Movie Quik

MovieQuik, often misreported in the news as Movie Quik, was a VHS video and VCR rental service offered inside 7-Eleven stores, a division of Southland Corporation, based in the United States and provided by MovieQuik Systems, another fully owned division of Southland during the late 1980s.[1][2]

After a few trial runs in isolated areas, the service was launched nationally in 1986. The movies were merchandised on the first gondola at the front of the store and were visible through the front window. Movie-Quik stocked approximately 200 titles in each store. This service was unusual for the time since rentals were available 24 hours a day, there was no membership fees, and rental fees were affordable (as low as $0.99 per day for some video rentals and $4.99 per day for VCR rentals in some areas).[2][3]

When Cevaxs took over the service, there was a small machine distributed by Cevaxs at the checkout counter that the store clerk used to check in and check out movies to the customers.[4] This machine was used to keep track of rentals in real-time by connecting directly to computers located at the Cevaxs' headquarters in Vancouver as a part of a dedicated bi-national data network constructed during the pre-Internet era.

To help pay for the relatively recent and very expensive leveraged buyout by the family of the former founders,[5] Dallas based MovieQuik was later sold a few months later in 1987 to a Vancouver based video rental distributor called Cevaxs for $132 million.[6][4] Cevaxs had previously provided similar services to 7-Eleven stores in its native Canada. Cevaxs was forced to shut down the service in 1990 due to the overwhelming debt acquired by the purchase of MovieQuik from Southland.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Schrage, Michael (January 21, 1986). "Popcorn and Movies: One Stop at 7-Eleven: 7-Eleven Launches Video Club". Washington Post. p. E1. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  2. 1 2 O'Connor, Brian J. (November 3, 1986). "Malls And 7-elevens See Their Future In The Cards". Sun Sentinel.
  3. ↑ "7-Eleven Ad for MovieQuik". Los Angeles Times. May 10, 1987. p. K96. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  4. 1 2 Morris, Chris (March 19, 1988). "Racker CEVAXS Wraps MovieQuik Acquisition". Billboard 100 (12). pp. 4, 101. Link via ProQuest.
  5. ↑ "Thompson Family Completes Effort to Take Convenience Chain Private". Associated Press. December 15, 1987.
  6. ↑ "Southland in Deals Worth $132 Million". The New York Times. October 2, 1987.
  7. ↑ "HomeVideo: Cevaxs shutters U.S. racker". Variety 341 (5). November 12, 1990. p. 30. Link via ProQuest.
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