New Store Opening for Movie Lovers

BY BLAIR WHITE

Bob Sigman has recently found himself on a side of videos to which he is unaccustomed. Sigman is the new owner of I Love Movies in Piedmont Village on Route 600.

Even though Sigman has extensive marketing and movie experience, it took some time for him to decide to open a video store.
After he called several friends, including one trip to Philadelphia to visit a successful independent video store, he says, "I came back
with this overwhelming [feeling to] do this."

Six short weeks ago, Sigman began calling vendors to outfit the store, as the appearance has changed drastically from the previous
video store that occupied the space. Sigman proclaims, "I’ve never been a retailer in my life, by the way." But, he has plenty of experience in the entertainment industry.

In 1984, Sigman left his job in the package goods industry at Bristol- Myers pharmaceutical company to become the first employee of Good Times. Good Times initiated the distribution of affordable video cassettes for rentals and sales.

Sigman then went to work with Worldvision, the largest television syndicator, which was owned by Spelling Entertainment at the time.
Worldvision wanted Sigman to figure out if video sales could be a viable part of their operations. Sigman, along with the team of eight
that he hired, built the company worth more than $30 million within three and a half years.

Eventually, Blockbuster bought all of the Spelling companies. But it was in 1993 that Sigman got his big break when Blockbuster bought Republic Pictures and asked him to be the president and CEO of the studio. "Republic was a studio having trouble with its identity," he said. According to Sigman, his strengths are marketing and reorganizing companies. Given Republic’s situation, he was the man for the job.

Classic western movies made up much of Republic’s library. He says that the 1940s and ‘50s stars he interacted with "opened up a whole new world for me." Sigman even became friends with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans during his years with Republic Pictures, as well as developing relationships with many other stars.

In the late 1990s, Viacom bought out Blockbuster, and in 2000, Republic was merged into Paramount, ending an exciting segment of
Sigman’s career. Sigman then ran a dot-com for Aaron Spelling and Duke Vincent for several months.

His love of classic western culture did not end when he left Republic, as he eventually worked for U.S. Farm and Ranch, the
publishers of the magazine called Cowboys and Indians. He also founded his own company called Chuckwagon’s West, which ventures into sales like Sigman’s own blend of "Cowboy Coffee." A CD that he compiled called "Cowboys ‘Round the Campfire" was nominated for Best Western Album of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists.

Sigman and his family relocated to Virginia in 2002.

Sigman has molded the store based on his knowledge of industry marketing and what he thinks a video store ought to be. He has
painted the store bold colors chosen by his wife, Susanne. He has also developed his own easily decipherable packaging for movies.

The collection of videos the store carries will be tailored to what Sigman’s customers like. At opening the store has about 3,000 titles.
Sigman will incorporate his personal collection of 2,500 movies as hedetermines what is in demand, in addition to new purchases.

Availability should not be a difficulty for patrons. Sigman plans to stock 14 to 21 copies of new releases when they come out.
The store also now carries games, concessions and even DVD players for purchase that come with one free rental each month for six
months. New and previewed movies will be available for purchase.

A unique service that the store offers to members and non-members is CD buffing, which will remove scratches and dirt from CD surfaces so that they will again function well. Sigman put a lot of thought into the store’s name, I Love Movies. He says that he wanted to create, "an opportunity to talk to people
about movies."

The store will likely have a grand opening sometime during the week of July 11. More information, such as the membership application can be found at the store’s Web site, which is still under construction, ilovemoviestoo.com. You may download membership forms from the Web site