Movie

Gallery

opens

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- There's a new video rental store in town. Movie Gallery opened 10 days ago next to Family Dollar in the strip mall at 1605 S. Broadway.

Although the Movie Gallery chain is headquartered in Dothan, Ala., the new store has a local connection as New Ulm native Jack Neuman is managing the store.

"There are about 25 of them in Minnesota, now. Most of the stores are down south, but they're just now starting to expand all over the country. There's about 2,500 stores now across the U.S. so they're growing pretty rapidly," Neuman said.

He believes the firm's emphasis on customer service sets Movie Gallery apart from other video rental firms.

"We kind of go out of our way to help people find the titles they're looking for. Also, you have a week on everything you rent in our store so you're not in a hurry to bring everything back. So, that's pretty nice," Neuman explained.

No, that's not a misprint. You get to have any rental in the place for seven days. New releases and DVDs are $3.49, and older VHS movie rentals are $1.49, Neuman said. The PlayStation 1 and 2, Xbox and Game Cube games rent for $5.98.

"We have a pretty good selection of sell-through videos, as well. We always have sales on those whether it's buy two to get one for free, or buy two, get two for free. We do special ordering for people. If we don't have a movie they want to buy, we can order it for them."

Customers also are impressed with the number of title selections, Neuman said.

When pressed for a total number of titles carried in the store, Neuman thought for a moment and replied, "A lot!" He noted selections cover a wide variety of tastes, as well.

"We have a classics section, comedy, drama, action-adventure, kids section, Disney section, pretty good sized DVD selection, and the new release and a separate kids new release (section), also."

Another element of customer service, according to Neuman, is carrying enough copies of new releases so that customers aren't disappointed when they're looking for a specific new release.

"So far, it's hard to say because we're new, but they've been giving us about 30 DVDs and about 20 VHS of each new title so that's pretty good selection."

Membership is free for as long as you want it, but customers have to pay for their videos when they are checked out. However, Neuman believes the number of videos you can check out at a time is pretty liberal.

"Our check-out limit, until you have a history of 30 rentals, is six items so you can have a lot out at one time."

Another customer-friendly feature, Neuman said, is that members can earn points on their rentals.

"Once you get up to 12 points, you either get a free rental or $3 off a previously viewed movie, and we track those automatically in the computer for you. It just prints out a coupon for you once you get up to 12 points."

Then, there are the games.

"Our PlayStation 2 selection is the biggest I've ever seen in a rental store. I've worked at five different Blockbusters down in Texas, and they don't come close to what we have. We have a really huge selection on rental games."

The store opened with nine employees, but Neuman said that "sometime in the next couple weeks, we'll probably be closer to 10 or 12."

That will be in time for the store's grand opening Jan. 19.

"Starting with our grand opening, for about a month, we're going to have all of our movie rentals for 99 cents, and you'll still be able to have it out for a week."

If you're looking for candy, pop or popcorn to make it a real movie night, Movie Gallery sells that, too, Neuman said.

"We're open every day of the year. We're open from 10 in the morning until 10 at night except Fridays and Saturdays when we're open till 11. On Christmas,we were open until 8, but for New Year's we'll have regular business hours."

The Movie Gallery can be reached by phone at 507-359-6425.