“Disgusting,” he said. “This (blank) isn’t for me.”
Now 84, Tomaino is tired of the adult video business, despite the money the industry has made for his family. Years ago, in Butler County Court, he fought legal battles that cost him tens of thousands in lawyer fees after one of his clerks was charged with selling videos to a minor.
It’s time for Tomaino, who has owned VIP Video for 37 years, to walk away, His business is the last adult-only store in the region, he said.
“Peter Tomaino is flying the coup,” he said. “He’s gone.”
For the next several Saturdays and Sundays, when his wife, Barbara, doesn’t have medical appointments, Tomaino is holding a going out of business sale. After the inventory is gone, the doors will close.
All merchandise will be at least 50% off, he said.
“They will have a parade in Hamilton,” he said, referring to the reaction of him closing his controversial business. “I think I have had enough. I don’t want to work anymore. I have enough work at home.”
Curt Pennington, mayor of the tiny village, said he doesn’t understand how the VIP Video has remained open this long. He rarely sees cars in the parking lot.
“It won’t hurt my feelings to see it close,” he said, adding most of the village’s residents are “glad” it’s closing.
Monty Lobb, executive director of Christian Business Partnership, an arm of Center for Christian Virtue, called the closing of VIP Video “a victory for families and businesses” in the county.
He said addiction to porn is “very serious and it always has been.”
Tomaino plans to move the tools and parts from his previous job as a handyman out of his garage and store them in the building on Walnut Street.
He has “junk” in his garage while his Lexus is parked on the driveway of his residence in West Chester.
“That doesn’t make sense,” he said with a laugh.
There used to be two VIP Video stores in the area. But in 2021, the city of Hamilton bought the building at 402 Main St., which housed the VIP Video adult video business, for $190,000. The city bought the properties at 402-404 Main from Thomas Wilson, who bought it months earlier from Tomaino for $160,000.
Tomaino, a native of Italy, said he has tried to sell the building on Walnut Street for years. Five years ago, he listed it for $100,000, then $160,000 last year and he anticipates listing it for $200,000 next year.
Before opening the adult store, he worked as a handyman and TV repairman for years. Then in 1995, when the cost of repairing a TV or VCR was more than replacement, that business died.
Then the adult video business flourished.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Now, he said, it’s too difficult to find reliable employees and purchase merchandise from China suppliers, especially with the tariffs.
He understands some people don’t like or patronize an adult video store. But he doesn’t agree with those who protest against such businesses.
“The door is open, and it says, ‘come on in,’” he said. “You can come in, and if you don’t like what you see, go away.”
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