A corner lot on Austin’s busy intersection of Oakland Avenue and Fourth Street is open for business again, with a new building and hundreds of videos.
Family Video, an Illinois-based rental company, expected to open its new Austin store by noon today at the site of the former Hardee’s fast-food restaurant just south of Austin High School. The Hardee’s building, which last was used as a Chinese restaurant, was demolished in November.
Family Video is ready to operate from 10 a.m. to midnight “365 days a year,” regional manager Aaron Cole said. It still must landscape the developed property.
All movie rentals are for five nights with the exception of new releases, Cole said. Family Video also offers free-rental sections for children’s movies as well as educational and sports/fitness videos, he said.
The Austin store, at 101 Fourth St. S.W., has 11 employees but there’s still more hiring to be done, Cole said Thursday afternoon. Ideally, the store will have 12 to 15 workers at the start, he said.
In the new building, Family Video will use about 6,000 square feet and lease out another 1,200 square feet, officials have said.
Family Video, which carries videos, DVDs and all major video games, is opening stores in Austin and Worthington, Minn., around the same time. They are the first Family Video stores in Minnesota. Stores also are planned for Hutchinson, Minn., and Willmar, Minn.
By Tim Ruzek for PostBulletin.com