There may be something new (and perhaps mystical) in your mall, around the block, on your roof, or near the checkout line of your supermarket.
The ubiquitous DVD kiosk company, which made its name by offering movie rentals for just $1 a night, has been testing higher prices in about two dozen markets around the country.
The shopping mall, that wonderfully iconic, most American of places, is changing, and the economic downturn bears a lot of the responsibility. Store names that were once ubiquitous have disappeared. Vacancy rates are seriously high. And just about everybody is discounting merchandise and looking for new ways to connect to consumers.
Brick and mortar are no matches for cheap kiosks and the Internet. If you hadn’t already gathered, it appears that Netflix and Redbox are taking control of the three-way battle for movie rental customers. The latest sign: Movie rental giant Blockbuster plans to shut down nearly 1,000 stores by the end of 2010.
Faced by a challenge from $1 DVD rental kiosk operator Redbox, movie-rental giant Blockbuster has introduced its own line of $1 DVD Blockbuster Express kiosks. Sign up for a Blockbuster Express e-newsletter to receive a free rental.
Redbox, the $1 per day DVD rental kiosk business, is a runaway success. It’s perhaps experiencing even more of a recession boom than mail-DVD-rental service Netflix. Redbox kiosks will soon be opened in supermarkets like Albertson’s and Kroger, bringing its total number of vending machines to 22,000 nationwide, up 61 percent from last year. All [...]
Redbox is cheap and fast. Netflix has an enormous selection and great customer service. Blockbuster gives customers the most options. So which is the best value? The answer is: None of the above.
