Video Rental Store in Mercer County Still Going Strong

Do you still have any stores in your town devoted to movie rentals? For 99 percent of you, the answer is no.

But in Hamilton, Mercer County, residents have the same option they've been relying on since the year 2000.

The idea sounds archaic, but at Video Express in Hamilton, their main business is renting out DVDs and video games. And business is still strong, despite the death of shops like Blockbuster Video, and the rise of instant-rental options such as Redbox and streaming services such as Netflix.

"We have a lot of good customers, loyal customers," said owner Ben Pasqua. "There's customers that could go other places...but they come here. They say they want us to stay around, so they come here."

And Pasqua offers a personal touch that customers can't get from a DVD kiosk or On Demand selection.

"So many customers - they even have my cell phone," he said. "I get more calls on my phone than a doctor."

And he picks up. One year, he even helped a few customers with a purchase on Christmas Day, even though the store was closed.

The rise of streaming, though, was a concern at the start. So Pasqua found other ways to generate sales over the years. Today, video game rentals account for about half of the business, and they bring in a good amount of money by offering a video transfer service, such as VHS to DVD.

Pasqua said lately, there's been "no concern" over revenue. And he's not going the way of Blockbuster anytime soon.

Now he's interested in teaming up with a local pizzeria to offer joint dinner-and-a-movie delivery.

"It couldn't hurt," Pasqua said. "I say we should try it out on a trial basis at least."

Several Google searches by New Jersey 101.5 managed to come up with only one other true DVD rental store in New Jersey that actually picked up its phone and acknowledged its existence.

Nilesh Maheshwary, a manager at Fetch a Flick in Jersey City, said loyal customers are the only reason the store is "still alive." Business now is definitely not what it used to be, but the store, which used to be named JC Heights Video, is surviving.

Do you know of any other stores like these in New Jersey? Let us know!