From Website to Brick and Mortar

we are considering expanding our brand a bit with a brick and mortar store in the west hollywood CA area. As it is difficult, due to zoning restrictions, to open a gay adult store, we are considering opening a gay feature film store ..... here is our logic

1. there are over 800 gay feature films in the market, with 5 or so new ones a month, and there are no stores selling or renting them
2. we can use the store to brand the website, and refer people to the website for adult video purchases.
3. we can use the store employee as a website customer service rep, order taker.... (subject to further checking on whether this violates zoning)

Reason for the post:

I would like to ask for any and all comments on the viability of this
in your opinions, pros, cons, ideas, suggestions. etc...

for those in the LA area, we are considering several locations, including the Melrose area, La Brea Avenue, Beverly Blvd, 3rd Street ( Santa Monica and
Sunset are WAY too expensive for this type of store) we even thought of a spot in the French Market restaurant on the stores level..... so feel free to comment on location as well.

WEll, you could try Sunset at Santa Monica in Silverlake.

But really, downtown WeHo is gonna be your best bet.

I'd say your idea of the French Market is great, as it's WeHO on Santa Monica, but away from the super Trendy part where rents are probably astronomical.

And the French Market is right down the street from me.

You'd want to hit hard where the boys are, so Melrose might be OK.

I'll shop there for sure.

One thing to keep in mind, the 20/20 Video across from the French Market has quite an extensive adult rental department (at least it did the last time I checked). Although it is quite bland and I never see anyone up there. If you are going to do it in the french market, you'll want it to be very accessable and friendly so people will want to shop there. It is always packed there so you'll have a lot of people going in and out. Down further into Weho there are many other stores like this, Unicorn Alley, Drakes, etc. So that may not be the best idea. Sunset Junction is okay but it's a more het community there. And the section of Sunset in Silverlake might work because of Rough Trade being there. They have a few videos but not a whole lot, so if the gay crowd is going there, having a video store close by might work for you as they will already have bothered to find a place to park and will be up for shopping at places they can walk to close by.

hey thanks for the thoughts but please keep in mind that this will NOT be an adult store..... it will only carry gay and lesbian Feature Films, TV, etc. there are over 1000 titles with 5 or so new ones a month.... I think there is a market for it..... Video west has about 40 gay titles, Blockbuster only carries those that have big budgets for PR.... but our thinking is that a store becoming THE source for gay film, could be a market....

I think it will also be a destination store, so incidental walk by traffic is not required to make it work, but being in a gay centric area will be important... just the darn rents in weho are so high..... prohibitive... for a niche store like this....... on one hand it seems like a huge risk because noone is doing this, but on the other hand it seems like an exciting possibility to grow our brand and company and put a brick and mortar face on the web business...

any further thoughts?

I think it's a great idea and I'm really jealous, I only wish I could open a store like that. I would also definately shop and rent there. I know a lot of the time when I rent, I'm specificly looking for some glbt movies, of course I would prefer a whole store to browse through than one small section at a mainstream store.

Plus it would make me feel special to have a video/dvd store dedicated to me that isn't all about sex. You would have every section that a place like Blockbuster has, from documentaries to comedies, tragedies, love stories, etc. You can bet word of mouth would go really far with a store like that too. Like you said I don't think walk in traffic would make or break you.

I really do think the GLBT market is starved for things that don't revolve around sex or rainbows.

Tombarr,

I don't think gay feature films is enough to make a store feasible. For six years I worked in a video store in downtown Toronto, right smack in the middle of the gay ghetto. It featured all of the regular stuff you'd find at a Blockbuster, plus new releases, plus a huge selection of gay adult films, and an equally large section of gay feature films.

A Roger's video (a big chain like Blockbuster) opened down the street, but they never affected our business for a couple of very good reasons: (1) our store was very gay friendly, the Roger's had trouble carrying anything more gay than Maurice or Too Wong Foo, (2) we carried gay porn, and (3) we were on the main drag, so we were a walk home from the trendy vegetable market, the baths, and the bars.

However, that said, there was an adult store down the street with three times the selection we had. Still we did well in that department because the adult store had the reputation of being the seedy, stinky place "downstairs" where guys tried to sneak in for a quick blowjob in the video booths. With our store you could walk in, rent porn, and no one would know you weren't carrying home Thoroughly Modern Millie. We also got a lot of the late-night, I-didn't-get-picked-up traffic from the bars that line Church Street.

Now, to your point. I just don't think there are enough gay feature films to warrant a whole store selling just those alone. Okay, yes there are over 800 of them, but haven't we all seen Maurice and Another Country, and let's face it, most of the rest of what's available is low-budget, independent stuff that is largely whanking crap. Who wants to buy it? I'm very afraid to rent most of it. And Bruce La Bruce, I never got that guy, what a waste of film.

