Family Video Movie Club Inc. was an American

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms a ...

chain serving the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The family-owned company was

headquartered Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top ...

in Glenview,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

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 Magnetic Video Corporation was a home video/home audio duplication service that operated between 1968 and 1982. History Magnetic Video Corporation was established by the co-founder Andre Blay, an American film producer in 1968 with Leon Nichols ...

. 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

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

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 Glenview is an incorporated village located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, approximately 15 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop. Per the 2020 census, the population was 48,705. The current Village President is Michael Jenny. Geography ...

. 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

locations, Family Video branched off into other markets such as

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, 24-hour fitness centers,

cell phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

, and

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

. 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 was ...

, 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 Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fine ...

and fitness centers. Unlike most competitors, Family Video owned the real estate housing their stores, helping the company avoid unsuccessful

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

negotiations that led to the demise of Blockbuster,

Movie Gallery Movie Gallery, Inc. (former NASDAQ ticker symbol MOVI) was the second largest movie and game rental company in the United States and Canada, behind Blockbuster Video. The company rented and sold Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and video game ...

, and

Hollywood Video Hollywood Entertainment Corp. (Nasdaq: HLYW), more commonly known as Hollywood Video, was a home video and video game rental shop company started in 1988. The chain was the largest direct competitor to Blockbuster Video until it was purchased ...

. 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

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, 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