Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy

[Raffine]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/business/24blockbuster.html?src=busln

I can't remember for the life of me the last time I was in a video store, but this seems like the beginning of the end of an era.

Or maybe the final gasp of the end of an era.

[Mr. DS]

All of them have gone under rather quickly in my area.  I think there was at one point 5 in a 10 miles radius of me.  Right now theres only one and they're having a going out of business sale.

[Joe the Destroyer]

I think the only video rental stores left in my area are the mom'n'pop ones, and those ae few and far between.

[Jack]

The two in our area closed a long time ago.  I was pretty surprised actually, one of them was right at the entrance to a supermarket, which has also gone out of business BTW.  We do have several other video stores around, either mom 'n' pop or else smaller chain stores. 

[Andrew]

Good riddance.  There used to be lots of independent stores and chains that had incredible selections of movies.  Those are where I first watched "Demon Wind," "Alien Predators," and countless other bad movies.  Blockbuster drove them all out of business, and Blockbuster's selection has always been very narrow, very mainstream, very boring. 

[diamondwaspvenom]

Well, Blockbuster never really had that good of a selection. It's passing shall open the door for a new, possibly better, company to take its place.


....And that's alright with me.

[venomx]

I always had a feeling someday this would happen.

But I agree with Andrew.

"There used to be lots of independent stores and chains that had incredible selections of movies.  Those are where I first watched "Demon Wind," "Alien Predators," and countless other bad movies.  Blockbuster drove them all out of business"

[Fausto]

I miss West Coast Video. There's a tiny strip mall near were I used to live (and not all that far from where I live now) that had WCV and a Little Cesars. Friday nights, you got pizzas at LC, went and rented a couple of movies at WCV. I was around 8 or 9 at  the time, so for me, that was the coolest thing in the world. That was more than 16 years ago. Eventually, both vanished, although just recently, they put a new LC in that same mall. If only WCV wasnt extinct...

[Joe the Destroyer]

Good riddance.  There used to be lots of independent stores and chains that had incredible selections of movies.  Those are where I first watched "Demon Wind," "Alien Predators," and countless other bad movies.  Blockbuster drove them all out of business, and Blockbuster's selection has always been very narrow, very mainstream, very boring. 

I couldn't agree more. 

...

Except that I did buy their used movies when they were on sale.   

[InformationGeek]

There's only one in my town and when it goes out, I'm raiding it for every movie I want.  They are already selling 4 DVDs for 20 bucks.  I'm bound to get 6 and higher for 20 bucks at a later time.

[The Gravekeeper]

Bit of a pity. Yes, Blockbuster always had a lousy selection, but I do use it to rent new video games once in a while. Better to spend a couple of bucks borrowing a game that you might not like for a week than to pay full price for a game you might not like.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

Good riddance.  There used to be lots of independent stores and chains that had incredible selections of movies.  Those are where I first watched "Demon Wind," "Alien Predators," and countless other bad movies.  Blockbuster drove them all out of business, and Blockbuster's selection has always been very narrow, very mainstream, very boring. 

Agreed. 

[Fausto]

There's only one in my town and when it goes out, I'm raiding it for every movie I want.  They are already selling 4 DVDs for 20 bucks.  I'm bound to get 6 and higher for 20 bucks at a later time.

Be sure to keep an eye on that. There's been a few places that I heard were closing, and I wanted to raid when they got down  to the wire, only to find out they were gone before I knew it.

[ChaosTheory]

It's funny but Blockbuster is the one rental retailer I simply never used.  There wasn't any particular reason behind it,  I just always went with West Coast, Take 2 or Hollywood Video (and I was pretty bummed when my town's HWood closed down because it had the best variety). 
Not that I'll miss Blockbuster but the fact that it's pretty much Netflix or nothing these days doesn't make me terribly comfortable.

[Jim H]

Well, Blockbuster never really had that good of a selection. It's passing shall open the door for a new, possibly better, company to take its place.


....And that's alright with me.

I don't know, I think brick & mortar video stores are in their twilight days.  They probably won't go away COMPLETELY anytime soon, but they're going to be few and far between from now on.