SEVERAL SMITH'S FEATURE RENT-A-CAR PROGRAMS

JONNA CRISPENS

SALT LAKE CITY -- Renting a car was never so easy -- at least not for shoppers at Smith's Food & Drug Centers, the 109-store retailer based here.

What started as an experiment a few years ago has turned into an unexpected revenue source for the retailer. Smith's now leases space to a car rental agency in eight of its 10 stores in the greater Phoenix area and in two additional locations in Yuma and Flagstaff, Ariz.

The customer response has been "wonderful," according to one source familiar with the situation, who said area residents, as well as out-of-towners, are taking advantage of the convenient rent-a-car service.

"A lot of residents are renting cars to use on vacations or to conserve mileage because their own automobiles are leased -- or they're simply recommending the locations to out-of-town visitors," said the insider.

Smith's introduced the concept about four years ago after Budget Rent A Car of Arizona expressed interest in opening a branch in a newly built Smith's location in Sun City, Ariz., said the insider.

The new store -- built on land that had previously housed a hotel in which the rental agency was located -- was already known to Budget customers, said the source. "The response was wonderful, but we thought it might be a fluke at first, since the area houses a large [winter vacation] population and Budget had already established itself at that location." Not knowing what to expect, the companies decided to team up in another location a year and a half later, this time in a residential area with a year-round population.

Once again, the effort met with favorable results and the companies decided to introduce the concept in additional locations.