HE Simmons family took over Monty's Restaurant in 1997, hoping that their shared hospitality experience and high standard of service would lead them to success.

The formula worked. And so, when they opened Double W Home Entertainment last month, it was with a little less trepidation than when they opened that first business seven years ago.

"We were pretty sure it was a viable concept," explained Emma. One-third of the partners involved, she serves as administrator to both businesses.

"Outside of that, it's all in the training and that goes for Monty's as well as here. It's important for the owners to be on site. You're not going to have a business running just as you want it, unless you're there.

"We make sure our staff maintain the level of service that we want and we also work hard to create, we hope, an enjoyable environment so that they enjoy working here; so that they want to do a good job for us and the customer."

Rounding out the trio are Emma's husband, Walter, and his identical twin, Wilmont. All three have strong backgrounds in hospitality ? Walter in restaurants, as a bus driver and a taxi driver; Wilmont in the post office; Emma at the Bermuda College, where she studied hotel restaurant management before becoming food and beverage manager.

"Walter's been in the service industry since he was about 17 years old, and one of his dreams was always to own his own restaurant," she explained. "We all bring different experiences to the table and the three of us, as a team, have always worked very well together. That's the key. Even though, initially, I always thought those two would gang up on me."

In reality, the votes are equal, "even though Walter is married to Emma", said Wilmont.

"And even though you two are twins," his sister-in-law countered. "We were side by side, all the time at Monty's throughout the first three-and-a-half years.

"Walter and Wilmont always wanted to have something else. They had a few ideas, and then the question became having the time to do it. Getting the right space, and matching the space to the idea we had.

"They've always known this was a viable business. Look at the competition. We knew we didn't want to open another restaurant. We've got a well-oiled machine over there right now and this will, obviously, have its own set of challenges."

That the business could prove viable wasn't enough to give the idea the final nod. That decision was only made after one of the brothers suffered poor treatment at another company.

"Walter and I only really decided to get into it after he went in to one of the stores to buy some DVDs. He went to one of the cashiers and asked if they had a line for people who were just buying. She said: 'Yeah. Down there', and pointed to the end of the line. He put them back on the shelf, came home and said: 'That's it. Let's try to do something'," Wilmont shrugged. "And so we did Double W Home Entertainment."

A clue they were headed in the right direction came in the form of a set of statistics released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January this year. By that time, they had the concept in place and had found an appropriate location, but it was still reassuring to learn that the WEF listed Bermuda as having the most televisions in the world per capita; that the island housed more sets than residents. The WEF also found Bermuda to be the most advanced country per capita in terms of personal technology use.

"It was obvious to us that Bermuda is very advanced technology-wise but those figures proved it," said Emma. "We found the space on the first of January this year."

The research had already been done, completed by Walter online. A Canadian company was hired, and one of its employees flew to the island, examined the future Double W Home Entertainment site, and returned home to design it.

"They have it down to a formula, a fine art," Emma explained. "They hand you a turnkey operation, and then they leave. We had the container shipped down and one of their employees came and built the store over a weekend. Everything you see in this shop came out of one container."

Once the interior was completed and staff trained on the software and in the store's operations, the Simmons were left to run the business on their own.

Added Emma: "But we do have support for the next six months ? over the phone, by e-mail ? if we have general questions for those little problems that sometimes arise."

At the moment, Double W Home Entertainment employs one full-time staff, two full-time summer students and two part-timers. The design of its interior is appropriately cinematic ? the service counter boasts a confection-filled glass front, the smell of popcorn, inescapable thanks to a theatre-style maker.

"It's a nice, fun environment," said Emma. "It's clean. It's friendly. What we hope is that people will pick up their popcorn and browse around the store as they choose their movie. We want them to enjoy their visit as much as they enjoy the movie."

determined as the Simmons are, failing because of competition ? Leisure Time is the largest outfit in the City of Hamilton at present, and entrepreneur Lee White this week announced plans to open a similar business only a few feet away from that operation in the old Ice Queen restaurant ? is not a threat.

"We've been here only one week, and we've got over 700 members already," said Emma. "The response has been amazing. And because we're in the service industry, we know how to treat people.

"We want the visit to be as enjoyable as the movie because the movie is the same whether you get it from down the road or you get it from here. It's actually what happens in the store that makes the difference."

Added Wilmont: "We're not afraid of competition. Before Leisure Time opened up and even after they opened, there were three other video stores in the City of Hamilton and they were all doing quite well. On Court Street there were two exactly opposite each other and both were doing quite well.

"We will be selling TVs, home theatre systems, DVD players, games, DVDs ? we intend to go into the home entertainment market. We want to let our customers know that they have a place where they can go for one-stop shopping for home entertainment."

Double W Home Entertainment is located at 6 Parliament Street, opposite the new Atlantis apartments.

The store is open 10 a.m. through 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. through 7 p.m. on Sundays.

Older films are three-day rentals. New releases and games are two-day rentals, and cost $4. After ten new releases, customers receive the 11th free. Membership is free with photo ID and a credit card.