Gymboree to Close Winnipeg Stores

Gymboree across North America are set to close after going into bankruptcy.  Once again an American company saddled with debt from a ill conceived take-over struggles and fails and takes the Canadian wing down too. Many times the problem striking at the U.S. part of the company don't affect that Canadian division but it doesn't matter. Linens and Things was profitable in Canada but got shut down anyways.  Other times the U.S. parent sacks the branch like Sears and Blockbuster did to extract cash from them.

Toys R Us was one of the few times the Canadian branch was able to split off from its closing parent. Whatever home for the 49 Canadian stores vanished with the bankruptcy and decision to shut down all stores continent-wide. In Winnipeg that means Gymboree at CF Polo Park and St. Vital Centre are destined for closing out sales.

CF Polo Park as well as St. Vital Centre have still not filled their Sears spaces. It is possible they are both holding out for a Nordstrom or Simons location. However, that might be a long wait as many retailers watch the markets carefully.

As far as Gymboree goes, the spaces are of a size that should see new tenants. And their children's product lines are covered well by A Children's Space or Gap stores. There is a Gymboree Play and TMusic store along Kenaston but it has been a separate company since 2016 and is unaffected.

In the aftermath of Christmas, expect a few more closures of stores. It would appear many malls might have to look at other attractions for their locations aside from retailers.

Big Business Pot Stores in Manitoba

Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries is a major corporation in Manitoba albeit a Crown Corporation. The government of Manitoba knows that the federal government has set a deadline for legalizing marijuana and they know they can't drag their feet forever. The Pallister Conservatives are caught in a quandary. They morally don't want to legalize but can't remain with a ban if the country won't prosecute usage. They didn't want to simply let Liquor and Lotteries take over the whole thing, another moral quandary, because it would against their business principles. Instead, we get this hybrid system where the Crown has the monopoly on distribution and instead ships out to big private stores.

The government doesn't really want to work with mom and pop businesses. The initial roll out for all this is for big corporations like Loblaw's, London Drugs, Shopper's and others to get the first crack at the licenses. Municipalities get to decide if they even want a store in their area. Presuming there are licenses left over then maybe a mom and pop store can apply. However, it is possible that one or a few companies could simply get licenses all over the province and then the government says that it is enough. Only problem is if the companies that gets the bulk of the stores aren't even based here then profits on sales are funneled out of province.

The minister in charge seems overwhelmed with his portfolio and wasn't even aware this was a problem. He was dismissive of one store wanting to be able to retail in Brandon saying it doesn't cover Manitoba. Why would a small business worry about the whole province when it wished to serve its local community?

To put this in perspective, it is like when they video rental business got started. Mom and pop stores abounded. They were in charge of sourcing their own material and setting up their own retail business. The movie industry was regulated via the censor and classification board of Manitoba but business was allowed to buy from who they wanted and sell where they wanted.

Now pot is different in that local communities can say no to a store plus zoning will keep them away from schools and only adults can enter them. However, after that, why does distribution have to be done by the Crown? Can't the province regulate distribution as well as retailing? Why own any part of it? The system in place now is like if the province was responsible for all the videos coming into the province and distributed them and they only let Blockbuster sell them. What? How is this good for small business?

 I sympathize with small business people on this one. They have been at the forefront of moving this along and now big corporation are moving in and saying only they can do this.

The NDP is not much help in this. Their solution is distribution and retail should all be government and union controlled. No business at all, please. Were they in government they'd probably nationalize and unionize production as well.

The Conservative complain even today that federal Liberals are anti-small business. Well, the feds left the pot in their corner and what do they do? They went big corporation and big government on it.

To do this right, the government should simply allow wholesalers and retailers know they will be regulated, taxed and expected to obey provincial and municipal laws on age, zoning, security and separation of a store from food, liquor and cigarette retailing. There should be no restriction on number of licenses. Let the retailers sort it out.

Defunct Video Stores of Winnipeg

Music Traders became home to Movie Village after it closed

The first video rental store in North America came in 1977 in Los Angeles when 20th Century Fox was in financial trouble. Despite the blockbuster Star Wars released in the same year, some studios were bleeding money because of older and decaying movie theatres and audiences who were turning to TV in greater numbers. To combat this at the behest of Magnetic Video, 20th Century Fox released 50 older films for the Betamax and VHS rental market.

