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DVDs on the Run will offer a selection of DVD movies in a drive-thru format. Customers will choose their selection from a touch-screen.
A mechanical arm runs a test program on the movie selection procedure for a self-serve drive-in kiosk called |
Drive-thru video rental in the works
Ruth and Richard Nehrboss enjoy brainstorming innovative businesses concepts.
Most get tossed aside.
But when friends told the Lake Anna couple that their idea for a drive-through DVD store was a keeper, the Nehrbosses decided to run with it.
"It was the first idea we'd had that had no detractors," said Richard Nehrboss, 35, who retired early after selling his computer-services business in Minnesota.
He and his wife, who is 43, kicked around ideas for their dream version of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, and conducted informal focus-group interviews outside both stores.
"Something can seem intuitive to me, but other people may see things a different way," Richard Nehrboss said.
The result is DVDs on the Run--a site with four drive-through bays equipped with touch-screen computers and credit-card slots. A mechanical arm in the storage area overhead finds orders and drops them down a chute in 10 seconds.
"Basically, a retiring baby boomer could buy it and service it every Tuesday when the new movies come in," Nehrboss said.
For now, the business is just an 8- by 40-foot mockup tucked away in a Stafford County warehouse. But the Nehrbosses will decide shortly whether to build the prototype on property they own on State Route 3 in Spotsylvania County and franchise their idea, or try to sell the concept to a movie-rental company.
Time is essential, because they aren't the only entrepreneurs interested in this approach. Movie Gallery, which has 2,146 video specialty stores nationwide, has opened a prototype drive-through movie and video-game rental store near its headquarters in Dothan, Ala.
The Nehrbosses recently read an Associated Press article about Movie Gallery's plans. In it, a company spokesman was quoted as saying the idea was a first for the industry and could change the movie-rental business.
"My first thought was, 'This is terrible,'" said Richard Nehrboss. Then he realized Movie Gallery's version, called Fast Forward, is different from their business.
Fast Forward customers order from a touch-screen displaying a menu of the chain's top 25 movies and top five video games, then drive up to the next window to pick up their order and pay the attendant.
"It's like a McDonald's," Nehrboss said.
DVDs on the Run would not only be quicker, but would offer customers thousands of choices and let them see movie trailers and reviews, he said. They also would be able to order online to make sure the movie they want is in stock when they go to pick it up.
"The point is to make it a better experience than walking into a Blockbuster and seeing a wall of videos," Nehrboss said.
DVDs on the Run customers would have their choice of either getting a monthly membership or simply checking a movie out once for either one day, three days or five days.
They'd also be able to buy new or previously viewed movies, just as they would in a typical movie-rental store.
The Nehrbosses came up with the idea for DVDs on the Run after vacationing in the Pacific Northwest. They'd patronized a number of the area's tiny gourmet coffee shops that sell only from a drive-through window, and were intrigued by the concept.
"They always had a sole proprietor," Richard Nehrboss said. "We asked why they weren't franchised, and they told us the profit margin isn't there."
The couple, who met when her mortgage-services firm hired his company, wondered if there wasn't a way to automate the espresso business and increase the profit margin.
"We decided it was too complicated because of health inspections and dairy storage," Richard Nehrboss said.
But they liked the idea of mechanizing an established industry. Movie rentals seemed a perfect fit. A drive-through window would be convenient and could offer the same selection as a regular video-rental store. But the profit margin would be higher.
"Blockbuster and Hollywood have a 5 to 10 percent margin," Richard Nehrboss said. "We're looking at 40 percent. We could undercut them 30 percent in our prices and still make out."
Nehrboss, who has an engineering background, designed the mechanical arm that does most of the grunt work for the business. It relies on tiny radio-frequency identification chips instead of bar codes to find the correct DVDs.
"It's amazing technology," he said.
The chips will allow DVDs on the Run computers to recognize repeat customers who swipe their credit cards before ordering. The computers would then list recommendations based on the card-holder's past purchases and rentals.
The idea is to encourage people to look beyond the latest hits and spread rentals more evenly over inventory, Nehrboss said. But the option doesn't work if a card is swiped after the order is placed.
"We made it user-choice because some people perceive this as tracking," he said.
The Nehrbosses hope to prevent vandalism at the unmanned stores by installing video cameras in each drive-through bay and using rugged glass covers over the 17-inch computer screens.
A special software program linked to managers' pocket PCs would allow them to check inventory and handle problems without having to go to the store. They would even be able to issue gift certificates remotely, Nehrboss said.
He and his wife already have gotten the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors' approval to build the first one between the Wawa and East Coast on Route 3. If built, it would be used to interest shopping centers and malls to lease space in their parking lots for future locations.
Nehrboss said he figures DVDs on the Run could survive for 10 years before being supplanted by the next wave of technology.
"By then, we may have the broadband capability to order videos on demand from our TVs," he said. "But that's based on today's DVDs, and they've just announced a new version. So, it may be more like a 20-year window."
To reach CATHY JETT: 540/374-5407 cjett@freelancestar.com
