Fun Idea

Fun Idea Stores, Inc is an American chain of book and video-renting (now selling DVDs) stores founded in 1978. The company is popular for being the last surviving video-renting chain, although the company filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and revived in early 2019. By 2023, the company has 29 stores located nationwide. The company's headquarters is in Cleveland.

History
The company's first store opened on May 2nd, 1978, as Fun Idea Video, in Miami, Florida. The company grew to 6 locations by 1980, and the company was the first video-rental store in the United States. By 1983, the company grew to 49 locations and grew outside of Florida to other states in the US. In 1984, Fun Idea began to sell books to attract a new audience, and later video games. In 1985, they introduced the “Pindle” to their logo. In 1987, they acquired Kentucky-based Megavideo and gave it the same logo that Fun Idea was already using. In 1991, Fun Idea Megavideo, Inc. was formed, as Warner Communications sold the company off. In 1992, in order to compete with the now-growing Blockbuster Video, they painted their interiors with fun colors and began to use the slogan “Watching movies is a fun idea!”.

In 1998, Funidea.com was launched, in order to compete with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix,_Inc. Netflix]. In 1999, they dropped the “Video” from the name, and it simply became just “Fun Idea”. In 2001, they opened their flagship stores in Times Square, just 1 mile (1.61 km) from the Toys “R” Us flagship store. In 2004, all the existing Megavideo stores, were converted to Fun Idea.

In 2011, a new company logo was introduced, while some stores began to receive renovations. In 2012, sales began slumping and to save them from debt, they began to close some of their stores. By 2014, all of their Mexican stores were shuttered indefinitely. In 2016, they made the decision to cancel their lease on their Times Square location, it was closed a week later. In 2017, they began to lose money.