Advocate for indie stores calls it quits after 24 years
By Wendy Wilson -- Video Business, 5/1/2008
MAY 1 | In the end, feisty independent retailer Rod Eglash says there was no single factor that made his decision to finally leave the video business, but a number of them, personal and professional, stacked one on top of another.
Rod Eglash, with his wife Helen (r.) and daughter Michele, are closing RSE Video after 24 years.
"It has been a long and nice ride, and maybe the time has come to close in style and in honor,” Eglash said, explaining that he hasn’t taken a salary from the store in several years. “And we’re not going to leave any trail of bills; we’re not going to go bankrupt. Our goal is to break even in the liquidation.”
Eglash and his family will close the doors of Milwaukee’s RSE Video Discount Superstore next month. In operation since 1985, RSE has seen a 10% drop in revenue each year for the last three years, to $350,000 annually. The store offered movies, games and adult product for rent and sale.
Eglash’s daughter, Michele Roitburd, has served as the store’s general manager for the last 16 years.
Competition from Netflix, Blockbuster’s aggressive Total Access program and the availability of illegal downloads are among the external factors Eglash cites as having gradually eroded RSE’s customer base.
And then there’s the pricing on new releases by the mass merchants.
"They’re selling at Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy for $13.95 and $16.95 the first week of release, and then they go to $19.95 after that,” he said. “How do we sell under $19.95 when they cost us $19.50? All of this is impacting us in great measure.”
Eglash has long been an outspoken advocate for independents on the issue of pricing. He participated in the Fairness Alliance of Independent Retailers federal anti-trust suit against Blockbuster Video and the studios almost a decade ago. The suit, which eventually was dismissed with only Warner Home Video settling, argued that exclusive deals between the studios and Blockbuster hurt independent retail’s ability to compete in the marketplace.
Eglash also is critical of the level of support provided to businesses like his by the trade organizations of which he has been an involved member. President of the Wisconsin chapter of Entertainment Merchants Assn./Independent Dealers of Entertainment Assn. since 2000, Eglash said RSE might have benefited from a mail-order program being developed by IDEA to enable members to compete with Netflix, but that it came too late.
However, there are reasons particular to Eglash’s store and its operations that helped answer any questions about whether or not to continue. A new landlord raised the rent at RSE’s location of 24 years to $3,500 a month. And after 16 years as RSE’s general manager, daughter Michele wasn’t willing to devote time away from her family to a business that simply wasn’t growing.
At 69, Eglash concedes there may be other ways he would like to spend his time. He golfs, rides his motorcycle cross country and is interested in teaching and volunteer work from his first life in social work.
The Eglash family tried to sell the company outright, but there were no buyers. Instead, RSE began its liquidation sale in April, offering inventory, fixtures and equipment at a 30% discount. On May 1, the store’s contents will be further discounted to 40% off, with the doors closing sometime in June.
