Most video stores charge about 50 cents a minute for tanning bed use. (Image by Evil Erin.)

The Hollywood Reporter has an odd and interesting article about the survival strategy of many of the 10,000 video-rental stores that remain in operation. Because of mail-order and streaming options from Netflix and Apple and rentals at cheap kiosks, the big-box rental places are gone or going. But more than a third of the indie stores that hope to survive the onslaught of online competition have added an interesting enticement: a tanning salon. The equipment isn’t cheap, but store owners are hoping it will draw in folks who’ll also buy lotions and rent a video. An excerpt:

“At the rate big video-rental chains are closing up their shops, the 10,000 or so independently owned stores are getting creative to ensure they don’t suffer a similar fate. Combining movie rentals with tanning beds is one popular move.

More than 3,500 independently owned video-rental stores have added a tanning salon to their stores, estimated Ted Engen, president of the Video Buyers Group, an industry trade association.

A good tanning bed–one that consumers won’t mind paying about 50 cents a minute to use–can cost up to $15,000. Despite the hefty upfront cost and fattened energy bills, rental time combined with ancillary product sales like suntan lotion translate into a profitable business.”