This was not a cheap form of entertainment. In 1977, JVC introduced the first VCR for home use which included the ability to record for 2 hours. The cost was just under $1500. In today's dollars, it would be like a family spending $5500. Sony's Betamax released in 1975 was also priced in the $1500 range. The early movies available like Bridge on the River Kwai and Butch Cassidy had to ordered from a catalogue and were not inexpensive. Blank tapes were $20 or over $70 in today's dollars and movie tapes were $50 to $100 each which in today's dollars meant movies started at over $150 and up!

It is easy to see why the rental market for videos was the way to go. It was very expensive for the early adopters. I remember seeing a Betamax machine in 1979 at a friend's house. It was a huge box and worth a down payment on a home during those years. And that is no exaggeration. I recall not being impressed by the movies. None were new and I was not familiar with Hello, Dolly! or The King and I except seeing them at Rainbow Stage. Like a lot of people at the time, I longed for Star Wars.

In my house we only got cable and a colour TV a few years earlier.  Videon arrived in Winnipeg on the west side of the Red River in 1968. We had a black and white TV at the time. The screen wasn't huge but the cabinetry around it was. Cable even at $5 a month was a lot for my family so we didn't pick it up until late 1971. We only got a colour TV in 1973. It was only a year earlier that pretty much all prime TV from the U.S. was broadcast in colour.

My family would not be the first to get a VCR. However, the availability of videos and places to rent them sort of reached a critical mass around 1981. It was Christmas that year and in 1982 that many people got as a family gift, a VCR. For my family it was 1982 and for me the main reason was so I could see Star Wars which was being made available for the first time as a rental.

It was in 1981 or 1982 that the first video rental place in my neighbourhood on Academy Road near Lanark Street opened. The store was inside what used to be a sporting good store owned by present Royal Sports owners.

Video Zone on Academy Road had one wall of Beta tapes and the other wall had VHS. For some time, I believe you could even rent a Betamax to watch your rented video. Not sure when Adi's arrived on Academy Road but I thought a year or two later. Multiples of certain video stores started to arrive until there was well over a hundred and perhaps just under 200 store renting videos if you eventually included adult and 7/11 stores.

I am going to list as many of the defunct video stores by the street and cross street as I can. I am not going to remember all of them at all so will require assistance from you the trusted reader! Any details on the store will be appreciated as well. Expect this to be updated often.

Academy Road:

Video Zone: Lanark Street. Early arrival to the video rental business.
Adi's Video: Oak Street, one of a number Adi's.

Autumnwood:

Windsor Video: 1069 Autumnwood 

Britannica:

SIR Video: Later Rogers Video

Corydon Avenue:

Just New Releases: Lanark Street at Corydon Village Mall
Adi's Video: Tuxedo Village Mall

Dakota:

Bill's Home Video: At Meadowood. Now a Liqour Mart across from St. Vital Centre 

Goulet:

Goulet Viideo: 145 Goulet...now a Goodwill.

Grant Avenue:

Jumbo Video: Kenaston Village Mall which was replaced by a Rogers Video.
Rogers Video: Kenaston Village Mall across from Superstore at Grant
Blockbuster Video: Grant Park Shopping Mall
Blockbuster Video: Charleswood Shopping Mall

Henderson Highway:

Adi's Video: At Martin Street

Lakewood:

Jumbo Video: Later Blockbuster Video at 12 Lakewood
Country Video: 35 Lakewood Southdate Centre...now a Pet Valu. 


Osborne:

Movie Village: Rosyln Road. Huge selection and one of the longest lasting at that location before moving next door to Music Traders

Blockbuster Video: Wardlaw...now a Snap Fitness.

Marion:

St. Boniface Video: Beside Hair Passion 

McLeod:

Rogers Video - McLeod between Gateway and London

Meadowood:

The Video Superstore (TVS): Later best Sleep Centre
Video Den
Adi's Video
 
Portage Avenue:

Movie Gallery: Garfield Street. Now Gooch's Bike Shop

Roblin Boulevard:

Rogers Video: Charleswood Square at Dieppe Road
Pick-A-Flick: Between Sparrow and Dale...later to Forest Park Mall (Charleswood Mall)
Video Den: Sparrow and Dale strip mall after Pick-A-Flick

Springfield Road

Pick-A-Flick - Springfield and Raleigh
Blockbuster - Springfield and Henderson

St. Mary's Road

Bill's Video - Across from Tim Horton's  

Westmount:

Adi's Video: 414 Westmount 

Redbox Canada Closing all Locations

Just announced today is Redbox will be shutting down all Canadian locations. Last day for rentals will be February 13 and returns back by March 5.

