Video venture

New owner of Crystal Video knows
her store has to be different to
succeed

Anita Maddux’s foray into business
ownership would seem, on the
surface, a bit far-fetched.

By MICHAEL MOORE of the
Missoulian

One, the single mother of two knew
almost nothing about running a
business when she bought Crystal
Video from longtime owner Jace
Laakso seven weeks ago.

Two, she bought the business with
the money of others.

Three, the video-rental business
doesn’t exactly have a rosy future,
with satellite and broadband cable expected to decimate the market in less than 10 years.

"Well, it almost seemed to make no sense at all, so that somehow seemed right," said Maddux, who
does have a degree in fine arts and film and had worked at the store for nine months before buying it.
"I knew something about the medium, but not the business."

Despite the challenges, Maddux officially became the owner of the video store at the corner of South
Fourth Street and Higgins Avenue on Jan. 7. And then another challenge developed.

An hour after the deal closed, Maddux and her two children were preparing to cross the street just
two blocks down Higgins from the store.

Seconds later a pickup truck hit Maddux’s 10-year-old daughter, badly injuring her.

"Even I had to wonder at that point," Maddux said. "Everything was just chaos."

Fortunately, Laakso agreed to stay on and help out while the girl recovered, easing Maddux’s
passage into business ownership.

"We had a really nice transition," Maddux said. "Jace had been giving me a little more responsibility
for a while before the sale went through, and then he stayed and helped while my daughter was in the
hospital."

Even so, when Maddux recently got down to the business of actually running the store by herself,
she was a little stunned by the learning curve.

"I think I have done everything wrong at least once," she said with a laugh.

Things that seemed like no big deal when she only worked at the store – like college kids returning
movies late – now seemed more important.

"When I worked there I’d say, ‘Oh, no big deal,’ but as the owner I realized I couldn’t rent that movie
out again if I didn’t have it. I said, ‘Hey, that’s my kid’s orthodontic bill.’ "

Movie presentation, payroll, employee relations, all the little things suddenly seemed so much bigger.

"The thing is, there are thousands of details, none of which seem that important by themselves," she
said. "But if you don’t tend to them, they just avalanche if one of them goes undone."

Slowly, the day-to-day details have begun to fall into place, which has left Maddux the time to ponder
where to take the business.

"Everybody says broadband cable will do away with the standard video market in the next eight
years, so we are going to have to specialize more," she said. "If you want a mainstream Hollywood
movie, you’ll just dial it up on the TV."

To counter that, Maddux plans to move more heavily into movies that won’t likely be as available.
Right now, she has 8,429 films, but would like to see that figure grow.

"I’m trying to build the business on film as art," she said. "I’m also trying to rebuild our collection of
classic films. I can buy seven art films for the cost of one Michael Douglas movie."

To buttress that project, Maddux hopes to offer film discussion groups, talks by local filmmakers and,
possibly, classes in screenwriting.

Maddux also hopes to take her business online, offering art and classic films to movie buffs around
the state.

"With the Internet, suddenly you can do business anywhere," she said. "I realize that there are movie
rental places everywhere, but not all of them have the films we have."

Maddux has been working with local computer guru Steve Saroff on the store’s Internet site and
hopes to have it up in a couple of weeks. She plans to have her mail-out movie business running by
summer.

"I’m really trying to build a movie community online," she said.

Maddux also is pursuing the possibility of being a distributor for small, independent filmmakers,
including those whose films show in Missoula’s International Wildlife Film Festival.

"Really, I’m just looking at every possible avenue," she said.

Except one, perhaps. Maddux will not make her business grow by cutting her workers’ wages. An
advocate of the so-called living wage, Maddux is committed to paying her employees a decent wage.
Maddux’s five employees make $7.50 to $8 per hour.

"I’ve worked four jobs before just to survive, and I don’t want them to have to do that," she said. "I’ve
had to swallow hard to write those payroll checks, but I’m very sensitive to that issue."

Some might say the odds are against Anita Maddux – single mom, bad economy, dying industry and
so forth. She doesn’t see it that way.

"I can’t fail," she said. "I can’t let that happen. For whatever reason, I just know it’s going to work."

Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at [email protected].

http://missoulian.com/display/inn_business/biz01.txt