Family Video is now relocated and open for business at 165 S. Second St. in Fulton.
Family Video is now relocated and open for business at 165 S. Second St. in Fulton.
Family Video is now relocated and open for business at 165 S. Second St. in Fulton.
The former Family Video location on the corner of W. Broadway and Route 48 is being remodeled to open an Auto Zone location in Fulton.
FULTON, NY – If you’ve been traveling around the city of Fulton lately, you may have noticed a few changes.
The building that once housed the movie rental store Family Video at 104 W. Broadway is now under construction.
The former Family Video sign at the corner of W. Broadway and Route 48 tells customers that the business has moved to 165 S. Second St.
Joe Fiumara, executive director of the Fulton Community Development Agency, confirmed that Auto Zone is currently renovating the building on W. Broadway to suit their needs to open a store location in Fulton.
The building was designed and constructed by Family Video in 2009 after demolishing a church that once stood on the property.
The Family Video store officially opened in 2010.
After constructing a unique building in a location Family Video officials were once adamant about and maintaining seven years of successful business, many have questioned why the store has relocated.
Fulton’s Family Video manager, Tom Loughrey said the decision was left to the store’s parent company, Highland Ventures Ltd.
“They own the property, and Auto Zone basically made a good enough pitch to lease the building,” Loughrey explained. “So we began looking for a new location in the city that would suit our needs. We never considered leaving Fulton, we really wanted to stay in town.”
The location at 165 S. Second St. proved the most ideal considering it had once been home to a different movie rental store, Movie Gallery.
“I actually prefer the lay out of this store. Since it was once a video store, it does really well to fit our needs. We’ve had some growing pains, but we’ve already made some slow but sure progress here,” he added.
The location needed some general cleaning up and figuring out a significantly smaller parking lot were a couple of the setbacks Family Video staff needed to adjust to.
“We plan to continue making progress and look forward to making this new location our own as well, doing our own part to help the community in this area,” Loughrey added.
Auto Zone representatives did not respond to attempts to contact for comment regarding the store’s anticipated opening.
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SAD THEY TORE THAT BEAUTIFUL CHURCH DOWN FOR VIDEOS & AUTO PARTS?
SAD THEY TORE DOWNTOWN APART.
AND NESTLE”
NO ONE IS HAPPY UNLESS THEY ARE TEARING THINGS DOWN.
IT WAS A MUCH BETTER WORLD WHEN THESE BUILDINGS WERE UP!
So let’s see now. I think it was eight years ago the City Leaders OK’d a plan to tear down a piece of Fulton history to put up a store. At that time it was pointed out that we already had two Video stores that couldn’t make it. It was pointed out also that there were plenty of vacant buildings in the City to house a Video store. They instead that the location was the one they wanted. So the demo of a Historical Church and two houses happened. Now they are moving across the river. Saying they like the layout of the building better than the one they built. If you look at the West Side along Broadway there are 8 empty stores out of 12. I wonder why? Now I’m pretty sure any new business will ask for and receive a Payment In Lieu of Taxes(PILOT) agreement and others will be paying full taxes. I am against PILOT agreements and also I was against the DEMO of the Church to put up a Parking lot(video store) we had empty buildings back when that store was being planed. I’m not against new business but if you give one a tax break someone has to pick up the difference. I’m wishing Family Video good luck in their new location just wish they hadn’t DEMO’D a piece of Fulton History .
I wanted to comment on this as I was on the City Council as 2nd Ward Alderman (2008-2009) where Family Video was located. The Council voted to change zoning on the houses I believe, to be consistent with the zoning of the church property, which allowed the store to be built. This was the property they wanted, as it was on a busy local intersection. I’m not aware of any other locations they were interested in at the time. I love local history and this was a very difficult decision for me, actually the toughest decision I had while on the Council. We had a couple of local residents speak against the church coming down, very passionately, and I initially voted no on the zoning change, along with Jay Foster, which held up the project. I had the realtor go through the project with a local resident who has a background in economic development. The bottom line at the time was this property had been on the market for a while with no other interest. The church members wanted the sale (although they were saddened to see the building come down). Another factor that I believe limited the interest in this property was a lack of parking. Considering all this I reluctantly changed my vote and I was there watching the church come down. I don’t know why Family Video is moving, but they are still in business and their property will house another business so that is not abandoned either. I think everyone wants to retain our old buildings, but without private development dollars, this isn’t going to happen. Decisions like these are not easy for elected officials and sometimes there’s no good answers. Thank you.
Good news. I stand corrected it doesn’t appear that the Family Video parent co. that owns the property had been receiving a PILOT. They were paying the full taxes on the property. Somewhere around$11,000 which is good. It still doesn’t ease the pain of having a piece of Fulton History gone for ever. Sometimes you have to say “Is the almighty dollar worth the price of losing a piece of History” Maybe the City should have taken it or the great CDA or IDA and brought in a developer to use the building for other use. I know hind sight is the best, but when these ideas are brought forth at the time it is not hind sight. I at that meeting said this “I will let you tear the church down if when you fold you rebuild it as it is.” Sometimes you have to stand your ground even if it isn’t the popular one amongst your colleagues. I know because many times I stand alone.
Well put Mr. Guyer. Bottom line we have another business.
Fulton has been tearing down buildings since after WWII when the woolen mill was abandoned. Fires and re-development destroyed downtown and now houses and buildings that can’t pay their property taxes are demolished. You have to wonder whether the “City with a Future,” has one.
My family has been using Family Video since they opened years ago, two weeks ago I was over by the ‘new’location and decided to stop. I never made it into the store because they make usuage of the side door, which had blown trash along both sides of the door going in. I took one look and left, if they are going to downsize to another location they might want to make sure the customers don’t have to walk through trash to get in. It truly looks like this is one step from closing, are there any plans to make it more appealing than having the back parts of shelving seen?
They still have video stores? Wow, Fulton is about 5 years behind the times. Blockbuster stores went under in 2013. Between Redbox and online content, video stores are akin to Polaroid camers. Fulton’s economic development committee might want to look long term rather than this year’s tax payment.