Redbox to add kiosks in Albertson's stores

PHYSICAL: TNR/MovieCube machines replaced at 116 locations

By Danny King -- Video Business, 6/10/2009

JUNE 10 | PHYSICAL: Redbox is replacing TNR/MovieCube kiosks at 116 Albertson's supermarkets, giving Redbox a kiosk in all 248 of the closely held chain's grocery stores and widening the gap between the two largest movie-rental kiosk operators.

Redbox will replace the TNR/MovieCube machines at Albertson's stores in Arizona, New Mexico and Florida, Albertson's LLC and Redbox parent Coinstar said in a statement today.

Redbox has led growth in the U.S. kiosk industry, which is expected to expand over the next few years as video store chains such as Blockbuster and Movie Gallery close underperforming stores. The kiosk operator, which almost doubled its machine count last year, had 15,400 kiosks as of the end of March and plans to have between 20,000 and 22,000 machines by the end of the year.

"Redbox is a great fit for our stores and has proven to be a popular service that is convenient, easy to use and affordable," Bob Butler, senior VP of marketing and merchandising at Albertson's LLC, said in the statement.

Redbox last month said it was adding more kiosks in the 3,000-store Circle K convenience store chain, though didn't say how many Circle Ks were getting new machines.

Meanwhile, Albertson's decision to bring in the Redbox machines is a small setback in TNR/MovieCube parent NCR's effort to gain ground on Redbox in the growing movie-kiosk industry. The ATM-making giant, which in April acquired the majority interest in TNR that it didn't already own, is working with U.S. movie-rental chain leader Blockbuster at developing 3,000 Blockbuster Express machines by the end of the year and 10,000 units by the end of 2010.