Family Video Movie Club Inc. was an American brick and mortar video rental chain serving the

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and

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. The

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company was headquartered in Glenview,

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History

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. 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

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in 1978. The club originally charged a $25 membership fee and $5 rental fee, and later evolved into Family Video. Because competitor Blockbuster's main focus was larger cities, Family Video was mostly established in rural areas, suburbs, and small-to-midsize cities. 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 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 M ...

liquidated, making Family Video the sole-surviving video rental chain in the United States. In addition to its brick and mortar locations, Family Video branched off into other markets such as

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, 24-hour

fitness centers A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health ser ...

, cell phones, and

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. The company also sold new and previously used items online. Family Video expanded into the Canadian market in 2012.

Later years

In 2013, following the continued decline of competing video rental stores, Family Video formed a partnership with

Marco's Pizza 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 w ...

, 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 leases space to other retailers such as hair salons and fitness centers. 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. Rather than depending on the revenue-sharing model used by others, the chain bought and owned its movies to keep all the rental profit. In addition, it owns a fiber-optic network in the Central

region, called ''i3 Broadband'', as well as a small chain of fitness centers named ''StayFit-24''. In late 2019, the number of stores was reported to be almost 600, down from a peak of 800, but due to the

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, the chain was forced to close 200 stores in autumn 2020, with about 300 locations remaining. On January 5, 2021, the company announced all remaining 250 stores would close. It was announced the chain would become an online web-store only, offering new and used video sales along with Family Video branded merchandise i.e. t-shirts, coffee mugs and tumblers, hats, gym bags, key chains, water bottles etc. However, the website was closed at the end of March 2022, ending Family Video's business after forty-four years.

References

External links

{{Portal, Chicago, Companies Home video companies of the United States Video rental services Companies based in Glenview, Illinois American companies established in 1978 American companies disestablished in 2022 Entertainment companies established in 1978 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2022 Retail companies established in 1978 Retail companies disestablished in 2022 Economy of the Midwestern United States Home video companies of Canada Family-owned companies of the United States