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Blockbuster Video Now Has Just One Store Left On Earth (apnews.com)
Cutting_Crew writes: After the last remaining Blockbuster Video store closed in Australia on March 31st, there is only one remaining left on earth. That location is in Bend, Oregon and seems to be a thriving location, where they write out membership cards by hand and the system is rebooted using floppy disks, apparently only something one person, the general manager, knows how to do. If you are wondering how there could be still blockbuster videos open since they went bankrupt back in 2010, the remaining stores left open were independent franchises and were separate from most of the other corporate stores, thus not part of the bankruptcy. There was also an Onion video before they even went bankrupt that's pretty funny. I remember getting a membership way back in late 90s and new releases were $8 per night. Even then, that seemed way too expensive. What are your most memorable (good or bad) memories of your local blockbuster?
I miss video stores. I miss them almost daily. Streaming has no selection at all. Netflix's DVD service isn't bad, but it takes a week or so to get something that I want to see. I miss being able to get a pizza and a movie to watch over dinner. I have a huge video collection at home, but getting new stuff is still a PITA (order through Netflix DVD).
I don't respond to AC's.
eh
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Thats the Store Captain Marvel crashed into, Disney has mandated it remains open, OR ELSE!
I grew up in Philadelphia and we had a chain of video rental stores around here called West Coast Video. When Blockbuster came around, WCV really stepped up their game with more foreign and rare stuff you couldn't get from Blockbuster. I ended up going there more than Blockbuster.
Then I discovered Movies Unlimited, another store that catered to more obscure stuff. They even rented Laser Discs!
But I do miss video rental stores daily. I think they were great. Some cheese steaks and a DVD from West Coast Video made for a nice cheap date at home.
File this under "wow, no wonder this guy posted as Anonymous Coward."
How many decades ago was this?
...we called it Buttblocker.
Never rented a thing from there, as we were blessed with some great independent video stores in the area. Did a lot of Laserdisc rentals as well.
For purchases, they were typically made at Tower. A friend of mine was the laserdisc buyer for one of the local locations. He kept it stocked with good stuff.
I dig the signs that say "Best Selection" and "Best Releases". That's technically true since they have no competition anymore (at least per physical stores).
It would be like after the apocalypse if you were the only dude on Earth, and if you happen to meet a lady, you could rightfully claim you are the "best bachelor available".
Or even now, "the best Slashdotter outdoors".
Table-ized A.I.
Sing it: Internets Killed the Video Store...
Or: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Table-ized A.I.
Mostly rented Nintendo 64 games. It is now a coffee shop.
That tells me there may be more stores 'out there' some place and we just haven't found them yet.
Idk, this guy essential drove Blockbuster into bankruptcy once they repaid his $20. Sounds like he's to blame for just about everything.
But honestly a "real man" like Chuck Norris would have demanded interest too. And received it.
After the last remaining Blockbuster Video store closed in Australia on March 31st, there is only one remaining left on earth.
Was it the last remaining Blockbuster Video or not? If there is still one remaining, then the one closed on Australia was the next to last remaining Blockbuster store...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
What's all that aboot, eh?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Is it the one that has Mel Gibson's jockstrap, donated by James Corden?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
When they offered a cheap DVD by mail plan where you could also turn in the DVDs at the store and exchange them for a free rental. I could get a 3 or 4 movies a week that way; and my spend at the local store was $0.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
I had a local video store that had a great back catalogue (they had been around a long while), lots of smaller-interest stuff. You probably had to go to Blockbuster to get a new release in the first week, because the local relied on renting each movie quite a few times in order to make their money back. The switch to DVD was tough for them, and Netflix (the original DVD-by-mail service) pretty much did them in, but it was great while it lasted.
I remember times where somebody's parent would get 16mm films of Star Trek Episodes from the library.
Similar late fee problem here -- except it was for a movie that had been rented (and forgotten). Returned it weeks before and finally wanted a new rental. The late fees came to something like $96. I laughed at them and offered to buy the movie instead ($40 range). They declined. They wanted their ridiculous late fees.
They're not charging you for the price of the physical DVD. They are charging you for the lost revenue they could have been making renting it out to others while you were holding on to it. If they only expected to make $40 per copy of a movie, of course they would go out of business (sooner than they did) - they aren't even covering their overhead at that point. Every rental business is predicated on making more than the cost of the item back by charging more than it is worth if you had bought it outright.
Watch out! Got a badass over here!
I don't know if this has a specific meaning in the US, perhaps it's just copy-cats but there's a video store across the road from me here in Cape Town that calls itself Blockbuster. So clearly the one in TFA isn't exactly the last one.
One thing I know, and that is that I am ignorant...
Yes, that sentence needs work, but don't hold your breath waiting for M'Smash to fix it. English is like his penultimate language, only followed by his non-compiling C code.