Like Blockbuster, the American owners saw no future in Canada And so ends any national organization renting DVDs in Canada.

Treehouse, Bulk Barn Locate to Old Video Stores

Rogers Video old location Kenaston Village

Blockbuster Video old location Portage Avenue

Many of the old Rogers Video and Blockbuster Video locations were picked up quickly by retailers as well as Snap Fitness.

There were a few larger locations or awkward locations that have been waiting some time to be filled.

In quick succession, two old old video store locations have found tenants.

The large Rogers Video location in Kenaston Village Mall is soon to be a location for Bulk Barn. It is sort of full circle for that space as it one held a grocery store. I believe it was a Family Fare which held its own for many years against its larger rival across the street due to a strong Sunday traffic. That end when Superstore was not allowed to open Sundays.

Eventually, once that exclusive day was gone, the store closed and a renovation and expansion put a Giselle's in place. Giselle's is gone as well from Winnipeg and what has replaced it is the First Glace Aesthetic Clinic.

The old Rogers was fairly sizable and Bulk Barn will have a roomy space appreciated by those who might want to combine their Superstore, Harvest Bread and bulk shopping.

One last note on Kenaston Village Mall is the new arrival Papa Murphy's in the old Academy Florist location. The take and bake pizza restaurant now has two locations in the city.

The old Blockbuster location in a former store on Portage Avenue near Deer Lodge Hospital is another large and somewhat awkward location. Despite having parking, the space has sat empty till now. No longer. Treehouse Furniture has moved their location on St. James Avenue in the Polo Park area to this building.

Treehouse Furniture probably will benefit from cheaper rent and to be honest, better recognition from the street.

It has taken a while but nearly everyone of the old Rogers and Blockbuster have been re-tasked and in the end, some of what has gone up instead has been quite excellent.

Seasons of Tuxedo - Kenaston Village

Assiniboine Credit Union Kenaston Village

Assiniboine Credit Union Scurfield Blvd

They were tiny and I at some point, it was expected that they would merge into a bigger location. I am referring to Assiniboine Credit Union.

It was only a few years ago that credit unions across the province started to consolidate. The banks had left them a lot of openings as they were closing branches all over. However, the credit unions needed additional strengths to capitalize and that is why merger mania took place.

Since that time, we have seen much large credit union locations merge. Now, Assiniboine has decided to take the plunge and close two of its smaller locations in south Winnipeg at Kenaston Village and in the Whyte Ridge Shopping Centre.

The location that Assinboine Credit Union wants to locate to is the Seasons of Tuxedo site. This had been reported on long ago but it is only now that we are hearing an announcement. Apparently, they were taking a wait and see approach first to see how fast the development would proceed and how successful. The new location will be 5,700 feet and once open, the other branches will close.

Seasons of Tuxedo presently is anchored by IKEA and Cabela's but Structube and River City Sports are amongst other stores are now open.

Fat Burger opens on August 8 and that will fill the last restaurant location in a building where Subway, Taco del Mar and Pita Pit.

A Shell gas station is well under construction beside the Mr. Lube at Seasons of Tuxedo. Piles are being driven in close to that site for another retail complex as almost all spots elsewhere are leased.

The site where the future Lowe's Home Improvement has not been touched. It is uncertain what the wait is about as plan approvals did go through the city.

As some businesses locate to Seasons of Tuxedo, other malls will have to figure out what to do with some of their new open space. Kenaston Village now has had the former Rogers sit empty for more than a year. They will soon loose Assiniboine Credit Union as well.

The absorption of the old Rogers and Blockbuster sites has been fairly good although some problem locations continue to plague real estate agents. Innovative thinking is probably required. For example, old movie theatres in Winnipeg were converted to retail and entertainment sites in Winnipeg. It is hard not to think that some solution is forthcoming with these expansive old video store. And if not, sub-dividing them seems to be in order.

Kenaston Village has to think about how they fit into the future.

The next wave of store announcements is coming soon. New restaurants as well

The big question for businesses is where to locate. There are now several viable options out there and for some, it is a wait and see attitude. We still don't know the impact of all the Targets just yet, especially the brand new ones. Will it affect traffic patterns dramatically? Polo Park could be even busier when the new Target is up at the stadium site.

