And cut! A video store is getting ready to wrap up its business – for good.
Video Zoo, the home-video store currently located at 3508 East Tremont Avenue, is closing after 25 years of business.
Closing the video store was a decision made by owner and founder Sal Pascale, who had been losing business for the last few years because of business competitors, less shoppers and decreased pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the store’s vicinity.
According to Pascale, bootlegging, downloading, online purchasing and streaming have also had a negative impactonly on his business.
“Before advanced technology, before the Internet was such a powerful tool, Video Zoo remained successful, even if the business only broke even at the end month – which was fine because this is my love and my passion, and has been for my whole life,” said Sal.
“Once the business began declining and started losing money, that’s when I knew Video Zoo was in trouble.”
Pascale’s journey involving Video Zoo begins even before Video Zoo had it’s own store and was officially deemed a business, when he sold beepers and cell phones at various Bronx locations in the 1980s.
Sal opened his first store on Randall Avenue and East Tremont Avenue in 1989. His store would remain in that location for the next nine years before moving to Lafayette Avenue and East Tremont Avenue in 1998.
Pascale’s business fell on some hard times. In 2000, his store. along with five other businesses. were destroyed in a fire. After the 9-11 attacks in 2001, his next move was delayed for another year due to lost documents.
Finally, Sal moved his store to 3508 E. Tremont Avenue in 2002, where it has been located ever since. Now, 12 years later, Video Zoo is planning on closing its gates – forever.
The official date of Video Zoo’s closing is not yet confirmed, but according to Pascale, the store will close its doors to the public sometime between the first week and the middle of November. Until then, going out of business sales are in full swing with many videos priced at $5 and under.
Amidst everything that he faces in the near future, Sal still remains hopeful, positive and most of all, thankful for the opportunities that this business has given him.
“This store’s closing marks the last of a dying breed,” he said. “Video Zoo had a great run, and I feel extremely privileged to have been connected with the people I met working here, whether it were customers or employees.”
