AFTER HOURS: All-delivery video store brings films to customers

Philadelphian Steve Gallo hopes to become "the Domino's of the video business" with his four-month-old all-delivery video store. Gallo said that his store, Video Express Enterprises, is the only all-delivery video rental outlet in the city. The store delivers popular movies to residents in all parts of the city -- except the north and some parts of of West Philadelphia -- from noon to midnight seven days a week. Customers phone into the store and one of about five employees provides them with a selection of available titles from a computerized list. If a customer is unsure about what they are looking for, Gallo said, the employee will go over each film available until they decide. The store also offers "adult features without causing the degredation of a neighborhood," Gallo said. Gallo or one of his employees delivers the movie and picks it up when the customer has finished with it. Gallo said he started Video Express Enterprises, based in a small office in southwest Philadelphia, with money from his own pocket. He said he realizes that his charge -- $3.99 plus tax per video -- is a little more than many other video stores charge. But he said he believes his store will be successful because it allows customers to stay at home and have their movies brought to them. The business caters mostly to "busy people and people with transportation problems," he said. Gallo said his business did well during the summer months. Ron Watkins, a manager at the Video Library on 40th and Locust streets, said he does not see Gallo's video delivery service as a threat to his store. "People like to come in and browse," Watkins said, adding that "a lot of times the box sells the movie." Gallo's store currently carries popular releases, and Watkins said he expects that customers will be drawn to video stores with more varied collections.

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