Watch out c-stores, CVS is vying for movie rental customers. The drug store chain is rolling out fully-automated Redbox DVD rental kiosks at locations nationwide, including in Puerto Rico and Longs Drug locations in Hawaii.
The national rollout, which comes on the heels of a successful pilot program at select CVS/pharmacy locations, is set to start this quarter with approximately 700 installations by the end of 2010. The rollout is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
“Redbox’s low nightly rate, rent and return anywhere policy and online reservations offer a terrific value and convenience to consumers while increasing traffic for our retail partners,” said Mitch Lowe, president, Redbox. “We’re pleased to add CVS/pharmacy stores to our list of convenient locations for movie lovers to rent films.”
The agreement marks the first time that CVS/pharmacy will offer a DVD rental service to consumers and significantly expands redbox’s presence within the drug store channel.
Redbox Automated Retail LLC is a a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coinstar Inc. Redbox kiosks are currently available at approximately 23,000 convenient locations nationwide and has served millions of consumers renting more than 880 million DVDs to date. Each fully automated redbox kiosk holds 630 discs, representing up to 200 titles, including standard definition DVDs and Blu-ray Discs at select locations nationwide. Consumers simply use a touch screen to select their favorite movies, swipe a valid credit or debit card and go. For added convenience, customers can visit www.redbox.com to select their movie online or via the iPhone app from Redbox and pick it up immediately at the Redbox location of their choice.
