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Blockbuster To Close Remaining US Locations
UnknowingFool writes "Blockbuster announced that it will close its remaining 300 U.S. locations by January and discontinue the DVD by mail service. Before being bought out by Dish, the chain was slowly closing locations. Dish's CEO said, 'This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment.' From an all-time high of 9,000 locations in 2004, the chain has fallen on hard times and had emerged from bankruptcy in 2011."
Blockbuster still exists?
They were supposed to close years ago. They never got the memo because they only communicate by telegraph.
I loved going in and buying the used flikcks; sometimes 4 DVDs for $20 or 2 Blurays for $20. I built up a nice physical collection which I much prefer to just files. If they shut down any local stores I'll make a point to be there early for the sell-off day.
I guess I'm in that minority that likes the in-store experience and browsing shelves rather than clunky cable box UIs.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
nonsense, they were success in early 80s. that business model was what every VHS shop had, except BlockBuster's rates were lower, they had more of the popular movies and the fine was nominal.
Dish's CEO said, 'This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment.'
Oh, sure, blame it all on the consumers!
Let's be realistic here: Yes, increasing consumer demand for instant gratification is part of the video stores downfall, but they're experiencing an equal amount of pressure from the content cartels, who have spent years trying inadvertently (or intentionally) to kill off the rental industry with their obsession over controlling how consumers can access media.
Content cartels... like Dish Network.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Mine only closed about a year ago. It was replaced by a nice restaurant. Here's hoping everyone else gets a nice replacement.
IP is not the reason why BB died.
Netflix was hammering it from above with a deeper catalog and a reasonable price structure. Redbox was hammering it from below offering cheaper rentals on the new releases. That gave BB a very thin environment to live in.
It would be easy to say that Netflix killed Blockbuster, and certainly Blockbuster inflicted harm on themselves. Netflix did play a part but Blockbuster's problems come from a business model that came under threat from multiple fronts.
Netflix challenged Blockbuster by offering both instant streaming and titles by mail services but mainly in older titles and TV shows. Blockbuster still had an advantage for consumers in new releases.
Unfortunately, the rise of VOD competitors like Apple's iTunes, Amazon Instant, VUDU, Microsoft, etc offered consumers better choices when it came to new releases and offered advantages over Blockbuster. Even at the same price of a Blockbuster rental, consumers didn't have to physically get and return the title. Stock was never a problem, and the catalogs were better than a consumer could get at a Blockbuster's location.
For consumers that could not stream video, Redbox has taken away the last advantage of Blockbuster. The prices are cheaper and even if the selection is as limited as a Blockbuster location, there are far more Redbox locations. Since Redbox's model allows rentals to be returned to any location, this means the death of Blockbuster in many locations.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
My sister still likes going to the store and browsing.
"Digital delivery" for which the market has spoken does not work in combination with crappy (monopolistic and sometimes transfer-capped) internet.
Having a near-by rental store had its benefits.
Blockbuster pushed out many of the independent video rental places. I wonder if some of them will make a come back, to fill what ever niche there will be for renting physical videos. Or maybe that niche just won't exist anymore.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
I always find it difficult to understand the mentality of those cheering and saying good riddance that a long time business [even former giants of the industry] has failed.
Hey, it could be your workplace next.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
A large segment of the market is not watching their movies on the TV in the living room, or any other room for that matter. There is a huge generational shift to kids watching movies on a computer or tablet.
The problem is that the selection on Netflix sucks balls. And I say that as someone who has had their streaming service from day one. Netflix streaming is great when you're content to watch whatever they happen to have at the moment (mostly older stuff). It sucks when you want to watch a specific movie.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
We'll still drive to get videos from time to time. Of course, when we do this, we're headed to our local library where we rent them for free. (Technically not free since we're paying taxes to support the library, but we'd pay those taxes anyway so it's effectively free.) Our library has a surprisingly good selection and if they don't have what you're looking for, you can request it form another branch.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.