Flash Flix, the student-run movie rental service, is closing after three years. The former business’s DVDs will be on sale at the Student Center over the next two weeks.

Julie Messing, director of the entrepreneurship program at Kent State, said the business closed because of the changing ways people choose to watch movies.

“More students are watching movies on their laptops or streaming through Netflix or some other source,” Messing said. “The volume just wasn’t there to support running such an employee-intense business.”

Anthony Garcia, junior electronic media production major, said although he lived on campus, he never had any reason to use Flash Flix.

“There are cheaper alternatives, and I had Netflix,” Garcia said. “It just seems like things on campus are more expensive than they need to be.”

Through the university’s entrepreneurship program, students founded the business to offer an “inexpensive and convenient way to watch movies,” Messing said.

The DVDs were rented out in the Student Center during Flash Flix’s first year, and then relocated to the Eastway complex in the bowling alley to appeal to students without cars, Messing said.

The business closing is not entirely a bad thing because one business venture spawned another, Messing said.

“It’s constantly, from cradle to grave, a learning opportunity for the students,” Messing said. “We have another whole group of students independently pulling it together to see what’s the best way to part with this inventory.”

Brittany Neal, senior entrepreneurship major, is in charge of a group of students who are selling Flash Flix’s DVDs in the Student Center.

“We were approached with the assignment at the beginning of the year,” Neal said. “(Flash Flix) had closed, and they wanted us to sell the DVDs to regain some of the money they’d put in.”

Neal said students should buy the DVDs because they are available for prices far cheaper than normal.

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“It’s a good deal,” Neal said. “We have new DVDs … that cost $15 at the store. We’re selling them for $5.”

Despite her optimism about the DVD sales, Messing said it’s too early to say if closing the business was a good idea.

“Time will tell,” Messing said. “If we waited much longer, we’d be in a position where we start losing money, and we don’t want to do that.”

Messing said she stands by the decision to discontinue the business.

“Our whole intent is to provide as many students as possible with a very rich learning experience, and we can’t provide those experiences if we’re having businesses that are losing money,” Messing said. “We think we made a wise decision.”

Contact Rex Santus at [email protected].