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Movie site set to open

DVDs on the Run is set to open this month in Spotsylvania.

By CATHY JETT

Date published: 5/14/2005

By CATHY JETT Route 3 shop is area's first such drive-through

You're driving west on State Route 3, and all you can think of as traffic backs up--again--is getting home so you can unwind and watch a movie.

Richard Nehrboss understands what you're feeling. And he's hoping to capitalize on it.

The Lake Anna resident is building DVDs on the Run, a drive-through version of the Blockbusters of the world, on the right-hand side of Route 3 past Spotsylvania Mall.

When the small, white building next to the Wawa on Chewning Lane opens this month, customers will be able to pull up, make their selection from one of four touch screens, swipe their credit card and drive off with the DVDs of their choice.

"We picked the site because people are pressed for time," Nehrboss said. "You're on your way home. You don't want to make a left turn to get to us and then make another left turn to get back on the road."

Drivers heading out of Fredericksburg on busy Route 3 already pass by a Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery on the right side of the road before they reach DVDs on the Run. What makes Nehrboss' business different, he said, is that it will offer more services with less effort for a cheaper price.

The touch screens, for example, will let users search for a DVD, then hit links to other movies by the same director or that feature one of its actors. And, much like Amazon.com, it will recommend other movies that other viewers who rented that particular DVD also have taken home.

In addition, customers will be able to go to dvdsontherun.com to see movie trailers and place orders in advance. Nehrboss initially wanted to make the trailers available by touch-screen, but decided that might slow down users who pull into one of the store's four drive-through bays.

Nehrboss and his wife, Ruth Nehrboss, got the idea for DVDs on the Run while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest. They stopped at a number of the area's tiny gourmet coffee shops that sell from drive-through windows, and were intrigued by the concept.

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Date published: 5/14/2005