Blockbuster to close its last 300 stores in the U.S.

[FatFreddysCat]

So the former video-rental giant Blockbuster announced last week that their 300 remaining video stores in the U.S. will all be closed by the end of the year.  

Reaction from movie fans was immediate: "Wait... Blockbuster was still a thing? Really?"  

Honestly, I don't think I'll miss Blockbuster very much (they came into my home town about twelve years ago and killed the only really GOOD independent video store we had!!), but its passing certainly does mark the end of an era. Blockbuster once boasted 9000 (!) stores around the world, it shows how quickly people's movie-watching habits have changed, from renting a video or DVD at a brick-and-mortar store, to services like Netflix and On Demand streaming.

In a fit of nostalgia, I wrote a quick blog entry about the end of Blockbuster...

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/Farewell-to-Blockbuster-Video

[Gst0395]

Well Netflix, I hope you're happy.

[Jack]

The two stores in our town closed ages ago.  Oddly enough the same ol' "mom and pop" places that were around before Blockbuster are still around now.  And a couple of new ones have opened up since.  I used to like Blockbuster at least for browsing through the back isle where all the direct-to-video stuff was.  It just got to be too inconvenient to be returning videos the next day once Netflix came around, and buying used DVD's on Amazon or Ebay didn't really cost much more than Blockbuster charged to rent them.  Especially when you add up all the late charges because we forgot about returning the movies and then didn't feel like making an extra trip in the evening etc. 

I think they did what almost all businesses do:  once they got really big they decided they could quit listening to their customers and just tell them what they want.  They focused entirely on the majority of people who only want the latest releases, but found out that utterly ignoring the minority of their customers who wanted a good selection left them with not enough revenue to keep them in business.

[FatFreddysCat]

Well Netflix, I hope you're happy.

Blockbuster could've owned Netflix in the early '00s when it was just getting off the ground. But BB looked at it, saw that it was losing money, and said "We're not interested." I bet whoever made that decision probably jumped out of a window...

[Gst0395]

Well Netflix, I hope you're happy.

Blockbuster could've owned Netflix in the early '00s when it was just getting off the ground. But BB looked at it, saw that it was losing money, and said "We're not interested." I bet whoever made that decision probably jumped out of a window...

Ha, yeah that was probably a bit of an ignorant statement. You do make a great point to be perfectly honest.

[Umaril Has Returned]

I'm not sorry. Maybe my interest in BB's failure is more personal, as I used to work for them back in 1994 and to be honest, got treated like garbage doing so, but the people in the store that resided in my area were real a*sholes who got away with murder because the store manager used to dismiss ever complaint, be it from customer or employee. So for my money I won't be losing much slepp over BB's demise.

[Bushma]

Reaction from movie fans was immediate: "Wait... Blockbuster was still a thing? Really?"

Yup, that's what I thought.

[Trevor]

So the former video-rental giant Blockbuster announced last week that their 300 remaining video stores in the U.S. will all be closed by the end of the year.  

Reaction from movie fans was immediate: "Wait... Blockbuster was still a thing? Really?"  

Honestly, I don't think I'll miss Blockbuster very much (they came into my home town about twelve years ago and killed the only really GOOD independent video store we had!!), but its passing certainly does mark the end of an era. Blockbuster once boasted 9000 (!) stores around the world, it shows how quickly people's movie-watching habits have changed, from renting a video or DVD at a brick-and-mortar store, to services like Netflix and On Demand streaming.

In a fit of nostalgia, I wrote a quick blog entry about the end of Blockbuster...

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/Farewell-to-Blockbuster-Video

Oddly enough, Blockbuster has a chain of stores in South Africa but most of them are closed now.

*Hits self on head* Sorry, that's BLOCKBUSTERS  www.blockbusters.co.za

[tracy]

Really not too upset. I knew a good number of folks who were scammed out of unnecessary late fees due to Blockbuster errors. Also,when my sister and I tried to join they refused us unless we gave them our Social Security numbers. We asked why they needed them and they simply said,"We just do". We walked out,pretty annoyed. It's just movie rental and they have no business with our SS numbers.

[bob]

I can't say I'm sad to see them go. Back when I last used them in the early 2000's their prices were utterly insane and they also took customers away from local video rental stores.

[zelmo73]

The ones here in Anchorage, Alaska are supposedly staying open because they are a different franchise based out of Texas instead of wherever else they are based out of. Not that I care though, since I was always more of a Netflix guy myself. Blockbuster didn't do the home delivery thing until Netflix came along. I never liked Blockbuster stores because there was no porn section like the mom & pop video stores always have.

[Mofo Rising]

Good riddance, they were an awful bully of a company. Screw them.

Oddly enough, though, once the video store business tanked, it actually became a pretty good deal to rent there. Not that I did, because why?

[tracy]

I can't say I'm sad to see them go. Back when I last used them in the early 2000's their prices were utterly insane and they also took customers away from local video rental stores.

That happened around here. They'd push out the local competition then bully folks,like Mofo Rising said.

[FatFreddysCat]

I never liked Blockbuster stores because there was no porn section like the mom & pop video stores always have.

...and whether they wanted to admit it or not, the "back room" was where the money was for most of those mom & pop stores. 

[Archivist]

Man, I haven't been to a video rental store in years.  Perhaps the last time was in 2007 or 2008, when a friend used to frequent his local independent video store.  Prior to that, I once had membership at a laserdisc rental store in Chinatown in the early to mid 90's, and before that, membership at local independent video store.  I don't think I've ever been a member of Blockbuster, or any other major chain/franchise.

Blockbuster in Australia continues, but had to close dozens of outlets in recent years.  You can still go to stores and rent or buy, and you can get DVD's and blu-rays from automated kiosks.