Small Business Success Awards 2001
Harry LunaDirector's Video
831 South Broad Street
Trenton, NJ 08611
Phone: 609-393-2253
Fax: 609-695-5600
Roger S. Cohen, Harry Luna, Mari Galvez
Harry Luna has owned and operated a video store in Trenton for more than a decade. After an uphill battle to purchase his current location, Director's Video is considered an icon in a neighborhood where other retailers have long retired their entrepreneur hats. While other business owners are boarding up their windows and doors, Mr. Luna is expanding his operation to cover more than 5,000 square feet. Since opening his doors in 1991, Mr. Luna has grown his business to employ 3 people besides his wife and himself.
The video business is competitive by nature and even more so with large conglomerates in his backyard competing for the same customers. Mr. Luna has diversified his inventory and primarily caters to the Latino population. Many of the movie titles are dubbed or subtitled in Spanish. In addition to movies, Director's Video offers a wide variety of electronics, music, cellular phones, pagers, and munchies.
The NJSBDC at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce in Trenton, serving Mercer and Middlesex counties, is proud to nominate Director's Video for the NJSBDC Success Awards 2001. Mr. Luna has worked with the center for many years and the staff has a long-lasting respect for the services he provides for the community of Trenton. As President of the Latino
Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Luna and Mari Galvez de Cerdas, Director of the NJSBDC regional center, have worked together to provide programming and services to the Latino community in Spanish. Ms. Cerdas says, "Harry is very committed to the community and strives to ensure that others are successful. Trenton could afford more business people like Harry."
For his entire adult life, Harry has been an advocate of the advancement of the Latino community of Mercer County. Some of his activities have included extensive voter registration; food for the poor and toy drives. He sits on several boards and commissions to which he has been appointed in Mercer County. He is one of the six original founders of the Mercer County Latino Chamber of Commerce. Through the Chamber and as President, he has enlightened and brought to recognition the Latino businesses in the Mercer County region. His goal is to empower Latino businesses, which in turn will help in the advancement of the community it serves.
