New business aims to please families who like movies

Family Video's new Indianapolis Road location plans to open its doors by Dec. 6, offering new jobs, community service, 10,000 video titles and competition to the local video rental market.

Greencastle's video rental options are set to expand with the grand opening of a new Family Video store in the coming weeks. After a 90-day building blitz, the company pledges to provide good paying jobs, quality customer service and a healthy dose of competition to the local video rental market.

Ground broke on Family Video's 6,000 square-foot Indianapolis Road location in early September, and Blockbuster wasted no time preparing to greet their new neighbors.

"We've really been pushing our rewards program for the last few months," said Blockbuster manager Jason Callahan, who says the store has enrolled 500 customers into the yearlong benefits program.

"That [rewards program] ensures that customers will continue to come to us, for at least the next year," he said.

Family Video plans to offer their own deep discounts by giving free discount cards to every new customer during the first 30-days, making everything in the store half off. Kid's movie rentals will be free all the time.

Family Video will stock at least 10,000 video titles in their location, said Nall, but as of yet the company has no online rental option.

"We provide price, selection and customer service … people like to touch our product, feel it and see it. We provide the personal touch," Nall said.

Both Blockbuster and Family Video representatives acknowledge that online services offered by Netflix are a primary source of competition, but Blockbuster says their Greencastle location is a major player in the online game.

"Brick and mortar video stores are no longer a threat," said Callahan. "They can't offer the online services of Blockbuster, and that is how we have modeled our business."

In 2006, Greencastle's Blockbuster was ranked number two in the region for online sales, beating out locations in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis.

Family Video is the largest privately own video retailer in the country, and they are rapidly expanding.

Including Greencastle, the company is opening 70 new stores in five different states this year.

"We own our own establishments and we become a part of the community," Nall said, who added that they are eager to begin the hiring process in Greencastle.

Nall was unable to comment when asked if Family Video's Greencastle location will be offering adult video titles, as several in the Indianapolis area do.