DVD Rentals Made Easy in Mashantucket, CT

While some think that supporting a family-run business means paying high prices and dealing with inconvenience, they could not be further from the truth. While this reporter remembers a time when he would visit his hometown video rental store for the latest releases, today seeing a good movie does not require a special trip. Technology has allowed employees of Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods to rent a movie from an easy-to-use touch-screen kiosk near each employee entrance. "It will be very easy to pick up a movie on your way home and drop it off when you come back to work," said James D. Walker, president and owner of the family-run New England DVD Rental, LLC.


Walker recalls his first customer at the MGM kiosk in the beginning of September. "I was still loading movies into the kiosk when Steve from entertainment asked how soon he would be able to rent a movie. I told him it was operational and he could rent anything that was in the kiosk or I could load anything that I had in the box. He found a brand new movie that came out this past Tuesday. It was not even setup yet. I had to add the RFID sticker that is super glued to the disk and the sticker that shows how to put it back into the kiosk when you return it. Once it was loaded, I walked him through the process of renting the movie. I wanted to say thank you to Steve Giannioto from entertainment for being customer number one."


Walker said the idea for his new business came to mind after watching a program about a pizza-making machine which led him to reminisce about his college days and his lifelong love for movies. After obtaining permission from the casino's leasing board, he looked at several DVD rental companies and decided to partner with the DVD Now Kiosk Company (http://dvdnowkiosks.com). "The company manufactures and sells equipment as a stand-alone business. They provide RFID (radio-frequency identification) stickers and a software package," Walker said, adding, "I own everything; the equipment and the DVD's."


Like any small-business owner, Walker will not be able to make a profit until the cost for equipment, weekly new release movies, monthly rental fees for the space, and the 25 percent charge for credit card fees are recouped. "Other than this, I'm unemployed, I had to cash out my retirement to get this up and running, this is a big risk for me -- I think there is a benefit to starting the business in a weakened economy. Someone might rent a movie for a dollar rather than buying it or going to the theater. Maybe more people will rent movies especially since the kiosks are conveniently located." While he is chiefly involved with the business, he explained, "My wife, Stacy, helped me with the initial setup in installing the orientation stickers on the DVD boxes. We chose from over 400 titles." His daughters, 12-year-old Meghean, and 11-year-old Jessica, were "very excited about it and wish they could come in and see the kiosks."


Being competitive is important to Walker. While he could have set a higher price point, he chose to offer rentals for $1 plus tax each. Movies can also be purchased and as they get older, the prices drop. Additionally, "this is newer technology and more user-friendly than Redbox," he said, adding that large glass front doors allows one customer to look at movies inside the kiosk while another customer is using it. Customers can use their Visa, American Express, and Master Card debit and credit cards to rent DVD's. Their card won't be charged until the rental is returned or, if it is not returned after 21 days, when the rental is converted to a sale.


While each kiosk can hold up to 250 movies, Walker has loaded approximately 90 in each kiosk. He estimates that at each kiosk, about twenty to thirty are rented out each week. Customers can rent movies from one kiosk and return it to the other. Blu-Ray discs and video games are also available.


As time goes on, Walker is optimistic that more will take advantage of the latest amenity offered to employees. "I tried to pick a little bit of everything and I will try to keep a wide selection of movie titles including holiday, children's, and foreign titles." Customers who rent a movie have up to ten minutes to look at the DVD jacket and return it for no charge. Customers can sign up to be a member at www.newenglanddvdrentalllc.com, so they can see a list of movies in the kiosks, rate movies, make movie reservations, and much more.


While technology may seem impersonal, Walker stressed his insistence of providing quality customer service, the same kind we give with our 5-Star Service Standards. "I want to try to make things right for people," he said, and encourages customers that experience problems to contact him. "Hopefully this will catch on and I may look into getting a second kiosk at MGM and Foxwoods to have even more variety."