Return Your Discs: Hannaford Supermarkets Will No Longer Have Redbox Kiosks in New England

When I walked out of Hannaford Supermarket on Forest Avenue in Portland on Thursday, I saw something that I'm surprised took this long to happen.

In 2004, Redbox came onto the movie and video game rental scene, showing up in convenience stores, grocery stores, and other businesses like Walgreens. Their main competitors were Blockbuster, Movie Gallery, and Netflix.

Customers could look at what movies and video games were available at their local kiosk to rent, reserve them online, then pick them up when they went to the grocery store or wherever the nearest kiosk was to them. They could also rent directly at the kiosk. One of the things that made them unique is that you could return your movies or games to any Redbox kiosk, making it the ultimate convenience.

Redbox peaked at over 50% of the rental market, and then came streaming services. Now, people didn't even have to leave the house to rent a movie or download a video game. With dozens of streaming channels and digital downloads for video games, Redbox slowly started to lose out.

That's why Hannaford (and likely many other locations) are about to lose them. This sign was seen on the Redbox Kiosk in Portland.

If you're one of the few who still have a rental from Redbox, make sure you return it to Hannaford Supermarkets before June 15. You might want to get yourself an account with Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, or any of the gazillion other streaming services available to you. There are even some really good free streaming services like PlutoTV, Tubi, Freevee, and others. Welcome to the 2020s.