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NEWS: Blockbuster Prepares for Bankruptcy in September


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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:57 pm Reply with quote
Not like we didn't see that one coming but I do have a question. If the blockbuster near me closes does that mean they'll sell off all their merchandise or will it probably be transferred to another store?
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SukiSohma



Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 11:17 pm Reply with quote
wandering-dreamer wrote:
Not like we didn't see that one coming but I do have a question. If the blockbuster near me closes does that mean they'll sell off all their merchandise or will it probably be transferred to another store?


Well I can't say for sure what will happen, but when a blockbuster near me closed last year, they sold all their inventory.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 11:29 pm Reply with quote
As I scrolled down to read the full article, the Netflix add caught my eye.
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 11:55 pm Reply with quote
And the internet kill anther business and its a shame to it was a good place to
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:17 am Reply with quote
Kinda sad since it was Blockbuster that ignited my interest in anime in the first place. I mostly stopped being their customer when they axed their anime selection from an impressive one for a video store in the early 90's to completely 0 anime titles after I'm guessing a management change.

Their business model never could get away from concentrating on physical media and retail. I see why their demise was expected.
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Zach



Joined: 15 Aug 2010
Posts: 16
Location: Seattle, WA.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:36 am Reply with quote
firedragon54738 wrote:
And the internet kill anther business and its a shame to it was a good place to


No, it wasn't. Their draconian late fee policies, over-stocking on new releases and the initial shutting down of mom 'n pop video stores due to the rise of Blockbuster in the nineties means this was a long time coming. Good riddance, and support Netflix, they're everything Blockbuster never was.
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Keonyn
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Joined: 25 May 2005
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:52 am Reply with quote
Well, I agree and disagree with Zach. I don't think the shutting down of mom 'm pop video stores had anything to do with it. Sure it's sort of karma, but I doubt that had much to do with the cause of the collapse.

Their late fee policies certainly were a bit severe, and their guarantee that they'd have major new releases no doubt resulted in them buying far more rental copies than was necessary for a lot of films.

I think the primary reason for their demise was the common problem of a large company viewing itself as secure and being unwilling to innovate. This has happened hundreds of times and will likely continue to happen.

A major example of this in the past was AT&T. In the 90's they pretty much had a firm grip on both the cellphone and long-distance market. As digital cellphone technology began to appear the company was slow and unwilling to adopt, often cited from press releases that they saw no major benefit and didn't think digital cells would take off. They were wrong, and the little companies like Sprint that did adopt took the market from AT&T in a year. The fact these networks were cheaper to operate and had more bandwidth also meant these carriers could offer free long-distance, which did a double whammy against AT&T by also decreasing the strength of that side of their business. They eventually folded and fell in with Cingular, though they've since recovered primarily due to the exclusive iPhone(blech) offering.

This has a lot in common with that since Blockbuster was slow to respond to new technology coming in and changing the industry. Netflix showed up with the internet based service, and Redbox sweeps in with convenient little kiosks all over the place. All of these offer a more practical and convenient and cheaper service than Blockbuster, and they all have less overhead on top of that. Sure Blockbuster eventually responded, but not until these new rivals basically took a huge chunk of the overall market share. They were also irresponsible with their store positioning in some cases. I know near me there were two full staffed stores 10 blocks from each other, literally less than 5 minutes between them. There is no reason this area couldn't have been served by just one of them, and not surprising one of them did finally close last year.

the biggest shame of all is that it's the employees that lose their jobs when these companies have these problems that pay the biggest price for their failure, even though their role in it was the smallest.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:02 am Reply with quote
Keonyn wrote:

I think the primary reason for their demise was the common problem of a large company viewing itself as secure and being unwilling to innovate. This has happened hundreds of times and will likely continue to happen.


Blockbuster is probably the shining example of this - When Redbox was first launching their initial intent was to partner with Blockbuster, who promptly told them to f*ck off and said they'd never go anywhere.

Now those guys are millionaires and have taken a massive chunk out of Blockbuster's business. Good thinkin', Blockbuster!
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Zach



Joined: 15 Aug 2010
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Location: Seattle, WA.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:07 am Reply with quote
Keonyn wrote:
Well, I agree and disagree with Zach. I don't think the shutting down of mom 'm pop video stores had anything to do with it. Sure it's sort of karma, but I doubt that had much to do with the cause of the collapse.


The mom 'n pop video stores being shut down wasn't a reason for this eventual bankruptcy filing, I was refuting that it's a "shame" that they're going bankrupt because it was a "good place", and pointing out various points in the company's history of fishy business practices. My point basically was they are getting their just desserts for past transgressions.

It's pretty clear the reason Blockbuster is going under is that they couldn't compete with Netflix and Redbox as alternatives, and refused to compromise some of the business practices already brought up earlier. And good riddance, Netflix has a better selection in general than Blockbuster has ever had.


Last edited by Zach on Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:30 am; edited 1 time in total
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msgundam2



Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 271
Location: Indiana USA
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:07 am Reply with quote
firedragon54738 wrote:
And the internet kill anther business and its a shame to it was a good place to

You should protest by no longer using the internet.
I'm a Netflix user so I will not be affected by this.
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Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:10 am Reply with quote
There's nothing tragic about Blockbuster going bankrupt. It's simply a result of the changing times. Blockbuster thought they could ride the 90s tidal wave years after it receded, and they're paying the price.


And I'm totally going Blockbuster-surfing to get a bunch of Anime DVDs for killer prices. They're probably scratched to hell, but I'm sure they'll be cheap enough to justify it. I bought a complete Sailor Moon VHS set off of a defunct mom n' pop place for like fifty cents a tape.
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Drunk_Samurai



Joined: 18 Jan 2009
Posts: 133
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:16 am Reply with quote
So exactly how is this anime news?

We all knew it would happen as soon as Apple started iTunes. We knew that there would be one for movies eventually and would make companies like Blockbuster go out of business.
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Keonyn
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Joined: 25 May 2005
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:19 am Reply with quote
It's news because Blockbuster is still a source for anime DVD rentals, in some areas more than others. Regardless, if you think that news articles are not news then feel free to use the ANN Feedback forum to voice your objection or simply skip the article if it doesn't interest you. We want people to discuss the articles content, not whether or not it should be considered news.
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Drunk_Samurai



Joined: 18 Jan 2009
Posts: 133
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:31 am Reply with quote
Keonyn wrote:
It's news because Blockbuster is still a source for anime DVD rentals, in some areas more than others. Regardless, if you think that news articles are not news then feel free to use the ANN Feedback forum to voice your objection or simply skip the article if it doesn't interest you. We want people to discuss the articles content, not whether or not it should be considered news.


So are you blind or did you choose to ignore the second part of my post? Which is worse considering you're a moderator.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:33 am Reply with quote
Drunk_Samurai wrote:
Keonyn wrote:
It's news because Blockbuster is still a source for anime DVD rentals, in some areas more than others. Regardless, if you think that news articles are not news then feel free to use the ANN Feedback forum to voice your objection or simply skip the article if it doesn't interest you. We want people to discuss the articles content, not whether or not it should be considered news.


So are you blind or did you choose to ignore the second part of my post? Which is worse considering you're a moderator.


Nobody cares that you don't think it's news bro.

Second part of your post was fine, first part was annoying and pointless, just FYI.
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