Boxed out: Video stores losing ground
Redbox kiosks are popping up across Chicago, but many residents still have few rental options (story after the map)
When Mea Robinson-Davis recently needed a few foreign films for her class about Latin-American authors, she didn't want to wait for Netflix to mail her the movies.
Instead, she and her husband ran to the Borders in Oak Park to purchase the films. There isn't a Blockbuster, Hollywood Video or Redbox kiosk near their home in West Garfield Park, Davis said.
"You don't find them in this ring around West Garfield Park," said Davis, 36. "Usually we end up driving a lot to the suburbs."
West Garfield Park, North Lawndale and South Lawndale, including Little
Village, are in an area with few to no movie rental options. The space
between Roosevelt Road and 47th Street, west of Western Avenue to the
city-suburb line, could be considered a "rental desert," a RedEye
analysis of Blockbuster, Redbox and Hollywood Video locations found.
More
of these "rental deserts" could pop up around the city if Blockbuster
decides to close more stores in Chicago. Blockbuster announced last
month it may close as many as 960 stores nationwide. Blockbuster
spokesman Randy Hargrove called this news a "worst-case scenario" and
said the company is evaluating which stores will stay open.
There
are currently 24 Blockbuster stores in Chicago and 69 in Cook County,
Hargrove said. He couldn't say how many stores have closed in Chicago
in the last few years, but a check of a phone book showed 26
Blockbuster locations in Chicago in April 2008.
Hollywood Video,
too, has seen a decrease in its Chicago store numbers. There are four
Hollywood Video locations in Chicago, according to the company's Web
site, down from 13 locations in April 2008, the phone book showed.
Locations in Calumet Heights, Clearing, Garfield Ridge, Hyde Park,
Irving Park, Lakeview, Near North Side, North Lawndale and Roseland
have closed in the last 1½ years, RedEye found.
Meanwhile,
Redbox is moving quickly into Blockbuster's and Hollywood Video's turf.
There are 111 Redbox locations--some with multiple kiosks--in Chicago.
Redbox,
which is based in Oakbrook Terrace, opened its first Chicago kiosk in
August 2006, Redbox spokesman Chris Goodrich said, and now Chicago is
the No. 2 Redbox market behind Houston.
Goodrich said Redbox
sites depend on the locations of their retail partners, including 7/11
and Jewel. Redbox plans to open about 30 more kiosks in the Chicagoland
area by the end of the year, Goodrich said.
But Blockbuster
won't go quietly. Blockbuster plans to install about 2,500 DVD vending
machines nationwide by the end of the year, Hargrove said.
He
didn't know how many of these machines would be based in Chicago but
said "that eventually will be an area of growth opportunity."
Share this entry
Recommended for you
1 Comment
The Parking Ticket Geek said:
Nice piece Tracy. This could almost be a story for the business section, but I like your angle on it. The map really works well. Great work.
Leave a Comment?
What your comment will look like:
said: