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Our local video store went up for sale this summer. She wanted WAY more for it then we thought was reasonable. We did some reasearch and thought it might make a good fit for us. Coincidentally, our theater has two side storefront offices and our long-time tenant of one of those storefronts recently passed away. So, we decided to go for it and start one from scratch. We cut a doorway from the side office into the theater lobby and, voila, we have a video store hooked on to our theater! We now have about 350 titles and the list is growing. Now we have movie patrons seeing our video store and video store patrons coming into our theater. Both go through the concession stand line so our concessions have increased as well.

Leeler

What distributors do you use to get your DVD's from? I have heard of a couple like Ingram and Baker & Taylor.

Well, we thought of using distributors but decided against them. This is a small operation and we just get them on Amazon or at WalMart and go from there. Amazon offers free shipping and have good prices so it isn't too big of a problem for us.

Wow, are you allowed to do that? Here in Australia video/dvd hire shops have to buy special copies of them because of the copywrite issues. All the dvds etc we buy in stores are for private home use only and cannot be used to rent out to people or face a HUGE fine. Maybe its different where you are...but I'd check into it before someone dobs you in.

Yes, we've checked into it. There is nothing that prohibits someone from buying a DVD and then renting it out to someone.

It is exhaustively discussed here: http://www.businessknowhow.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=496&whichpage=1

when we took over our first theatre it had a 4500 vhs collection and rental biz. It drove me crazy: collections, late fees, etc. Plus questions from mouth breathers like "Are you gonna get Bloody Woman 3"? I was so glad to sell it to the competition. ACould you say a few words about the difference as you see it now? I just passed a video store in NY and they had a "free delivery" sign!

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Well, from my perspective it is a great tie in with the theater biz, which isn't enough to support my wife and I and our elaborate lifestyle We do DVDs only and have them behind the concession stand/ticket counter. Late fees are a drag no matter how you slice it. However, we have elected to do a bonus if you get it in early, as well. We give them a $1 credit on their account if they get back the movie before we open the next day. It seems to be working, but I'm sure I'll have some stories as time goes by. We haven't even had it open a week yet, so we're just learning this as we go.