Forum - View topicNEWS: 300 U.S. Blockbuster Stores to Shut Down
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roseversailles
 Posts: 236 Location: Washington, U.S. |
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Sad to hear this. It makes sense, as video rental stores are becoming obsolete with the advent of the internet, netflix, streaming, redbox, and the like, but still....
SO MANY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES of visiting a Blockbuster on a Friday night, gazing admiringly at the newest Sailor Moon VHS, or slipping Akira into the rental pile.... First Hollywood Video, now this.  Time to go shopping!
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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There were still Blockbuster stores?
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Sleverin
 Posts: 153 |
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Exactly my thinking. All the ones in my area have gone out of business or are going out of business. I'm still surprised that they're around. Wonder if any of them have the Ghost in the Shell movie, been meaning to see that for years. Might as well get it when it's on clearance right? |
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Asrialys
 Posts: 1164 |
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I think there are three still here 
The first anime DVDs I watched came from Blockbuster. But my fondest memory is that of printing my Pokemon Snap photos 
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jacksonh
Posts: 45 |
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As a kid I didn't have cable so I used to go to Blockbuster with my dad to rent numerous Pokemon VHS tapes. Good memories.
RIP Blockbuster |
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DeathScytheRuler
Posts: 103 |
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Yep. Pokemon Snap was the whole reason I went to Blockbuster. My local Blockbuster had their machine for over a year while most stores got rid of theirs after 6 months. |
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Mune
Posts: 382 Location: Minnesota |
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Surprisingly, my home city still had 2 when I was last there. About 5 years ago, they still had 3. So, it is a dying market, but it is not an instantly dying market. This is probably because of 2 reasons that I can think.
The first is that internet speeds are not universally upgraded. I may get up to 68mbps down/30mbps up here in my current city with a population of 85,000, but in my home city, I was getting 1.5mbps down/0.5mbps up and it was the best offered for a city with a population of 87,000. The second reason is that old habits are hard to break for a lot of people. I'm currently trying to get my parents to leave their satellite provider and replace it with Netflix. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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The one in my town is now a Mattress Giant. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14888 |
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My bro used to work there part-time in high school - that's how we got so many free rentals! My Blockbuster card has an address where the Blockbuster hasn't existed in years (and we used to have 2 within a couple minutes of each other).
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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There were three Blockbusters and one Hollywood Video within quick driving distance of our house ( less than 3 miles ) when we moved here in 2006. Now only the furthest Blockbuster is left and considering it's location it may not survive this round of closures.
On the other hand there are two RedBox machines within walking distance of our house at the local Walgreen's. We've never rented from the bricks & mortar stores, the RedBox machines get used only occasionally, as we signed up with NetFlix shortly after moving. Mark Gosdin |
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NJ_
 Posts: 3108 Location: Wallington, NJ |
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Meh, the only thing good about Blockbuster and Hollywood Video to me was the few stores that had old WWF Coliseum Video tapes. Good times that was, having to drive through most of the damn state to look for some of those tapes long after they went OOP.
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rookie_one
 SubscriberPosts: 71 |
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the hollywood video by me has been vacant forever. the lone blockbuster in town wasn't vacant for long, it's now a men's wearhouse.
what few local mom & pop video rental stores died out years ago as well. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Blockbuster did what so many large companies do; they got complacent and it bit them on the ass. Both the ideas that eventually culminated in to Redbox and Netflix were actually pitched to Blockbuster before those came to be and they dismissed the concepts as too risky. Companies can't just rest on their current successes but also have to look ahead to see the changes around the bend. Blockbuster, like so many large companies that eventually fail, did not do this and now they're being destroyed by those that thought ahead and embraced the changing nature of the industry.
AT&T ran in to a similar problem when the cellphone industry started to change many years ago and it nearly destroyed them. AT&T was the dominant force in the cellphone market when analog cells were still the norm. As digital cellphone technology began to develop AT&T was in a prime position to capitalize and maintain their hold. They elected not to do so though as they felt the cost of upgrading their towers was too risky and that digital phones wouldn't take hold. Within a few short years AT&T found itself on the outside looking in as companies like Sprint, Nextel and Verizon took over with their far superior digital phones and networks. AT&T responded, but by then they were just trying to play catch up. It was only by piggy backing on Cingular for awhile to survive and obtaining the original iPhone exclusive that led them to being a contender again. Marketplaces change, and they change frequently. With technology the way it is today they almost change more frequently. Companies that can't change with the markets inevitably fail and make way for new forward thinking companies. Sadly Blockbuster is just an example of a company that fell behind because they weren't willing to adapt to the changing marketplace. By the time they did it was too little too late and Netflix and Redbox already had control of the new landscape. |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6394 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Very sad to hear about this. I remember my dad renting Goldeneye from Blockbuster, that was my first movie and if it wasn't for Goldeneye I wouldn't be a Bond fan (well more like a Bond nerd to describe myself) today. Also Blockbuster is where I rented most of my games during the SNES, N64, and PS2 era. Because of netflix, Gamefly, and streaming movies via high speed internet, it makes renting video from the store obsolete just like how VHS is now obsolete due to DVDs and Blu-ray.
Last edited by mdo7 on Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:13 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2034 |
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This is a shame. I don't really have many memories from video rental stores, but I can see how they would have a lot of nostalgic impact on people. There isn't a video rental store (including a RedBox) in my town at all (though there is an old vancant building that used to belong to an independent video store, not a part of a chain). I went shopping in a Blockbuster once, and it was pretty nice, but it was crowded.
I don't understand the fuss about RedBox machines. They have a horrible selection. I do all of my in-store DVD shopping at MovieStop, who doesn't do rentals. They are a nice store though, and they have HUGE horror and anime sections. Last edited by PurpleWarrior13 on Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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