In late summer, there may be a renewed surge of activity as businesses make the choice of where to invest.

Redbox and Coinstar in Canada, Scotiabank ATMs in 7/Eleven

It is surprising that no mention is being made of a significant change in ATMs at 7/Eleven. They were the exclusive domain of CIBC but now Scotiabank machines are being moved in coast to coast. Now, normally this would not seem a big deal but the fact of the matter was the CIBC ATMs doubled for President's Choice bank from Superstore.

Score one for Scotiabank but fewer choices for those with PC or CIBC cards.

***

In the last several weeks, Coinstar has been moving their machines into Safeway. It is a coin counter that charges just under 12% to process your collection.

Now if this seems steep, look at this from the U.S. page of the company and not the Canadian page:

 For Coins to Cash™ service, we charge an 9.8% processing fee in the United States, a 11.9% processing fee in Canada, and a 8.9% processing fee in the U.K. Some retailers or financial institutions may choose to subsidize this fee. Coin counting is free in select regions of the U.S. if you convert your change to a nationally-branded gift card or eCertificate.

Holy high interest rate there, Robin!!

No option for free in Canada, no subsidy from retailers in Canada and no gift cards either. What a racket. With 600 machines in Canada, you figure that somehow they could get sponsors to make this free and at least put gift cards in place.

Just another example of Canada seems to be gouged on price of services and goods.

Safeway seems to have scored a deal though. In addition, DVDPlay is being yanked out of Safeways in favour of Redbox DVD which Coinstar owns.

Redbox charges 50 cents higher in Canada than the U.S.

The hits keep on coming. It remains to be seen whether the selection is better in Redbox than DVD play.

The aftermath of Rogers and Blockbuster closing continue to be felt.

Famous Dave's Opens at Reenders Square

Reenders Square circa 2009, now home to Famous Dave's


Winnipeggers have waited a long time but Famous Dave's opened this week at Reenders Square in the east part of the city. The rib joint is 6,300 square feet, just a shade under Fargo, North Dakota's location but larger than some of their more recent opening.

The closing of Blockbusters locations saw several business enterprises jump at the chance to grab the open spaces.

The partnership between the Winnipeg's Tribal Councils Investment Group (TCIG) and Famous Dave's is likely to see further locations in Winnipeg. Each restaurant costs about $3 million to build and have just over 100 employees. Famous Dave's has indicated they want 400-500 locations in Canada. That would be quite a feat since they are just under 200 restaurants so far in the U.S. in 35 states.

The hours of the location run 11 am to 12 am week nights and move to 1 am on weekends.

Expect to hear a swirl of additional announcements of restaurant openings in the city in the months to come.

On many people's list is Outback Steakhouse, Hard Rock Cafe and a TGI Fridays outside of the airport location.

Rogers Closing Video Stores in Winnipeg

It sucks if you rent videos or games. The choices are becoming limited to small kiosks for videos and nothing really for games.

We keep hearing this is the wave of the future and that it is old technology, etc. However, as I have pointed out a few times, to access this technology, you need a high speed connection to the Internet, computer or electronic device or cable and satellite connection. Not to mention a subscription to a content provider like Netflix. Video on Demand on cable and satellite is still too limited in its offering, is expensive and has no extras.

People may say: So what? I get all my stuff with free downloads. Well, we have seen that those avenues are being blocked more and more. Could be a time soon when we might not be able to access things nearly with the convenience or lack of consequences.

Rogers Video Plus are the latest to announce a series of closings. Four of their stores are being shut down. It is part of a 40% reduction of their stores in Canada.

If you live in certain parts of the city, there are no larger video rental places left at all. It can be a good thing for an independent willing to stick it out but we have even seen the owner of Movie Village looking to sell.

Here are the stores that are closing.

1853 Grant Ave
Winnipeg, MB R3N 1Z2
(204) 488-4969

756 Pembina Hwy
Winnipeg, MB R3M 2M7
(204) 452-1234

823 McLeod Ave
Winnipeg, MB R2G 0Y4
(204) 654-1234

47 Goulet St
Winnipeg, MB R2H 0R5
(204) 237-7496

There was a point made here that if you wait a while, a DVD will be sold for around the same price as a rental. While that might be true of DVDs, it isn't true of games that they can be purchased so soon for so little. The rental places truly made it possible to check out a game and decide if it was worth it.

