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FIAT of Pioneer Valley News Article |
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South End gay-owned biz closes its doors (Praise God!)
Issue Date: 5/24/2007, Posted On: 5/24/2007 Linda Rodriguez, SouthEndNews.com Boston Longtime adult film store, The Movie Place on Tremont Street, is closing its doors for good on May 31. The store, which carries adult movies for a predominately gay male clientele, is one of the last gay-owned and gay-themed storefronts on the street and has been in that location for more than 20 years. “We’re going because the neighborhood has changed,” said owner Mark Adams, who lives on Chandler Street. Adams says he moved the business to the South End at a time when the neighborhood was a hub of gay and lesbian activity, but that over the last five years, the gay community has been moving out — and taking their business with them. “It’s not leaving, it’s pretty much gone,” Adams said. “[The neighborhood] certainly isn’t what it was when I moved in here 20 years ago, even five years ago. It’s just changed … If you go up and down Tremont Street, you’ll find very few businesses that are catering to a gay clientele.” In the last few years, storefronts on and around Tremont Street that once featured rainbow flags and gay-themed goods have disappeared: LGBT bookstore We Think the World of You closed more than two years ago, followed about a year later by gay-themed gift store, Tommy Tish. “There’s really nothing left, except the Eagle,” Adams said, referring to the bar on Tremont Street that has a significant gay following. |
“Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know,” Adams said, adding that suburban transplants and young couples with children tend to be the neighborhood’s primary demographic. Though he says he never heard complaints directly about his business, which sometimes featured gay-themed pornographic magazines in the window, he did say that through the neighborhood grapevine, he understood that some neighbors were not pleased with the business.
The changing neighborhood landscape was compounded by the fact that many more individuals are buying and renting adult (and non-adult) films over the Internet, Adams said, and not frequenting the stores. “It’s too bad, but these things happen,” he said. “It’s time to move on.” Right now, he says the store is having a liquidation sale on its goods, but that the store is almost empty. “The only thing that we have quite a bit left of are VHS movies, which nobody seems to want anymore,” he said, laughing. “People have abandoned VHS, sort of like the gays have abandoned the South End.” Adams, who bought the storefront space 10 years ago, sold his unit this year; from what he understood, he said, an interior design company will be taking over the new space. “Something more in tune with the neighborhood,” he noted. Ed. note: Normally, links to articles go directly to the source web site. However, Bay Windows' web site is considered offensive, so the article is reprinted here. |