Video Retailers Report Hot Summer Sales

What summer slump?

In past years video retailers were crying the blues about summer business. With all the summer activities to choose from--including moviegoing--people were said to be too busy to sit at home watching rented videos.

But, for many retailers, it’s different this summer. “Business has been great this summer,” reported Lou Berg, of Audio Video Plus in Houston, Tex. “Other retailers I’ve talked to say the same thing.”

Jim Salzer, who runs Salzer Video in Ventura County, boasted: “This is our best summer ever. I’ve been in this business for many years, and I’ve never been bothered by the summer doldrums people always talked about.”

None of the retailers sampled in this spot nation-wide survey reported slack business.

One reason for better business this summer is the quality of releases. “If the companies are putting out the good product, people will rent it, no matter what time of the year it is,” said Berg, of Audio Video Plus. “The movies that are coming out this year are better than ever.”

This summer’s release schedule, one of the most attractive ever, includes “Wall Street,” “Suspect,” “D.O.A.,” “Good Morning, Vietnam” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

A few years ago, Berg pointed out, video companies used to wait until late summer to announce their major releases at the Video Software Dealers convention in August.

“They’d put their big movies out in the fall,” he said. “In the meantime, in those months prior to the convention, they wouldn’t put out many major titles. Without major titles, people don’t come in the stores.”

Why did the video companies change their summer strategy?

“It’s because they now count heavily on business with the mass merchants (K mart, Target, Sears and others),” Berg replied. “Dealing with mass merchants is different from dealing with retailers. They want to know as soon as possible what’s coming out and they want the titles on the market as soon as possible.”

While reporting that this month has been the biggest in the history of Erol’s, the 165-store Eastern chain, marketing vice president Ron Castell pointed out a possible reason.

“The Democratic Convention helped business,” he said. “A lot of people didn’t want to watch it, so they went out and rented movies. I can’t wait for George Bush and the Republicans to come on TV.”

The heat wave that has scorched parts of the country, Castell noted, has also boosted business in many places.

Jack Schember, editor of Video Software Dealer Magazine, supported that notion: “Heat keeps people inside. I’ve talked to retailers in places like Phoenix, Tucson and Albuquerque where the summers are traditionally so hot that people tend to stay home. Consequently, they wind up renting and watching more movies.”

But things may not be rosy for everybody. “Some retailers might say business is much better for them this summer, but business is still slower in general in the summer,” insisted Frank Moldstad, editor of Video Store magazine.