WASHINGTON — Residents of the city's trendy Adams Morgan neighborhood will have to buy their toilet paper, shaving cream and middle-of-the-night sandwiches elsewhere now that McDonald's has shut its 24-hour streetside vending machine, which the company had heralded as the convenience store of the future.
A tarp covered the minivan-size machine Wednesday, and a sign thanked customers for their business. Only the DVD rental service remained active, charging $2.97 for a three-night rental. McDonald's was also closing three other area machines. Most were outside McDonald's restaurants.
The 24-hour kiosks, operating under the name "Redbox," dispensed a wide variety of convenience foods and groceries, including milk, eggs, bread, detergent, shaving cream, paper towels, bandages and sandwiches. They took credit cards and cash and featured an ATM machine with a 25-cent surcharge.
Local residents said the ATM occasionally ran out of money. They also said that while the DVD rentals also did a brisk business, it was rare to see anyone buying the other items.
McDonald's evidently had high hopes for the Redbox. Last February, Mark McGuire, a member of McDonald's business development team, was quoted in a National Association of Convenience Stores newsletter as saying the machine "will do for the convenience store industry" what ATMs did for the banking industry.
On Wednesday, a company spokeswoman acknowledged that the experiment hadn't succeeded.
"McDonald's is focused on bringing more customers into our 30,000 existing restaurants all around the world," said McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa Howard. "Unfortunately, the Redbox automated convenience store didn't fit into that long-term growth strategy."
The machines will eventually be removed from Adams Morgan, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and two locations in Washington's Maryland suburbs. However, DVD rentals will continue.
"That initiative does have the potential to add more customer visits to our restaurants," Howard said. She declined to discuss financial performance of the Redbox machines.
McDonald's operated its machines only in the Washington area. The company first tested the product in January 2002 at its restaurant next to Howard University.
In May, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority considered a pilot project with McDonald's to install the machines at certain subway stations. But transit officials quickly tabled the idea. Metro Board chairman Jim Graham was concerned about selling food in the transit system, which has a strict policy against eating on its trains and buses.
In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, McDonald's shares were up 54 cents to close at $26.24.