Goodbye Blockbuster?

By Alex in Money & Finance on Jul 11, 2010 at 12:34 am

Could your friendly neighborhood Blockbuster be a relic of the past? Yes, according to Douglas A. McIntyre of 24/7 Wall St. In fact, Blockbuster is just one of 10 national brands that may disappear as soon as next year:

Blockbuster was the national leader in the video rental business for nearly two decades. Now it is contemplating Chapter 11 to eliminate debt. The company lost $65 million last quarter. Its revenue continues to fall rapidly as firms such as Redbox and NetFlix (Nasdaq: NFLX – News) siphon off its revenue. Blockbuster has more than 6,000 stores, so it is hard to imagine that the company could disappear. But, there is some precedent, even if it is on a smaller scale. Blockbuster rival Movie Gallery said in February that it would close all of its 2,400 U.S. stores. Blockbuster’s model of renting movies through physical locations has been destroyed by cable and satellite video on demand, DVDs via mail and dispensing machines. Blockbuster may still be around as a company that has movie kiosks and a small mail and Internet-delivered content business. But its brick and-mortar business is dead.

Link (Photo: TheTruthAbout [Flickr]) – via Yahoo!

Trivia for you: Back in 2000, when Netflix was young and losing money, Blockbuster had a chance to scoop the company for a mere $50 million. Instead, they decided to ink a 20-year deal with Enron on video-on-demand when the energy company was getting into telecom. Now, Netflix is a billion dollar company, and we all know how Enron ended!


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  1. gruntus
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 8:58 am

    Good riddance. Blockbuster always stank. Their selection is mostly limited to the hits and excludes anything controversial, they have a history of deceipt in their special offers, and their employees are slugs.

  2. marishka
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 9:18 am

    We don’t have a Blockbuster in our town, but our two Hollywood Videos have already closed. I say good riddance: their rental prices were always too high. Video stores are relics of the past.

  3. atanguay
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    You guys missed their exorbitant late fees!

    Blockbuster…a great place to rack up enough late fees on a VHS copy of ‘Weekend at Bernie’s 2′ to be able to finance a second sequel! Good riddance.

  4. cola82
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    Good riddance, indeed! Long live Movietime video! : D

  5. fraoch
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    Ours is already gone and replaced by a local video rental place. I honestly didn’t know it happened until they took the sign down.

  6. J Cubed
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    Of course, if Blockbuster *had* bought Netflix, it would have run in it into the ground and still be going out of business.

  7. Splint Chesthair
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    I’m amazed they still exist. Really? A brick and mortar video store?

  8. felixthecat
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 2:58 pm

    RedTube and NetFlix win.

  9. dncucf
    Jul 11th, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    @ gruntus

    I always despised Blockbuster for the same reason. I don’t like to wish ill will on people as a general rule, but I have always expected this day to come.

  10. namowal
    Jul 12th, 2010 at 8:55 am

    I remember when Blockbuster showed up in the early 1990s and put the local video stores out of business. The tables have turned.

  11. Rumson
    Jul 12th, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Ten years ago, Blockbuster decided to move to my town. We already had a great mom and pop video rental store, and they wanted them to buy into the franchise. At first they refused, but Blockbuster threatened to move in next door to them, claiming they would run our store under. They gave in. Goodbye to a great selection of action, obscure comedy, and one of the best horror movie selections I’ve ever seen anywhere(and porn, can’t forget the porn). Suddenly we had a choice of what I consider to be the top 40 pic of movies. New releases, not good ones, safe, mediocre ones. Lame horror, cheesy comedies. And no porn. Totally ripped off our town. Good riddence.

  12. Superfly
    Jul 12th, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    A lot of small rural towns across the USA will now be able to have local run DVD rental stores, keeping money in the community and in the pockets of small business owners.
    Anyone wanting DVD’s from one of the BIG GUYS can use the internet.

    How is this a bad thing?

  13. I'm not bitter :)
    Jul 14th, 2010 at 10:46 am

    I spent, nay wasted, 8 yrs of my life with that company. Thankfuly I wised up and began a new career. However, I’m happy to see that the abuse of their employees, more importantly their customers, will soon come to an end. Karma is a b***h …

  14. venomous
    Jul 17th, 2010 at 9:08 am

    im glad its going to burn in hell!!! they treat there employees like crap dont give them a raise for 2 years and treat customers like crap with outragous late fees i hope they all close down and all the theives keep on stealing from them

  15. another person
    Jul 17th, 2010 at 9:22 am

    Blockbuster and video on demand are too expensive. The latter should never be as expensive as the former. Both ripoffs. Redbox, and to a lesser extent, Netflix!

  16. Mike K
    Jul 19th, 2010 at 8:09 am

    We will continue to see poor quality movies and a faltering industry until the authorities are effective in stopping the pirating websites.

  17. Daniel frshgouh
    Aug 9th, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    F#$K blockbuster

  18. Daniel frshgouh
    Aug 9th, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    their bullying days are over


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