I know one thing that has happened since most of the video stores have closed around me: I have not watched as many new or older movies.

Blockbuster is Dead, Long Live the Local Video Store

The aftermath of the closure of Blockbuster has been rather swift moving in Winnipeg. Most of the old locations have been grabbed by other retailers, restaurant operators and service industries. This is in stark comparison to the sad state of affairs in the States where so many Blockbusters stand empty.

Snap Fitness has been grabbing up many of the old locations. In the Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza, Pet Valu has grabbed up the old Blockbuster location leaving their smaller spot in the mall. I think it will fill fast.

Farther up in the north part of the city, one of the Blockbusters is becoming Famous Dave's.

The Portage Avenue location near Grace Hospital remains empty.

Still, within one year, it is likely every empty Blockbuster will have found a new tenant.

But what of video stores in general? Has online crushed the bricks and mortar store?

Well, not quite. Simply put, Netflix does not carry everything and often lacks new stuff. The price maybe good for the service but you still need high speed Internet and delivery devices such as computer, cell phone, tablet or TV.

Netflix has come a long way but the truth is that some areas may never have fast reliable high speed Internet to receive high definition signals.

As for cable and satellite: Their selection of stuff on Video on Demand is limited, the price is high and the means to select what you want to watch is not the best.

So, what has the closure of Blockbuster really meant? Well, according to the Free Press, it has meant additional business for existing video stores. In short, local business has benefited the most.

In essence, it is Back to the Future for the rental business. Prior to the Rogers, Jumbos and Blockbusters, the video rental market was very local. For years, I used to get my videos at Video Zone on Academy Road.

There was a shakeout later in the 1980s and most of the smaller shops closed up shop.

Now the shakeout is the bigger shops.

What has happened is that the over capacity in the market has been removed.

While Netflix and other downloads are having a huge impact, the DVD market is still viable. The very cheap DVDs in Safeway are still not as plentiful or diverse as a well stocked store.

It is doubtful that a major industry player would look to do what Blockbuster did and have a national chain of stores. The margins are too low.

However, until highspeed downloading arrives everywhere and the price and selection are there, most people will not toss their DVD players out.

The market needs local players. A new business opportunity has arrived.

One suggestion to local business out there. Charleswood and Tuxedo need both a hotel, a video store and if we are to believe some seniors, A Sal's.

Blockbuster Closing

Many were closed earlier. The rest are going now. Blockbuster US basically threw Blockbuster Canada under the bus and used its American debts. The the new owner made it impossible for the remainder of the company to be sold by trying to deny them the use of the Blockbuster name.

It is another example of how the Canadian arm of a U.S. company can do better than the U.S. part and get dropkicked regardless. We have seen this with Linens and Things, Office Depot and now Blockbuster.

The St. James Blockbuster was doing a brisk business but no real additional sales as yet. Expect blow-outs soon.

The only large national chain of movie rental place that exist now are Rogers Video.

Google announced that they will be renting movies via Youtube this past week. However, there is not many new movies and it is a very small library at the moment.

Netflix continues to operate and with a better price. However, they too don't have much in the new category yet either.

While many people say that downloading or Video on Demand is what everyone wants, the two formats often don't have a huge library, offer new material quickly and can be expensive.

It looks like the end of an era but is it one that might turn out to have less choice and cost more in the end?

Blockbuster Video

We recently saw Blockbuster Video in the Osborne Village close down. It has been something happening across North America although at a slower pace in Canada than the U.S.

Now, we hear that Blockbuster in Canada is being forced into bankruptcy due to missed payments from the parent company. The Canadian operations were used to help finance the U.S. ones. We have seen this type of issue before where Canada's operations were doing better and then the U.S. went under and took the Canadian part of the company down too. Linens and Things Canada was profitable but the U.S. closed the while company including in Canada rather than spin off the division.

I have mentioned the problems for Blockbuster here before. However, their situation in Canada has not been as dire. This is in part due to our slower Internet and that companies such as Rogers and Shaw who are determined to make companies like Netflix super expensive by extra billing if you download high def Titanic from them.

Shaw, Rogers and the other Internet providers are acting in their self interest by pricing their video on demand services at the forefront and pricing everyone else's out of reach.

The advent of video kiosks also has had an impact on Blockbuster. Safeway stores in Winnipeg have them. However, I have found they don't carry a large selection and not as convenient to return since you actually have to enter the store to put the video back in the kiosk. Perhaps if there were a lot more and a large selection, this would be a good option. As it is, it isn't as an attractive option for people who shop once a week at the store.

