Independent Video Stores Adding Tanning To Survive

Ever said to yourself, “Man, I’d love to rent that hot new release and get a tan at the same time”?

Maybe not. But in the ever increasing battle to keep in business many independent video retailers are widening their services to include tanning.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, about 3,500 independent video retailers across the United States offer customers the option for tanning. The up-front cost plus the added costs of running and maintain the tanning bed may be steep, but many stores and owners see it as a way to get repeat business and offer ancillary sales for things like tanning lotion.

Ted Engen, president of the Video Buyers Group, an industry trade association, says that the busiest hours for tanning bed customers are different than those for rental customers, leading to the stores doing a more consistent business. A store with a half-dozen beds typically will garner 40% of its revenue from tanning and 60% from DVDs.

The smaller stores are also being helped by the dying off of some of the chain stores brick and morter outlets. Blockbuster is slowly closing up many of its retail outlets and Hollywood Video has filed for bankruptcy.

Engen said independently owned video-rental stores are being run today by smart entrepreneurs, and the business isn’t terribly complicated to begin with.

“Mom-and-pops have two advantages: cost structure and porn,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. “They can be much smaller format stores, with owner-employees, so they can operate at a much lower cost than many chains.”

“They just buy DVDs, rent ’em and sell ’em off as previously viewed,” he said.