If the video store that I worked at got rid of the gay feature section, I don't think it would have much more than a ripple on the revenues, but don't get me wrong, the gay films rent well. So much of the traffic is regular movies and porn. If they got rid of porn, it would be a huge hit financially. It they got rid of mainstream, they'd die in a week.

I really think you're going to need something else in that store to carry it. You either need to carry adult videos and magazines, or if you don't want to or can't go adult, then think about carrying non-adult gay books and magazines. Or make it a combination coffee house / video store. Or throw an Internet cafe in the back. You're going to need something else or this store is going to tank.

Best of luck
Dzinerbear

While I agree that Bruce LaBruce is a tired, lame-ass pathetic old queen who makes crappy exploitive "films" and should have been put down years ago, his stuff does have a market.

And there's probably a lot of gay and gay friendly titles (like drag makeup how-tos and leather party souvenier tapes) that would make your store rock.

I still think that over at the Sunset/Hyperion/Santa Monica intersection would be a great place.. there's a large gay community in Silver Lake and Los Filez, and it's a cooler crowd than WeHo who's gonna be more into it.

And yeah, with Rough Trade there, the Gaunlet and MJ'snear by, there's a gay community kind of springing up over there. And it's a lot more low-rent than the gay strip.

It's got the best potential to have a Toronto-like gay community spring up.

WOW! some incredibly insightful comments..... ! I really appreciate it...

Part of the allure to this for me is to be able to brand and promote our website as well, and use that branding to sell more adult videos online..to the same customers that shop in our non adult store.... I firmly believe in cross branding and expanding the brand this way and think this is a way to get a very target rich environment to look at and buy from my website.

The store can also serve as a customer service point as well, which would expand our phone support on our website from 9 to 6 to 11 a to 10 pm, and we can use this to put more of a "trusted" face on the website.

That being said, the business does need a business model that supports the store as a stand alone business and i agree that we might have to consider changing the product mix to add an additional product line of some sort, but I DON'T want this to become another rainbow store..... Coffee shop...perhaps, books, perhaps, music (indie dance, gay market Cd's) perhaps? I am very open to suggestions on additional products. just don't want to do the t-shirt, rainbow candles thing...

One thing that I think will be very helpful is that the distributors, are very eager to see this kind of store (from my conversations with them) for obvious reasons, but also because it gives them a great outlet for cast appearances, signings, etc... and also gives us a source for great PR, Press releases, and of course the Ads the distributors will run for their upcoming release parties and such....featuring our store...

and thanks for the Silver Lake suggestions...I'm heading over there today to look around..... I think it is a great location idea...

Tombarr,

I like the music CDs idea: dance music, indie stuff, I think that's a good fit with the gay features. Also, I forgot that you're right in the thick of it in terms of actors who would be willing to stop by for a DVD signing. And you're right about the store supporting the website, I'm sure lots of people looking for movies in Goolge can't find you because of the crowded terrain. Your store can drive traffic right to it, I just wasn't sure how separate you needed to be them to comply with the by-laws.

Cheers
Dzinerbear

But would you carry REAL gay DirtyDice for Brian? :nerd:

One thing i would suggest, which you kind of do at the moment i beleive, is to expand your online presence a little more.

IMHO forking out the cash for an offline startup is a big risk from a business perspective.

Make sure that any funds you need to open and operate a bricks and mortar store for at least 3-6 months are available prior to firming anything up.

Im not sure about the areas you have been talking about but, if there are already several established stores in the area, it would seem to me that you may have a problem in bringing in customers if they have a 'regular' haunt as it were.

That being said, once you get the location and store setup i hope it goes really well for you :)

Just dont forget that there is more to running an offline business than just the location and marketing :)

Regards,

Lee

You know, Dzinerbear's got a point. You want to do something that is not already being done, and having a video store with a place to hang out inside it, such as a coffee shop, would make it a place people would want to seek out rather than just happen by when they are in the area. Weho has a bunch of gay gift shops already, Video West in Weho and VideoActive in Silverlake are huge gay video rental places, but a store that combines mainstream gay movies with indie and underground gay films, maybe even gay tv if it's available, seems like a great idea. And if you make it a place where people could hang out, get some coffee or snacks and talk about the movies, you could host viewing parties and releases for your titles with a place for the models and actors to be shown off to the people who are sitting around enjoying themselves. These are just a few thoughts. I have no idea how a place like that would work but it's a kind of place I'd want to hang out at. LOL. :)

I'm just catching up on my reading and in the February 15 issue of The Advocate there's a small piece about the second-last gay bookstore closing in New York City. This leaves one bookstore in all of Manhattan – the Oscar Wilde Bookshop. Carol Rosenfeld of the gay literature group Publishing Triangle says, "Gay people are reading, but they're shopping differently because they have more options." (page 17, The Advocate, Feburary 15, 2005)

So, this is just something else to think about in terms of the gay feature video store idea. I know books and DVDs are different, but it just shows you the impact the Internet is having on all kinds of areas.

Cheers
Dzinerbear