West Side landmark closes Phasor video merges into one store on Broad Street P
To the eye, the building with its Phasor sign looks like a rather run-down, behind-the-times video store, but it meant so much to movie buffs because of the character and business acumen of Mark David Adams, the man who started the business when he was still in college.
Before Adams died of cancer at the age of 31, he had built the business up and eventually owned an additional store on White Street.
Michael Gough, who worked with Adams for many years, bought the two stores from Adams’ wife in 1998. Gough had owned a video repair store and Adams would send his videos to him for repairs. "We were supposed to be partners in the White Street store, but he got cancer," Gough said this week.
Last February, Gough closed the White Street store and opened on Broad Street near No Ordinary Joe’s Cafe.
The building in which the Shrewsbury Avenue store resided is up for sale by its owner forcing the move, Gough said.
Ben Forrest, who lives on Locust Avenue, had been a customer of the Shrewsbury Avenue video store for 12 years. "My card number is under 200, so I guess I was just about the 200th customer to join," Forrest said.
Forrest is unhappy over the loss of the popular store. "It’s kind of sad to see the business go. Whenever you would go into Phasor Video, you would meet neighbors.
"There was a time, not too long ago, when there weren’t many thriving businesses on the West Side. Phasor was one of them (thriving). And it was owned by an African-American.
"The store was a landmark on Shrewsbury Avenue. And Mark Adams was a very well-known member of the community," he said.
Charles Lawson, also a West Side resident, worked for Adams for several years. "When he opened his store, he wanted a kind of host who was a movie buff; someone who could pick movies for customers," Lawson said, adding with a chuckle, "I have fantastic taste in music."
Lawson brought in foreign films and art films which encouraged people who like good films to become customers. Adams also hired a teen-ager who loved Disney films and allowed her to order the children’s movies, Lawson said.
"Mark knew nothing about movies, but he was an incredible business man. He enlarged the store three times."
Adams employed some very innovative marketing strategies, Lawson explained. "For a while Mark charged 99 cents for a video. His policy was that anyone who joined when the price was 99 cents never had to pay more than that.
"If someone came in asking for a movie that was not in the store, that person would get a free movie rental. But that rarely happened because Mark would buy 50 to 100 copies of the hottest movies. At the end of the month he would sell them for 75 percent of what they cost him. He didn’t care because he had already made money on the rental.
"When the movie Pretty Woman came out, Mark had his pretty blonde daughter stand on the corner dressed in a replica of one of the outfits that Julia Roberts wore in the film. It was like a billboard advertisement," Lawson said.
"Everyone liked Mark. He was just a sweet, friendly guy who built up good will."
For Lawson, those years working for Adams were "like Camelot — big and wonderful."
Adams opened his first video/electronics store on the corner of Oakland Street and Bridge Avenue near the train station when he was still in college studying electronics.
According to Lawson, the rent was too high so he bought the other building on Shrewsbury Avenue around 1982. "It is my recollection that there were only two other successful African-American store owners on the West Side (at that time)."
In the short span of time between 1982 and 1991 when Adams died, he expanded the business to two locations and had a list of videos that included foreign films, artsy films, mainstream movies, children’s videos and games. His innovative marketing techniques drew people to his store from far and wide. But his main customer base were the people from the West Side who knew that he would have what they wanted at a price they could afford.
"Adams started the store from nothing," Gough said. "He had gotten some insurance money and that’s how he opened his first store, the one near the train station."
Gough has a lot of space in the Broad Street store. He occupies 2,200 square feet with an additional basement where he still does electronic repairs. Once all of the videos are moved to the Broad Street store in about two weeks, the store will have about 2,500 tapes in stock, Gough said.
He explained that First Union Bank owns the Shrewsbury Avenue building and plans to sell it. "Whoever they sell it to will have to do extensive renovations.
"I felt it would be better to merge the two stores, rather than subject my customers to the renovation process."
Although parking can be a problem in Red Bank, there will be plenty of parking behind the Broad Street store. "And we have a game room and two soda machines," said Gough.
Gough plans to continue in Adams’ footsteps, running the store with a neighborly touch. Although his price for videos is not 99 cents, it is still low at $1.60 for older movies and $3 for the new ones.
"I will even deliver," he said, "to disabled people or elderly people, or just to local people who can’t come to the store for one good reason or another."
Gough feels that the move has worked out well. "I’m happy about the move because I see people from the West Side coming back. It’s like pulling the whole family back in one spot.
"We are still a mom and pop kind of operation. My wife works here, so do my two sons, my two daughters and my in-laws.
"People just don’t like change. We’re still the same people."