Flicks On Campus changes reels; new ownership

Adam F. Jarrold Arizona Daily Wildcat Todd Corrigan, owner and operator of Flicks On Campus and Walls of Fame, speaks to a customer about their poster order. Corrigan, who has been juggling the two businesses for eight years, is selling both and moving to Denver.

Aside from a few cosmetic changes to the store, students can expect the same titles and prices from the new renters, said the co-owner of Director's Chair Video, Richard Tapper.

Tapper paid an undisclosed amount to Todd Corrigan, owner of Flicks, 910 E. University Blvd. Flicks has been at its location on University Boulevard since 1991.

Corrigan, a former University of Arizona student, said he had to solicit people to buy the store and had a hard time selling it. He said he is happy with the deal, but did not get as much money as he had hoped.

That can be attributed to a slowdown in business for Flicks in recent months that was caused by a number of factors, he said.

One factor was the "unexpectedly slow summer," this year, Corrigan said. He said business was down 25 percent from last summer.

Another factor, Corrigan said, was that poster sales were down at Walls of Fame, a poster and framing business which is located inside Flicks.

Corrigan attributed the $10,000 decrease in poster sales from the previous year to the United Parcel Service strike.

Corrigan said early in the semester he went home "nearly in tears," because there were no posters available for returning students. That day, he sold $300 worth as opposed to $1,800 the year before.

The posters, which were ordered in the early summer months had not arrived.

The lull in business, plus a feeling that it was time to move on, prompted the move, he said.

"All it takes is a couple of bad months, once you get behind the eight ball it is hard to get caught back up," Corrigan said.

Tapper said location, clientele and price were the reasons he decided to buy Flicks.

Director's Chair tends to appeal to educated movie-renters and should fit right in at the University Boulevard location, Tapper said.

Flicks' last day will be Oct. 14. Director's Chair Video will set up shop the following day.

Flicks started out at 1043 E. Sixth St. in 1985. Corrigan said the booming video market and his love of movies led him to invest $25,000 to start the business.

Walls of Fame started out on North Fourth Avenue in the summer of 1990, and moved to its location at 929 E. University Blvd. the following summer. Since July of last year it has been located inside the video store.

Walls of Fame will remain at its current location, Tapper said.

Director's Chair plans to make minor improvements to the store, computerize the renting process and generally spruce up the place, Tapper said.

"This whole thing is a risk. Our only problem will be this first year, we will be scrambling to get things going. I hope we will have it together enough by the summer," he said.