Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Video rental |
Founded | 1978 |
Defunct | March 2022 |
Headquarters | Glenview, Illinois, U.S. |
Number of locations | 750+ (pre-2021) Online Web-store only (2021–2022) |
Area served | United States, Canada |
Key people | Charles Hoogland, CEO Keith Hoogland, President Eric Hoogland, Vice-President |
Owner | Highland Ventures |
Number of employees | ~7,000 |
Family Video Movie Club Inc. was an American brick and mortar video rental chain serving the United States and Canada. It was the flagship business of the family-owned company Highland Ventures, which is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois. [1]
In 1946, Clarence Hoogland founded Midstates Appliance and Supply Company. His son Charles Hoogland inherited the business in 1953. The company later became a distributor for Magnetic Video. [2] After getting stuck with a large inventory of excess video movies in the late 1970s, Charles got the idea of creating the Video Movie Club in Springfield, Illinois in 1978. The club originally charged a $25 membership fee and $5 rental fee. [3] The chain was later renamed Video Movies Inc. by the 1980s before becoming Family Video. [4]
Because competitor Blockbuster's main focus was larger cities, Family Video was mostly established in rural areas, suburbs, and small-to-midsize cities. [5]
In 2003, Family Video relocated its headquarters from Springfield to Glenview, Illinois. By 2013, Blockbuster had closed almost all of its remaining stores. By the end of 2016, Hastings Entertainment liquidated, making Family Video the sole-surviving video rental chain in the United States. [6] [7]
In addition to its brick and mortar locations, Family Video branched off into other markets such as real estate, 24-hour fitness centers, cell phones, and cable television. [8] The company also sold new and previously used items online. [9] Family Video expanded into the Canadian market in 2012. [10]
In 2013, following the continued decline of competing video rental stores, Family Video formed a partnership with Marco's Pizza, providing space for the franchise in many of its stores. The company used the partnership as a way to deliver video rentals with pizza orders. Family Video also leased space to other retailers such as hair salons and fitness centers. [11] [12] Unlike most competitors, Family Video owned the real estate housing their stores, helping the company avoid unsuccessful lease negotiations that led to the demise of Blockbuster, Movie Gallery, and Hollywood Video. [13] Rather than depending on the revenue-sharing model used by others, the chain bought and owned its movies to keep all the rental profit. [14] In addition, it owns a fiber-optic network in the Central Illinois region, called i3 Broadband, as well as a small chain of fitness centers named StayFit-24. [15]
In late 2019, the number of stores was reported to be almost 600, [16] down from a peak of 800, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the chain was forced to close 200 stores in autumn 2020, with about 300 locations remaining. [17]
On January 5, 2021, the company announced all remaining 250 stores would close, [18] [19] and the chain would become an online web-store only. The online store offered new and used video sales along with Family Video branded merchandise such as t-shirts, coffee mugs and tumblers, hats, gym bags, key chains, water bottles, and so on. [20] However, the website was closed at the end of March 2022, ending Family Video's business after 44 years. [21]
Pueblo is a Puerto Rican supermarkets chain. It has been one of Puerto Rico's major supermarket chains since 1955. Pueblo operates supermarkets in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms agreed upon in a rental agreement or contract, which may be implied, explicit, or written. Many video rental stores also sell previously viewed movies and/or new, unopened movies.
Blockbuster is an American multimedia brand. The business was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a single home video rental shop, but later became a public store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater. The company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster employed 84,300 people worldwide and operated 9,094 stores.
Rogers Plus was a brand name for the retail operations of Rogers Communications. It was formerly two separate brands, namely the Rogers Wireless chain of telecommunications stores previously operated by InterTAN under licence from Rogers, and the Rogers Video chain of video rental stores. In early 2007, Rogers retired the Rogers Video and Rogers Wireless brand names from its stores and re-branded them as Rogers Plus.
