Thursday, January 31, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – When people watch a rental video at home, they’d rather share a pizza than a tub of buttered popcorn or huge box of candy. Enter Marco’s Pizza, the eighth to open next to a Family Video store in the region since last June and, as of last Monday, the first in Youngstown.
Tuesday afternoon the newest Marco’s Pizza, 2072 E. Midlothian Blvd., held its official grand opening replete with a wide gold ribbon and oversize scissors, courtesy of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, for Keith Hoogland, president of Family Video, to sever that ribbon.
Family Video, the largest movie and game rental chain in the United States -- it has 775 stores in 19 states and Canada -- entered the pizza business by building Marco’s on Family Video properties.
“Our goal over the next four years is to open 250 pizza shops in [Family Video] existing buildings, says Bill Mohler, regional vice president of Marco’s. Where there’s insufficient space in an existing building, Family Video is having Marco’s build an addition, Hoogland says.
In a press release, Marco’s Pizza says it plans to open another 50 stores in the United States in the next four to eight months, seven of them in Ohio. Over the next seven years, that figure grows to 350 pizza shops and 7,000 jobs.
The newest Marco’s Pizza employs 25, Hoogland said, while the Family Video next door employs 10. Between the Family Video store and Marco’s Pizza, the company has spent a little more than $2 million, Hoogland said, $1.3 million to build the pizza side, $750,000 for the video and game rentals.
Word of the grand opening had gotten out as a stream of customers came in to pick up pizzas before and after the ribbon cutting.
Prominently displayed is a sign inside Marco’s saying that the purchase of a two-topping large pizza entitled the buyer to a free five-day rental of a newly released movie on DVD.
In 2011, Family Video had its best year ever, Hoagland reports, but its sales lin 2012, when all data are compiled, looks to be only 0.3% better.
So Hoogland sees more than ample opportunity for consumers to rent videos of movies and games.
Marco’s district manager Chris Moreland said Family Video is exploring issuing coupons that would allow renters a discount on a pizza.
Regardless, Marco’s drivers will deliver a video (or videos) or game(s) with the online purchase of an $8.99 pizza. Marco’s offers both carryout and delivery ($1.99 extra) of its pizzas.
Depending on the time of day and day of the week, Marco’s regional Vice President Bill Mohler estimates it should take anywhere from seven minutes to a half-hour for a driver to deliver within the two-mile radius Marco’s sees as its primary market. Drivers will deliver beyond that circumference, Hoogland said.
A 2-by-3-foot glass window in the wall that Family Video and Marco’s share allows for the easy passage of movies and games on video to Marco’s drivers.
The future of Family Video is bright, Hoogland says. Only 1% of those who watch a movie at home do so by downloading it from their cable system and they pay anywhere from $3.95 to $7.95 per movie.
Rent a new-release movie from Family Video and the price is $2.79, Hoogland says. And that comes with two free movies for kids. “You can rent two more older movies for a dollar,” he adds, and have five days to view all that is rented.
In addition, by visiting a Family Video, the company president says, the customer has a far wider choice of movies than what’s listed on pay-per-view.
“You’re supposed to have fun in our stores,” he continued, and Family Videos are social centers when customers not only have a wider variety to choose among but can discuss how much (or how little) they enjoyed various movies with their friends and neighbors. Educational DVDs for children are free, he says, when adults rent a recent release or classic movie.
Besides the wide selection of movies at Family Video-Marco’s Pizza sites, the manager of the pizza stores wants to tout the quality of the pizza, bread sticks and cinnamon rolls. “We use only all-fresh ingredients,” Mohler said. “We make the dough from scratch every day. We think our pizzas are fairly priced and truly cravable.”
The four large pizzas that management set out for guests and dignitaries went quickly, 7th Ward Councilman John Swierz informing store manager Jeff Cunningham that firefighters at the station just down the street had already endorsed the quality of Marco’s and would be back.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our free daily email headlines and to our twice-monthly print edition.