GRUNDY, Va. -- K-VA-T Food Stores here is in the midst of an aggressive expansion of its video rental and sell-through program.
The retailer opened nine new live video departments last year, and plans to open four more in 1996 while expanding a fifth, said Tom Hembree, vice president of operations. The chain now has 26 video departments in its 63 stores.
"Video continues to be a good draw for our stores. It ties in so well with the other departments that we feel it is a good program for our total store. Also, it can be profitable if it is handled right," he said.
The new departments have an average of about 2,500 tapes per store in 1,000 square feet, he said. Other video departments in K-VA-T stores range from 600 to 2,000 square feet. Two other stores have permanent sell-through sections of about 12 linear feet. Most of the remaining stores in the chain carry sell-through shippers.
K-VA-T stores carry the sell-through hits and low-priced promotional videos, he said.
"As long as the studios can get the retail price down under $10, they do real well," he said. As far as rental inventory, K-VA-T has been increasing the number of copies of new releases it brings in, he said. Stores will carry between 10 and 20 copies of A titles, he said.
This spring the chain will revisit a decision to end a test of the shared-transaction fee program of SuperComm, Dallas.
