For my 200th post I figured I would talk about my previous life. Back in early 2000 I had decided I want to go into business for myself and get away from my retail management roots. I wanted to open a DVD store that catered to indie film as well as cult and horror film fans. I planned to sell merchandise tied to those films as well as other pop culture stuff. Marcela (my wife) and my family were integral in getting the store opened. My grandfather had been in the printing business since 1977 and suggested I shrink his store and use the front half of it for my "vision". When I finally arrived at a name, my family didn't like it too much, "Oh, The Horror DVD Shoppe" . You should have seen the look on their faces, lol.
 |
| The store front of Oh, The Horror DVD Shoppe |
My friend Ivonne designed the website and in the process taught me a little about HTML . 
Marcela (who also painted the killer 8 ft. coffin we had on the side of the road) painted the place and put up with my annoying little gothic touches to it after she finished. Marcela, Ericka, Fred, Emilio and Ivan (who also painted our sign) helped put the place together as well as put all the DVDs in alphabetical order. My friend Eric created the logo. 
When our computer crashed 6 years ago we lost all the pictures associated with the store, everything you see here is what I have left unfortunately. This was at a time when Blockbuster Video carried a very limited DVD selection. We opened to little fanfare and it took a while to get a following. Lucky for us, El Nuevo Herald did an article on us in the Business section oddly enough. Later on, the Neighbors section in the Miami Herald did an article on us which I have below for your reading pleasure (just click on the articles to enlarge). And finally Street (Miami Herald's defunct "street" paper) also did one which was probably the best of the 3 (unfortunately I can't find a copy of it).
Marcela (who also painted the killer 8 ft. coffin we had on the side of the road) painted the place and put up with my annoying little gothic touches to it after she finished. Marcela, Ericka, Fred, Emilio and Ivan (who also painted our sign) helped put the place together as well as put all the DVDs in alphabetical order. My friend Eric created the logo. 
When our computer crashed 6 years ago we lost all the pictures associated with the store, everything you see here is what I have left unfortunately. This was at a time when Blockbuster Video carried a very limited DVD selection. We opened to little fanfare and it took a while to get a following. Lucky for us, El Nuevo Herald did an article on us in the Business section oddly enough. Later on, the Neighbors section in the Miami Herald did an article on us which I have below for your reading pleasure (just click on the articles to enlarge). And finally Street (Miami Herald's defunct "street" paper) also did one which was probably the best of the 3 (unfortunately I can't find a copy of it).
Neighbors section in the Miami Herald about Oh, The Horror  |
| John Waters authographed poster |
Thanks to the John Waters event, we met Dolores Wishman. She was filming what would be her final film, Each Time I Kill. When I introduced myself to her at the event I offered up the store for use in her film. Although scenes we filmed for it, none of them made it into the final film.
Last but not least I wanted to mention Alias Nick Beal. I met Rich J. Schellbach one day when he walked into Oh, The Horror and just wanted to talk Horror movies (which I spent most of my day doing back then anyway). He ended up writing a column for the Oh, The Horror website as Alias Nick Beal, if you'd like to check out his wizardry, I have most of the columns posted here: Alias Nick Beal. I also wanted mention Jason Landrian (check out Jason's band Black Cobra ) and Carlos Giusti as they helped out immensely with spreading the good word and doing reviews on the site. Lesther, who's the guy inside the store in the pic of the store exterior was our only employee, deserves a mention also (so there's his mention).
It was a sad day when we closed and turned out the lights for that last time, I remember my grandfather standing with me in the middle of the store that day telling me what a beautiful store it was. He was right, it was. Above all, I want to thank all those who supported the store for its 2 years, it was blast!
7 comments:
i think it's time for a shirt reprint.
We only made 40 shirts, so they're out there somewhere, hopefully.
I still have one of those shirts! I woulda worn it to your birthday party but I used it that day to clean up the dogshit in our backyard. Just joking man, it's in mint condition and I'll never toss it out, even though the only reason you gave it to me was because I agreed to wear it while I worked at Lion Video, your closest competitor. I don't think I ever wore it at work, but it's still a cool part of my t-shirt collection.
Stop revealing my secret marketing strategies.
Congratulations on your 200th post!
Yeah I remember you wouldn't let me drink in the store:( I was also always late returning the movies. What was cool though is that this place was within walking distance just a few block from my house at the time.
Thanks George.
Post a Comment