In recent months, the greed of the Internet providers and the inconvenience and lack of selection of the kiosks has made me appreciate Blockbuster a lot more.

It remains to be seen what the chosen delivery system for entertainment will be. The Internet providers want it to be video on demand but their ever greater gouging turns people off and makes stores like Blockbuster a good option.

It is funny how I think my options for watching a movie at home have become more limited rather the other way around.

Netflix and Television Downloads

The continued makeover of how people get their television and other entertainment is being re-written by Netflix. CBC has made available many of its programs for downloads to PCs, Macs, iPhones and iPads, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray players.

The rub is that companies like Rogers will do anything to cripple Netflix by raising Internet fees so that people will choose on demand and pay per view from cable. Essentially, Rogers wants to make Netflix more expensive.

It remains to be seen whether Shaw and MTS will jack up their rates as well.

A big fight is brewing but technology is changing so quickly. The first casualties in the States have been companies like Blockbuster but if companies like Rogers try to kill the new services by acting as gatekeeper, the federal government might not have any choice but to step in.

Blockbuster and Netflix

Follow-up on the DVD rental racket:

Blockbuster has announced that they will have a new unlimited plan for $9.99.

Someone else wrote about the caveats.

1. No new releases. This is the biggest drawback. I think a lot of people would have been willing to pay as much as $20 or $25 for a plan that included new releases. But, since Netflix streaming likely won't have new releases either, this may not be a dealbreaker.

2. No Blu-ray discs. Since we got a Blu-ray player, it bugs me that Blockbuster charges a buck extra for Blu-ray rentals, since buying Blu-ray discs is only marginally more expensive. Not including even older movies on Blu-ray in the monthly pass seems kind of cheap. Annoying, but not a dealbreaker.

3. You can only have one disc out a time. This is the least onerous restriction, I think. Number of discs is a big deal for DVD-by-mail services like Zip.ca, because you often have to wait a long time for each disc to arrive in the mail. That's not an issue with Blockbuster. Once you're done watching one movie, you can go get a new one that same day.

I still think rental kiosks outside their store may be more lucrative.

All of this is being done in anticipation of Netflix operating in Canada. While the U.S. company does not plan on renting videos via mail like Zip.ca, it intends to stream videos directly to homes.

This was Rogers reaction:

Shortly after the online movie rental company Netflix said it would begin offering service north of the border, one of Canada’s largest Internet providers sliced the amount of data its subscribers can download each month.

On July 21, two days after Netflix announced it would offer a Canadian version of its wildly popular and industry-disrupting service starting in the fall, Rogers Communications Inc. changed two of its Internet plans: While prices are not dropping, new users of Rogers “lite” and “extreme” Internet service now have a stricter download limit.

Consumer advocates have spoken out against Rogers’ move, saying it was an anti-competitive action designed to cripple the business model of a potential rival in the online video rental world by making users less able and willing to stream movies online, which take up a lot of bandwidth and could lead to “overage” charges for exceeding capped limits. On the “lite” package, users are charged $4 per gigabyte to a maximum of $50 in one month.

Yeesh, talk about trying to kill the competition while lining your own pockets.

Blockbuster still has opportunities if Netflix doesn`t go with mail and Rogers chops download limits. However, they have to start offering even more competitive service.



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DVDPlay at Safeways

DVDPlay started putting kiosks in Safeway in July of this year. It was a about a week later that the one in Charleswood went on the blink. Thinking that it might be just that location suffering technical difficulties, I went to Tuxedo. Ditto for not working there.

At $1.79 for a new movie, renting from DVDPlay is probably the best deal in town. However, no one will be able to take advantage of it if they are never working.

My understanding of the kiosks is that they carry limited titles of new movies and only new movies. I can see renting from the kiosk only being convenient if you happen to be in a Safeway, happen to see the new title you want available and most importantly, find that the machine is not broken. Another thought in terms of convenience is that you can't return the video 24 hours a day. It has to be during Safeway hours and you have to come inside the store.

My feeling is that if Blockbuster wishes to compete more effectively, they might want to put machines just outside their stores that are well stocked, don't require memberships, that are 24 hours a day and are cheaper. The inside of the store should be better devoted to new and used DVD sales as well as other entertainment products.



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