The last remaining Blockbuster in Australia closed on 31 March. Now, there is only one left on the planet.
Does anyone remember their Blockbusters keeping the actual movie or game in the box on the shelf? If I remember right they would have an empty placeholder movie/game cover, and if there were any copies in stock they would be behind it. I think that always annoyed me as sometimes it was hard to tell if there was anything behind the placeholder. Sometimes it would look like there was one in stock and then you lift it up and... nothing. Always thought that was kind of mean of Blockbusters. Maybe that was just a weird dream though, and in actuality they did things differently.
(And on a side note, you'd think that would have made theft of their items a lot easier, rather than keeping everything behind the counter).
... this headline would be an April Fools joke.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The Nazis have one in their moonbase
So let me tell how your cool story actually reads:
Similar late fee problem here -- except it was for a movie that had been rented (and forgotten). Returned it weeks before and finally wanted a new rental
I was irresponsible and failed to honor my obligations as set forth in the rental agreement. I put my late return in the box and hoped I'd get away with it. Even though I really should have known better; because its not like they don't track these things..
The late fees came to something like $96. I laughed at them and offered to buy the movie instead ($40 range). They declined. They wanted their ridiculous late fees.
I don't understand anything about how the licensing works for commercial video rental media or the profit model the video rental industry operated on at the time. My ignorance is so cool right guys?
The conversation got a bit heated (me :) and they reminded me they had my credit card on file and would just charge it anyway.
I threw a tantrum but the clerk in the store remained clam and did his job like a professional.
I declined. Excused myself to "think about it" and go find another movie to rent (not). Went to the back of the store, called the bank, and cancelled the card in question.
Rather than accept and pay the debt I legitimately incurred; I moved to skip out on the bill. Also I stupid because the fact is they still have my name and address and they could easily slam my credit and send the debt to collections. Which would and very well may have cost me a lot more than $96 in long run..
Handed them my non-rentals on the way out the door (why should I put them back?). Let them know as I was passing to go ahead and close the account and "good luck" getting any charges through. They were bankrupt within a year.
I continued to behave like a dick, and probably only avoided debt collections and negative credit report issues because the company was already struggling and probably short staffed. Thanks at least in a very small part to my shitty behavior a business owner lost their franchise. Yeah! me!
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
I remember they asked my dad for his social security number and it somehow sent him into a PTSD freakout in the middle of the video store.
First he lectures the pimply teenager about the risks of sharing his SSN and that it should only be given to employers and the IRS. Working himself into a frenzy that finally comes to a head when they cashier awkwardly responds "th-the system needs it to enter..." Then his whole face turned, veins swelled and pumped angrily across his forehead.
It would take about a minute for something to get him in this state. I didn't know he was crazy at the time, it seemed normal but it was terrifying to other people who weren't used to it.
He'd grind his teeth together so hard that chips and fillings would fly out and his blood pressure would get so high that the blood vessels in his eyes would spontaneously burst leaving him looking like a demon for weeks, but sadly not today. He smashes his finger down onto the form , "I WILL NOT FUCKING SIGN THIS IT IS STUPID YOU SON OF A BITCH MOTHERFUCK!" I wrote down a random series of numbers with a 00 in the middle. Father screaming "NO! NO! NO! THEY WILL STEAL UR IDENTITY!!." The PoS system seemed to need this as a key field and took my bullshit SSN without complaint. I'm sure they used it for collections sometimes but being a kid myself I know that the video store guy couldn't give a fuck as long as he gets unlimited free rentals and enough to pay for gas and weed.
Anyhow my dad was bonkers but he wasn't wrong. The reason the video store went out of business so fast was because even though they serviced mostly people living within a half mile of a small stretch of road. So did 2 other video stores that were literally visible from their parking lot. I'm sure he made a steady stream of extra money by handing out 20 and 30 dollar late fees for old titles but was already losing money being people's 3rd choice in video store after getting fucked once.
As soon as people had netflix via mail there was zero chance they were going to bother with that mess even if they enjoyed the experience of picking up a pizza and a video.
Still it's fundamentally punitive because any competent business owner who's lent out a movie, could be making $30 a week on it, and hasn't got it back would surely buy another copy. Nobody with any sense would willingly forgo that opportunity cost, just because they might make it back in fines later.
I'm pretty sure we've been sitting on the same set of netflix dvds since before our kid was born. Has netflix really left some poor sucker waiting 6 years to borrow this discs after I'm done? I doubt it.
If you are talking about Blockbuster still, and not other indy video stores, I can affirm that they did not need the customers' SSNs for their system. I always simply wrote in PRIVACY ACT in the SSN space whenever I would get a new membership at any video store (including BB), and they didn't care one way or the other. They didn't get paid anywhere near enough to care about something like that.
This space unintentionally left blank.
