Editing Granada plc (section)

=== Red Arrow (later Granada) TV Rental ===
Until 2000, there was a widespread high street chain called '''Granada TV Rental''' in the UK, Canada and in the US. The UK headquarters were originally in Manchester. The company started life as Red Arrow TV Rental, using a red version of Granada's north-pointing arrow as its logo. This was a home entertainment equipment rental chain, similar to [[Radio Rentals]] and [[Rediffusion]]. The mainstay of the business from the late 1950s, and through the 1960s and 70s, was television set rental; during this period television receivers were expensive to purchase and were often unreliable.

In 1978, the company expanded its operations into the domestic [[videocassette recorder]] (VCR) rental market. This new household item was also a high-cost purchase: for example, a [[JVC HR-3300]] [[VHS]] recorder cost £680 in 1978,{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} {{Inflation|UK|680|1978|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-2}}.{{Inflation/fn|UK|df=yes}} In the 1980s, the rental of satellite TV reception equipment became another opportunity for the company to supplement its declining income.

As electronic product prices fell and their reliability improved, consumer behaviour changed from renting to buying electrical goods. This drift away from rental eventually resulted in the decline of this chain and others. Granada purchased Telefusion (a Blackpool-based rental company) and DVR. It went on to merge with Robinson Rentals, moving the Granada base from Sharston Road, Manchester, to the Robinson building on Ampthill Road, [[Bedford]]. The two main players at this time were Granada TV Rental (GTVR) and Radio Rentals. Both were experiencing a decline in business and in 2000 they merged to form [[Boxclever]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/byers-gives-go-ahead-to-granada-tv-rental-merger-279958.html|title=Byers gives go-ahead to Granada TV rental merger|last=Cope|first=Nigel|date=20 April 2000|work=The Independent|access-date=26 May 2018|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Red Arrow was one of a number of experimental companies launched by Sidney and Alex Bernstein's Granada Group and was, apart from Granada Cinemas and Granada Television, by far the most successful. Others included Green Arrow – artificial plant and flower leasing to companies – and Black Arrow – office furniture and equipment leasing. This company was disposed of and has no connection with any other venture of a similar name.