Local Video Store Still Thriving After 18 Years

While major video rental chains, such as Blockbuster and Hollywood video, close hundreds of stores across the nation, Chet's Video continues to thrive.

With more than 500 customers visiting this charming Essex Street shop each week, you have to ask yourself, "What is Chet's key to success?"

Chet Strout opened the store bearing his name in 1992 with one main goal in mind -- to make the video rental process an enjoyable and personal experience for the customer.

"We want to make sure our customers feel great coming in and leaving our store," Strout said. "We want them to like coming here."

Strout's commitment to customer service has not wavered over the last 18 years and he said  is a major factor in the success of his business. The store's customers are not known by account numbers. In fact, Strout and his staff greet most patrons by first name.

"We wanted it to have a real mom and pop feel," said Strout, who lives above the store with his wife Carrie, daughter Melissa and son Brian.

In addition to the personal touch, Strout provides his customers with a wide variety of promotions, discounts and one-of-a-kind products.

For example, customers receive two free rentals when they sign up at Chet's and one free rental after every 10 rentals. Also, customers receive free "movie theatre-style" popcorn with every rental. And who could forget about the wide variety of candy by the pound? Or the old-fashioned root beer and raspberry lime rickey's with Chet's name on the label?

But Strout credits others for much of his success.

"We've always had a good crop of employees here and the customers are great," Strout says.

Like most other video stores, Chet's stiffest competition is Netflix, a subscription-based service that offers video rentals by mail or online video streaming. However, Chet's Video does not seem to feel the effects of this industry power struggle as much as some of the larger rental chains.

"I think people are spontaneous and may not be in the mood to watch a movie they ordered via the Internet a few days ago," Strout says. "They want to have a place where they can pick out a movie to watch that day.  And, perhaps more importantly, they still want to have a destination to go to and maintain that sense of community."

Chet's Summer Movie Picks

• Shutter Island
• The Book of Eli
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• A Single Man
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians
• Green Zone