Metro commuters would be able to rent movies and tourists could buy trolley tour tickets under a new proposal to add retail shops at some Metrorail stations.
The transit authority has picked three companies to start retail operations in 13 rail stations after years of bandying around the idea. The winners are Blockbuster and Movie Solution, both offering DVD rental machines in a dozen stations, and Old Town Trolley to sell tickets to its sightseeing tours at the Smithsonian stop, according to a Metro report.
Proposed stations with retail » Metro Center: Blockbuster vending machines (west side) and Movie Solution vending machines (east side)
» Gallery Place-Chinatown, Pentagon City: Blockbuster
» Farragut North (K Street), Farragut West (17th Street), Foggy Bottom, L’Enfant Plaza (north side), Union Station (north side, First Street), Bethesda, New Carrollton, Shady Grove and Rosslyn (east side): Movie Solution
» Smithsonian: Old Town Trolley at both entrances
Source: Metro If approved by Metro’s board of directors, the initial offerings would bring in at least $116,000 in the first year and an estimated $928,000 over the next eight, according to agency estimates. They would open in the fall.
Those numbers could rise because the winners of the initial licenses also would pay Metro an undisclosed share of any profits they make. They also must pay for any cleaning, maintenance and utility costs, according to the transit agency. Licensing fees could be renegotiated after the first year.
Metro officials have spent years haggling over adding retail to the stations as a way to boost revenue. Other transit agencies, including those in New York and Boston, have long had vendors in stations and even on platforms.
A year ago, the board revived the dormant idea and even weighed adding food kiosks so commuters could pick up a frozen dinner on their way home. They ultimately abandoned those kinds of sales, though, since the system prides itself on banning food and drink to keep the rats at bay and the carpeted trains cleaner.
A year ago, the board revived the dormant idea and even weighed adding food kiosks so commuters could pick up a frozen dinner on their way home. They ultimately abandoned those kinds of sales, though, since the system prides itself on banning food and drink to keep the rats at bay and the carpeted trains cleaner.
Yet without food as a possible selling point, only six bidders responded to Metro’s search for retailers.
The contenders that lost out include a single licensee representing Smithsonian Museum stores, Destination DC, the Redbox DVD rental company, a dry cleaning company and a vending machine company that sells electronics and other high-end good such as iPods. Another movie rental outfit tried out unsuccessfully. And a newsstand also sought to gain a spot but planned on selling food and drink.
Metro officials said in the report they passed over those vendors because they did not have necessary business experience or wrongly estimated the costs of running such operations.