It's more of the experiences you have while going to the video store that makes it so much different (not better or worse imho). I'm 38, have been going to video stores since I was 5 (mostly for video games) and worked at a Hollywood Video for my first real job from 16-17 years old. It was the best, and worst, job ever. They actually ran To this day I have dreams of that place and trying to work the PoS machines, remember hotkeys, etc.. they used PCAnywhere to get into the network, it was tied to the guest phone line (along with the credit card machine, hello). One time a lady computer/network tech came in and asked my boss if the terminals we had were "dumb terminals". My boss looked at her with a half-confused, half-smiling face and said, "They're not dumb..." When I put in my 2 weeks notice for being fed up with getting my raise at the *exact* same time minimum wage went up for the state, twice, for 2 years - and also for my boss throwing a thick pad of paper at me, hitting me in the eyelid and making it bleed...oh and because corporate screwed the entire company over with a huge sales campaign/push with promise of prizes like leather bags, jackets, videos, etc. depending on how much you sell, and never actually giving us any of it...and of course I was sick AF of wearing those stupid fucking red bow-ties and cummerbunds. And because even with that stupid clown suit they made us wear, they made me put a band-aid over my earring because it was against company policy for boys to wear earrings. Or girls to wear nose rings. But some of my best friends were made at that store. I had the most fun there working with others. Fridays and weekends sucked though, especially closing (lots and lots of customers). And holidays. But I'm still so glad I worked there. Even though the corporation itself sucked ass.
There is less room for an "experience" w/streaming services but I guess hanging out with friends/family, and what is happening around the actual streaming would be considered the equivalent of going to a video store and interacting with others looking for movies. Hey there's a good idea, have like a chat "lounge" with others, make it social, be able to friend people, get suggestions, ...there's a lot missing from streaming services that was to be experienced at a brick + mortar video store. Blockbuster is awesome because it was a *huge* part of the video store experience that most people around my age have fond memories of.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
One time, many many years ago (2002ish), my ex and I rented a movie as we did rather infrequently. No problem, dropped it back in the slot a few days later, several hours before it was due. No big deal, right?
About two months later, I get a notice from some collection agency that apparently I owed Blockbuster something like a buck in late fees, but that the collection agency was tacking on something like $20 to collect on it. No prior warning, no call, no letter, no nothing. I was especially pissed because I know it wasn't late. So I took my ex-wife's card and my card, cut them into little tiny pieces, and went into the store with a copy of everything. Paid the manager a dollar, pointed out that over a single dollar they'd never see me again, tossed the tiny card remnants in the air like confetti, and exited the premises. Called the collection agency, told them I'd satisfied my debt with the asshats and if they really wanted their dollar, they could take me to court. Last I heard of them.
When I saw the "going out of business" sign go up a year or two later, I made my own addition. A laminated 8-1/2 by 11 that simply said, "Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of extortionists and thieves." I went over one night, taped it to their door, and left.
Interesting. This is the kind of dickish behaviour I normally see associated with ACs. Did you forget to check the little box before posting?
Now go fuck yourself you worthless shame of a human being.
Do you understand how commas work? The editors do. If you think you understand commas then why would you proceed to ask a question about only a fragment of the sentence?
The only question to ask is: "Was it the last remaining Blockbuster Video in Australia", to which the answer is, yes.
Yes, that sentence needs work
No it doesn't. People just need to know how commas work.
Rented on a whim. Good lord that is an awesome movie (and soundtrack)!
Eventually saw it at a theater (saw Princess and the Dragon the same night, different theaters, epic German movie night).
Also stumbled upon Floundering at Blockbuster. Tis a good movie to stumble upon, but rather incoherent.
BlameBillCosby.com
Well why not have an automated system then. When the late fine surpasses the cost of a new copy... automatically order another copy. Cap the customers late fines at the price of the new movie. Store gets it's new copy to give out while hoping the customer comes back. Customer is considerably less likely to refuse the late fee or hang on to the movie forever. Store now has 2 copies of the movie, and can either keep renting both out, or throw one onto the used movies table for even more money. It seems far more win win of a situation than "pray the customer returns, and if he does punish him hard enough to make him feel stupid for returning".
I'm pretty sure we've been sitting on the same set of netflix dvds since before our kid was born. Has netflix really left some poor sucker waiting 6 years to borrow this discs after I'm done? I doubt it.
Apparently you only rent new titles. I currently have 110 titles in my "Saved" list on Netflix. It's been much higher in the past. I've deleted a lot from that list. Though there have been a few that they did replace eventually. However I know that several have been there for over 10 years now. So no, they don't replace older titles when they don't get returned.
It can take years for that to happen in some cases. Pre-2005 Doctor Who disks don't appear to get replaced once they run out of them. I've been waiting for the Tom Baker "Meglos" disk for 7 or 8 years now.