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Article Last Updated: Monday, June 02, 2003 - 11:34:00 AM EST
Reel life: Video-store owner is living her dream
By JASON LEFFERTS, Sun Staff
LOWELL Just inside the front door of Five-Star Video, the rental options look a lot like
Blockbuster's. My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Signs DVDs are in front. But it's what's behind them that makes Five-Star different from the local Hollywood Video.
On the racks are hundreds of videos of Asian movies. The shelves and carousels are jammed with films many Cambodian that range from romance to action. Five-Star is one of about 10 video stores in Lowell that specialize in Asian films.
At the center of this popular store is Robin Lunn, a 31-year-old divorced mother of two who came to the United States from Cambodia with her parents and four siblings.
Running a video store was never Lunn's aspiration she would rather own a convenience store and gas station but Five-Star has become a dream-maker for her. She makes her own hours, earns decent money and has settled into her little piece of the American dream with her family.
Robin Lunn, owner of Five-Star Video, learned business practices through the Cambodian American League of Lowell, then opened her own video store. SUN/TORY GERMANN
"It was my dream of having to own my own business. I wanted to be my own boss," Lunn said. "This way, I do a lot of thinking, but thinking for my own benefit."
Five-Star is most definitely a family affair. Lunn's daughters, Pauline, 12, and Kimberly, 7, hang out at the store after school. Her parents help at the store, working behind the counter.
Lunn opened the store in 1998, after learning business practices through the Cambodian American League of Lowell's microenterprise program. She was working at the organization and wanted to move forward and form her own business.
She took over the store at the corner of Westford and Stevens streets, and used loans from Cambodian American to overhaul the stock. She continued to rent American movies, but also spent thousands on Asian movies, catering to the neighborhood's large Cambodian population.
"Right away, she purchased this really struggling video store, and she converted it into a successful business. It's amazing," said Ratha Paul Yem, executive director of the Cambodian American League. "It's a good example of a businessperson understanding the needs of their clients and providing additional services."
Lunn and her family moved to Lowell in 1984 from a refugee camp in Thailand. Her family had lived in the Battambang province of Cambodia, but wanted desperately to leave the country.
"I had no choice over there. There was a lot of killing over there," Lunn said. "I left for survival."
Lunn has been back to Cambodia just once, last year, but she has strong ties to the country. She has more than 100 VCRs taping films in the country (the taping does not violate U.S. copyright laws, she said), and gets a consistent stream of new movies. Many are shown as series in Cambodia, so viewers are often waiting for the next part of a movie to come in.
While a video store wasn't Lunn's first idea for a business venture, it has become something she loves. After starting off with a series of 14- or 16-hour days, Lunn works a little less at the store, and every weekday afternoon leaves to pick up her daughters from school.
Five-Star may end up being the foundation of an empire for Lunn. She said if she can find a good spot for the convenience store she originally wanted, and a competent person to run the video store, she'd expand her interests.
"If I can find a good location, a really big intersection somewhere that makes a lot of money, I would do it," Lunn said. "I don't think I'd do it for somebody else."
Jason Lefferts' e-mail address is jlefferts@lowellsun.com .
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