Riviera Adult Superstore

by Constance Penley

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In a time of vanishing video stores, Santa Barbara, California’s Riviera Adult Superstore is thriving. For the video stores issue of Media Fields Journal, I interviewed owner and manager Nick Neuburger to learn why his store is doing so well. Nick tells us how he organizes the space of the store, selects the right videos for his customer base, and adapts to changes in the industry, technology, and cultural norms. He also reveals some of the things that have most surprised him about running an adult video business.

Nick Neuburger has been a frequent guest in my class on pornographic film that I have been teaching at UC Santa Barbara since 1993. Because we are so close to the heart of the adult industry in the nearby San Fernando Valley, my students are able to hear from a wide range of guest lecturers, including performers, directors, studio heads, web mistresses, adult industry trade journal reporters and publishers, and leaders of the Adult Industry Medical Foundation and the Free Speech Coalition. But Nick always brings the issues home to my students by letting them learn about the business of adult right here in our town.

Video editing and formatting:
Anastasia Yumeko Hill, Keith Boynton, Lan Xuan Le


Constance Penley is a professor of film and media studies and co-director of the Carsey-Wolf Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.