Family Video thrives in Illinois and rural America

• Family Video
• Marco's Pizza

Though Blockbuster has but a few dozen stores left, Glenview-based company Family Video has expanded to 759 locations in 19 states and Canada. Last year the DVD rental company made an estimated $400 million in revenue and has seen significant growth under President Keith Hoogland.

In its heyday, Blockbuster operated over 9,000 stores and made $6 billion in revenue annually. While many have thought that the large movie rental companies faded due to the development of digital technology, Keith Hoogland cites poor business practices and contracts as the reason for the large movie rental companies’ demise.

Family Video has taken a much different approach than big video chains like Movie Gallery and Blockbuster. The company has chosen to buy movies outright and keep all of the profits rather than accepting deals for discounted movies in exchange for shared revenue. Family Video stores are entirely company-owned and use many items that are made in-house, ranging from software to shelving.

Keith Hoogland has continued to adapt his ventures as the marketplace changes. As the market has changed, he’s reduced the square footage of his stores and leased the space to businesses like Subway, H&R Block and Marco’s Pizza. In fact, Hoogland is the largest Marco’s Pizza franchiser, operating 149 stores. Additionally, Hoogland has opened 11 fitness centers and a chain of electronics-repair stores. The businesses are managed by the parent company Highland Ventures (Hoogland means Highland in Dutch) and video continues to account for about 90 percent of Highland Ventures annual revenue.

The history of Family Video can be traced to 1946, when Keith Hoogland’s grandfather Clarence opened an appliance distribution business. Keith’s father Charlie took over in 1953. In the 1970s, the distribution business started to wane as mom-and-pop shops closed and suppliers choose direct sales over distributors. In 1978, with an overstock of videocassette tapes and a few real estate properties, Charlie Hoogland launched the Video Movie Club of Springfield, one of the very first movie-rental stores in the U.S.

Charlie Hoogland worried that technological advancements would soon render his cassette tapes irrelevant, but he figured that the real estate beneath the stores would remain valuable. He began a policy of paying off mortgages on his locations within five years, a practice that Family Video continues today. Forbes estimates the chain's real estate is worth as much as $750 million today.

In the 1980s, Charlie forged into rural markets, hypothesizing that larger competitors would maintain an advantage in big cities. Now 90 percent of Family Video’s stores are in rural America where customers may have limited access to high-speed internet or be reluctant to use services such as Hulu and Netflix.

Over the years, Family Video has embedded itself within the community. When a new store opens, it’s a community affair with snow cone machines, face painting and giveaways. Hoogland told Forbes that his stores have become gathering places like local coffee shops.

Family Video has in part remained competitive by offering new releases well before streaming sites. The copyright laws on physical discs are much less stringent than for streamed content, allowing Family Video to offer the latest films weeks or months before streaming outlets. This fact has also helped Family Video gain business with a younger crowd.

Though Hoogland realizes that his movie rental enterprise won’t last forever, he will continue to use Family Video to increase his real estate portfolio.

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TBT to Harold Washington winning the 1983 Chicago Mayoral primary

On Feb. 22, 1983, Harold Washington won the Democratic primary election for Chicago mayor, defeating incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne, Richard M. Daley and other candidates. He went on to be elected the 51st mayor of Chicago that April and served as the first African-American mayor of Chicago.

Harold Washington was born on April 15, 1922, in Chicago to Roy Lee Washington Sr., a lawyer and Methodist minister, and Bertha Jones Washington, a singer. He was the youngest of four children. Washington attended DuSable High School before he was drafted into the Army in 1942. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps unit of engineers, where he earned the rank of First Sergeant.

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Illinois artist of the month: Micah Wall

• Arts & Culture
• Artist of the month
• Micah Wall
• woodworking
• functional art
• Sculpture
• design
• furniture design

Micah Wall is an artist based in Edwardsville who specializes in woodworking and personalized craftsmanship. He founded his own business called Unnatural Resources and prides himself in working with his hands and tools to bring beauty into our everyday lives and spaces.

Coming from a long line of craftsmen, the spirit to create and design is something he considers part of his DNA. He specializes in bringing others’ visions to reality and bringinging out the natural beauty in his materials.

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TBT to the Father of Chicago Blues, Muddy Waters, winning his first Grammy

• Muddy Waters
• Grammy
• Chicago Blues
• They Call Me Muddy Waters

In honor of the 59th Annual Grammy Awards this past weekend, we’re throwing it back to 1971 when the Father of Chicago Blues, Muddy Waters, won his first Grammy for his album They Call Me Muddy Waters.

Muddy Waters was born on April 4, 1913, in Issaquena County, Mississippi as McKinley Morganfield. He was raised by his grandmother after his mother’s death in 1918. His grandmother nicknamed him Muddy Waters because he frequently played in a muddy creek.

Muddy Waters began playing guitar at the age of 17. In 1940, he visited St. Louis and later joined the Silas Green tent show as a harmonica player and singer.
In 1943, Waters moved to Chicago where he worked in a paper mill. Soon thereafter, he began playing guitar at South Side clubs. He signed with Aristocrat Records in 1946 and recorded several singles. He recorded his first hit single, “Rollin’ Stone,” in 1950.

Muddy Waters helped pioneer the Chicago blues style, which earned him the nickname of the Father of Chicago Blues.

Muddy Waters went on to record a number of blues classics including “Honey Bee” in 1951, “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” in 1954, “I’m Ready” in 1954 and “Mannish Boy” in 1955. In the 1960s he performed at concerts and festivals across the country and recorded several albums.

Waters made three of his best-selling albums in the late 1970s with producer and guitarist Johnny Winters. They performed together throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Muddy Waters won his first Grammy for They Call Me Muddy Waters in 1971. He won the following year for The London Muddy Waters Session and at the awards ceremonies in 1975, 1978, 1979 and 1980.

Muddy Waters’s last public performance was in 1982. He died the following year of a heart attack in his home in Westmont, Illinois.

Muddy Waters was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992.