Giant Eagle Phasing Out Video Depts. in Favor of Kiosks

PITTSBURGH -- In response to industry trends and consumer demand, Giant Eagle here is said to be preparing to shutter its 100 Iggle Video departments in favor of automated DVD rental kiosks.

The move, which is expected to occur over the next nine months, follows on the heels of Giant Eagle's test of kiosks offered by RedBox in a few of its GetGo convenience stores since December.

An local leader in the video business for years, Giant Eagle bowed its first Iggle Video store-within-a-store in the 1980s, at the height of the video rental craze. The chain still plans to continue selling movies via DVD displays at the front end and elsewhere in the store.

According to published reports, Giant Eagle is still deciding on how it plans to reallocate the video department space, which ranges in size from store to store, as well as the fate of current Iggle Video employees.

"The company is working to reassign video department employees to other areas of supermarket operations to preserve as many jobs as possible," company spokesman Dan Donovan was quoted as saying.

Giant Eagle has 157 corporate stores, 69 independent locations and 125 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based RedBox, launched in 2003, is owned in part by Coinstar Inc. and by a subsidiary of McDonald's Corp.
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