Soho video shops: On their death bed?

[camdenman]

Very interesting debate


I used to visit them cause that was the only way I could get hc porn but I always felt that the shops I have visited were a rip off

They never gave you what you wanted and the cost was far to high. It was easy money for them as they were copies they were selling so easy dosh.

The internet has made them lose business and to be honest now you have torrents where you can get as much free porn as you want.


Broadband is the way to go you have wank in your own home and its so so easy to find what you want.


Now you have to produce interesting stuff and build up you business like any other marketing, word of mouth, good quality, good price etc etc

Mario, Terry, your choice etc

[Fronty]

I was in a shop in the Charing Cross Road today. Two of the people who work in this place were bemoaning the shop's apparent lack of business. As I scanned the DVDs on offer, I couldn't help but think about some of the posts in this thread.

It's true that the internet has taken a large slice of the shops' business away, but I for one don't want to download my porn. I like DVDs and I like to browse through the various titles on offer. The internet is, however, very good at providing exactly that service.

In the shop today, as on previous visits, I was amazed at how expensive some of the DVDs are. Almost ?30 for some of Belladonna's titles and these were R18s which means they'll be censored versions. Why pay that when you can get an uncut version easily for the same price or less from an online seller or via a mail order catalogue (or presumably via download)?

Clearly, it's not the shops' fault that they are constrained by the BBFC, the internet and our restrictive postal laws, but I can't help feeling that they don't do themselves any favours with the way they lay their stock out. DVDs are placed on shelves in any old order. The only items that seem to get separated are the gay and spanking titles. In any mainstream DVD store, titles are displayed alphabetically, by genre and sometimes by actor and director. Why can't sex shops work on the same principle?

Today I waded through loads of DVDs, some four or five deep, face-up on top shelves which made them awkward to browse through; some were displayed in single rows, face-up along a wall, but were difficult to see because of the reflected light from the ceiling; some were stored in open-top cardboard boxes. The shop is smelly and dingy and uninviting.

I must admit that because of the high prices, I take advantage of the exchange policy that many of these shops have. They only charge half price if you swap one of your DVDs for them to resell. Presumably, this also has a detrimental effect on the industry.

Today, I purchased two DVDs from this shop. One was an American production, part of a series with which I am not familiar. The reason I wanted this particular episode was the presence of one of my favourite performers. When I got home, I discovered that they'd given me the wrong instalment. Anyone can make a mistake, but the staff in sex shops often seem, in my opinion, to be demotivated. They have lttle interest in, or knowledge of, the product they sell. I don't know what they get paid, but I don't suppose it's a lot. I suppose that's just another part of the problem.

[DanG]

I've worked in a sex shop...the pay wasn't great, but then the work wasn't exactly that hard.

What I do find is that there is a serious lack of retail knowledge. One of my more senior colleagues was asked if we had any Jenna Jameson DVDs, only to reply 'I'm sorry, I don't know who she is' and when I suggested to my boss that if we grouped certain items (i.e. a video with Chasey Lain, a mag with Chasey on the cover, and Chasey's vibrating pussy) together, possibly at the point of sale, then we could get some link/upsells. This was at the time the Bloodhound Gang were popular with their 'Ballad of Chasey Lain' song and were playing a gig at the Astoria which was quite near said shop...I thought we could cash in on a few casual customers and out of towners who had heard the song and wanted to check out Chasey for themselves.

My boss' response: 'Nah'

As you say though, it's cheaper and better to source your own stuff from the States, so that's what most people do...

[Shopgirl]

I have read with great interest all of the comments in this thread and thought i would do a quick response based on my views as a licenced sex shop owner.
I can't remember who wrote what now so excuse this, I will address points in no particular order but keep with me!
PLEASE tell me where i as a shop owner can buy titles at ?4.00 each!! That would be great!
I have a licenced shop in Hertford, Hertfordshire, we have women only staff and i would say we have a wide range of customers ranging from female and couples, to single men, gay couples/singles etc who both buy R18 DVD's. Gentleman come into the shop and realise it is not seedy, as someone suggested, but welcoming and easy to browse. Titles are put in studio order as putting in actor/director order would be an enormous job to do.
I originally opened as a lingerie/adult store and spent 6 months researching the adult industry to gain my knowledge of actors/actresses/directors etc to ensure I was confident when people ask questions.
I also stock lots of British films, including the infamous Ben Dover! A new company approached me a couple of weeks ago and i started to stock their title. I think distribution is easy if you approach the licenced shops that are independently owned as we can then make our own decisions on what to sell. We are restricted to volumes but i love trying out new films, as long as they have been passed by the BBFC i will sell anything to see how it goes.
I have to say that accross the UK prices differ tremendously, i have based my prices on our local shops so not to appear to undercut them, however saying that i offer more discounts, exchanges and loyalty card scheme so i do try to help the customer! Please bear in mind that i have invested thousands in my business and love this industry and we have worries, after paying for a licence to our local council just to sell the R18 DVD's we are affected by internet sales, but our customers enjoy visiting our shop and where we offer customer care/satisfaction we can continue to enjoy our job!
Sorry bit long winded but felt i wanted to write something.

[stm distribution]

most distributers like us will sell to licenced shops for ?4 each if buying in volume and yes it does affect our business and producers when shops do a rental service ie bring one back and get another half price,some shops buy the minimum amount of units and just keep re selling/renting out the same titles over and over then never order again which helps no one accept the shop

[Shopgirl]

I would love to get films at ?4.00 each, but i think this is reserved to the large chain of licenced shops, as you say it is based on volume. As a smaller shop i do offer an exchange, like all shops, however i buy new films every week and do not get a great deal of exchanges back, because of the quality of films i provide people come back for more and don't always return the good titles.

We can not afford to buy 10 copies of each film on a large scale, so we have to choose our titles very carefully, i often purchase just two copies of a film and if they sell well i will always re-order straight away, not relying on people bringing them back, otherwise we won't always have a particular film in stock if we just waited for people to bring them back.

[blackjaques]

Shopgirl, don't you think that the industry would benefit from the liberalisation of our ridiculous censorship regime on t.v.? Surely a whole new auduience would have access to porn. It's the shot-in-the-arm that the industry needs.

[Shopgirl]

As a shop owner having more people view porn via their tv sets will certainly affect me if they decide to record from that and not buy from the shops. I can not personally see any change within the near future to the legalisaton of R18 via the tv channels, but this is a huge discussion subject and many people will agree and disagree with me.

We have to pay alot of money to get our licence to sell R18 DVD's so i do feel that if it does go to the tv then our licence fees should then be abolished - let's see whether the local councils would agree to that!!

I think most of us agree that our country is so far behind our continental neighbours it is frightening. I also think if they make hardcore porn freely available we will open the gates to legalising prostitution at some point (although i think this makes sense for safety reasons if nothing else!, but that is a different subject all together, sorry).