Hollywood Entertainment Corp., more commonly known as Hollywood Video, was an American video rental store chain. Founded in 1988, the chain was the largest direct competitor to Blockbuster Video until it was acquired by Movie Gallery in 2005. It ceased operations in 2010, when Movie Gallery declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Video Ezy was an Australian home video rental business that offered titles on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray, as well as console video games, for rent. At its peak in the mid-2000s, Video Ezy had over 500 company-owned and franchised video rental shops in the country, and owned 40% of the Australian video rental market after taking over Blockbuster's Australian operations. The company also expanded internationally into New Zealand and Asia.
Redbox Automated Retail, LLC was an American video rental and streaming media company, based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Redbox specialized in automated DVD rental kiosks, and also operated transactional and ad-supported streaming video and television services. From 2022 until its liquidation, Redbox was a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.
George Atkinson, was an American businessman, credited as the father of the storefront video rental store in the U.S. Atkinson established the first major chain of video specialty retailers, The Video Station.
Movie Gallery, Inc. was the second largest movie and game rental company in the United States and Canada, behind Blockbuster Video. The company rented and sold Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and video games. Founded in Dothan, Alabama, the company was headquartered in Dothan, and later in Wilsonville, Oregon.
Jumbo Video is a Canadian brand of franchised video stores. The brand is owned by Le SuperClub Vidéotron, a division of Quebecor Media, which maintained corporate-owned stores until 2018.
Erol's can refer to any of three companies, all founded by Erol Onaran, a Turkish immigrant to Virginia, United States.
Hastings Entertainment was an American retail chain that sold books, movies, music, and video games and functioned as a video rental shop. As of 2016 it had 126 superstores, which were mainly located in the South Central United States, Rocky Mountain States, and in parts of the Great Plains and Midwestern states. Hastings Entertainment stores were also located in many college towns in the U.S. Hastings Entertainment was headquartered in Amarillo, Texas.
GameCrazy was a video game retailer based in Wilsonville, Oregon. It was a subsidiary of Movie Gallery. The stores were often, but not always, located adjacent to Hollywood Video rental stores.
The Record Bar is a former U.S. retail music/entertainment store chain founded in Durham, North Carolina. The company eventually grew from a single location to 180 stores. One of the largest music retailing chains, it was located primarily in the southeastern United States. From 1960 until the late 1980s, the owners were the (Barrie) Bergman family of Durham. In the mid-to-late 1980s, Record Bar began opening large new stores and remodeled Record Bar stores under the Tracks name, to better reflect the changes taking place in retail music merchandising.
Marco's Pizza, operated by Marco's Franchising, LLC, is an American restaurant chain and interstate franchise based in Toledo, Ohio, that specializes in Italian-American cuisine. The first store was opened in Oregon, Ohio, on Starr Avenue. It was founded by Italian immigrant Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco on February 18, 1978.
West Coast Video was a chain of video rental stores founded in 1983. The company became defunct in 2009, but some existing stores continued to use the West Coast Video banner and run independently. As of 2024, there are currently no West Coast Video stores open in North America.
Minit Mart LLC is a chain of convenience stores operating in South Central and Western Kentucky, northern Middle Tennessee, eastern Wisconsin, the Kansas City metropolitan area, Northeast Illinois, and Northeast Ohio. Its corporate offices are located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the chain consists of 231 locations scattered around the United States.
John Antioco is an American businessman, an 8-time CEO for iconic American brands including Circle K, Taco Bell, Blockbuster Video, TGI Fridays and PF Chang’s. He is now chairman of the board of directors at BRIX Holdings LLC and the Managing Partner of JAMCO Interests LLC.
Blockbuster, colloquially known as the Last Blockbuster, is a video rental store in Bend, Oregon. In 2018, it became the last Blockbuster store in the United States, and in 2019, it became the world's last remaining retail store using the Blockbuster brand.
Family Video has announced its decision to close 200 of its stores...