New Owner of Video Underground Aims High

When Josiah Simmons found out that his boss, Evonne Wetzner, was selling her business, at 385 Centre St. in Hyde Square, he wondered if he could buy it.

At the time, eyes wide open, he polled all of his friends and family to hear their thoughts. He was surprised, he said, that they all thought it was a good idea.

Maybe that was a testament to the person, not the business. A soft-spoken and sincere man in his late 20s with hair and beard that are a throwback to the late 1960s, Simmons seems to be a cultural enigma, a business man who is interested in community above business, although perhaps he is the embodiment of Jamaica Plain's most unique cultural attribute, inclusion at the cost of treasure. As life imitates film, he is akin to the George Bailey character in the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" who puts his own priorities behind those of the community.

With two other employees who also date to Wetzner's tenure Simmons' work to fight off the encroachment of online video subscription companies and live streaming is a difficult task. And as if it wasn't job enough, he also has to compete with pirates who find it easy to download copyrighted materials and do so without compunction. He does say, however, that many people have volunteered their time to help him fight the good fight.

Wetzner opened the store in 2002, just as Netflix began to get a foothold in the market. That foothold has since become a stranglehold. Once a business at the pinnacle of consumer film distribution, video stores have been in serious and steady decline for at least a decade, victims of the virtual world and ubiquitous supermarket style marketing.

According to both Simmons and Wetzner, The Video Underground is Boston's last remaining neighborhood video store.

"It's cool being the only one, but it's definitely intimidating," Simmons said.

The store's ability to last this long is a testament to the strong shop-local mentality that characterizes Jamaica Plain. In the shop's front window, bold white lettering proclaims, "Netflix isn't local, shop JP."  

Although he has owned the shop for less than a month he has the experience of an old hand and he reports simply that sales are "slow and steady" and below last year's levels. He says that since the transaction was announced many well-wishers have been in to congratulate him, but not surprisingly, few have walked out with rentals.

There is a pervading sense in Simmons' story that the store, as it currently exists, is moribund. So far he has been busy with bookkeeping and the organizational details of ownership transition, but he says that if the store is to survive it will be due to the changes he makes, and not business as usual.

Simmons purchased the store outright from Wetzner in a 100 percent cash deal, so there is no note to pay off, but with a one year lease that began on Sept. 1, at $2,500 per month rent and an additional two year option to renew, Simmons says candidly that he will be pleasantly surprised if he can exercise the option.  

"I took it on as a challenge because I think that it's important for this to be here and I feel like I know enough people to get the word out and get people back here," he said.

He noted that the store has screenings once a week in the backyard, something he's been doing for a couple of years and is gaining some steam, now attracting about 40 to 50 people. He's also planning to use a small screening room inside the shop that has gone unused for the last few years.

Additionally, if he can turn the shop around, he has thought about the possibility of leasing additional space next door in the building at the former site of Revolution Bicycle, which recently moved a few doors down to 371 Centre St. He has visions of showing movies in a much bigger space with a snack bar...a neighborhood place that sounds like it could be JP's answer to a movie theater.

Simmons feels strongly that the store has more to offer than simply videos and his hope is tied to those intangibles. He has been exploring ideas for competitive subscription pricing, social events, relationships with film studies programs at local schools.

"My strategy is to make people more aware of the store, make it more affordable...make late fees less intimidating or eliminate them...get people to sign up for subscription service," he said.

One idea is to have a subscription service for which the fee is reduced with every referral. The problem, Simmons says, is getting from point A to point B. Transitioning from a flat $5 fee per video to a monthly rate will pay the store only a fraction of what it now makes unless he can substantially build the customer base.

As for the coming of Whole Foods to Hyde Square, Simmons is optimistic that it will bring increased foot traffic, and hopes that he can get those new pedestrians to walk in. Wetzner, a longtime JP resident, was also interested in going on record in support of the grocery giant's move into Hyde Square. Both new and old owners noted that the foot traffic in Hyde Square took a big hit when The Milky Way Lounge moved to The Brewery complex and they look forward to new life in the square at all times of day.