather the movie sit there for years than mark it down. One would think it would be better to make a little less profit and move the units than have just sitting there year after year making nothing from them. There are times I'd rather pay a bit more and buy a new movie from a store than order it online but when I can get the movie for half the price online I just can't justify paying the store price. And paying 40 bucks for a movie over 3 years old is just ridiculous.
One man's trash can be the next man's treasure. 1187 Posts 1/04
Posted - Jun 19 2009 : 4:37PM
Netflix has put a big dent in brick and mortar rent 'em stores. For $10/month you can rent more DVD's than any sane person should view. Porn has killed themselves with substandard product over the past couple of years. I used to rent more than 500 videos/DVD's a year and did so for 20 years. I would buy a couple hundred a year too. I think since the year started I've rented about 20. Bought 0. I'm positive I'm not the only one. It's sad that a mom and pop that put many years of their lives into growing a business and developing a base of valued customers has to go belly up. It the way it is, and if you live in a state run by morons like I do, the state politicians trying to raise taxes on people hurting financially, it's gonna get worse before it gets better.
My monthly trips to the XXX shop were an exciting part of pre-internet life. I only just started buying DVDs when the online stores starting popping up en masse, but I still made the trip for the monthlys for a while. My stopping is as much due to the decline in quality of the top shelf periodicals (Hustler, PH, Club Int, Cheri, Club etc) as it is the ready availability of higher quality material online. There used to even be special appearances by starlets promoting their latest release, but these stopped a few years back. During my last several visits, there were tons of customers looking at the adult toys and boutique items, very few in the DVD or magazine sections. I'm guessing the on site purchase of a toy is a little less creepy than mail order, especially to the female customers. I'm hoping there's enough foot traffic to keep these guys chugging along. Just because.
