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Blockbuster Will Close Up to 960 Stores

Tilpots

Tilpots

macrumors 601
Original poster
Apr 19, 2006
4,195
72
Carolina Beach, NC
Blockbuster Will Close Up to 960 Stores

(CBS/AP) Blockbuster is planning to close as many as 960 stores by the end of next year. That would shrink the video rental chain by more than 20 percent as it struggles against stiff competition from Netflix and Redbox.

The store closures disclosed in documents filed Tuesday show that Blockbuster is having to cut much deeper than it anticipated to save money and keep its lenders happy.

Blockbuster now expects to close between 810 and 960 of its U.S. stores through 2010, up from the 380 to 425 stores that normally would be closed. If Blockbuster hits the high end of the new target for store closures, it will represent 22 percent of its 4,356 U.S. stores.

The Dallas-based company has closed 276 stores so far this year.
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Interesting. Other than employees and stockholders, will anyone really be affected???
 
Tilpots said:
Interesting. Other than employees and stockholders, will anyone really be affected???
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That depends on of it is a store nearest to you that closes. I have 3 reasonably close to me. However, one of them is my favorite and what I consider my "home" store. I would be really bummed if that store closed.

I imagine this could affect a lot of people. Especially, if they only have one store close to them and it closes. ...then it would truly be like that misleading Netflix commerical showing people driving out of their way to the rental store...only turning out to be the wrong one.

IMHO: Blockbuster > Netflix simply because you get the best of all worlds (physical store rental, mail service rental & online digital download rental).
 
The nearest Blockbuster to me (which was less than 5 minutes away) already closed earlier this year, so I finally decided to switch to Netflix, so yes, I can see it having an affect on the amount of customers they retain if people do what I did.
 
Antares said:
That depends on of it is a store nearest to you that closes. I have 3 reasonably close to me. However, one of them is my favorite and what I consider my "home" store. I would be really bummed if that store closed.

I imagine this could affect a lot of people. Especially, if they only have one store close to them and it closes. ...then it would truly be like that misleading Netflix commerical showing people driving out of their way to the rental store...only turning out to be the wrong one.

IMHO: Blockbuster > Netflix simply because you get the best of all worlds (physical store rental, mail service rental & online digital download rental).
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For me, Netflix > Blockbuster even though I cancelled my subscription earlier this year. Mostly, we cancelled it because I became a Papa in January and we've watched maybe two or three movies since, all rented through TWC's VOD service. Once things return to "normal" we'll probably go right back to Netflix. No late fees, instant streaming, good selection, and if you watch a lot of movies, it's a lot cheaper.

rhett7660 said:
Don't let the door hit you in the a$$... Good bye. To bad they are not closing shop completely.
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They'll more than likely close all the brick and mortar stores very soon, I'd say within the next two years. I haven't rented from them in probably 3-4 years. I won't notice a thing not having them around. They were always such bullies with their late fees that I stopped going altogether.

Adios Blockbuster. Won't miss you a bit!
 
My wife does the online Blockbuster subscription thing. Every once in awhile she'll exchange a move she has (via the mail) with another in the store. It allows her to get a hold of something immediately without her having to wait for it to arrive. That's the only advantage to the brick and mortar store that I can think of, and even then it's really not a big deal.
 
Tilpots said:
They were always such bullies with their late fees that I stopped going altogether.
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No late fees unless you take the film back late though :rolleyes: :p


They closed 2 out of the 3 blockbusters near me earlier this year leaving only one tiiiiiiiny one. :mad: My family doesn't watch enough films to make a lovefilm subscription worthwhile. And the films we can get through the TV on demand type service aren't always the best, plus I prefer having a physical dvd.

I know I know, I'm living in the past. :eek:
 
Am I the only one that will miss videogame rentals? I mean, 9+ for a 2 week game is steep, but if my store that is probably 5 miles down the road closed, how would I rent VGs? I dont really wanna do Gamefly...
 
instaxgirl said:
No late fees unless you take the film back late though :rolleyes: :p
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No, they can be twunts because if the movie is due by 12:00 PM on a certain date, and if you throw it in the drop box before then, and they don't scan in the returns until later in the afternoon, it's considered late and then you have to argue with them about it.

At least thats how it was in the past. I think they got rid of late fees or something like that. This was years ago when I had that problem on several occasions.
 
I noticed one closing down on the way home yesterday.

Last time I used them was last year, for a movie that Family Video didn't have at the time. Over $4 for a movie! :eek:

Give me $2 for a single night, and I am happy.
 
A lot of you are comparing Blockbuster from many years ago to Netflix today, which isn't a fair comparison. Blockbuster today is pretty much = to Netflix today. However, Blockbuster has some advantages over Netflix....Namely, the physical store option. Also, Blockbuster (in the USA) gets exclusive rental rights to some movies. Pricing is comparable between the two services.

I actually go into the physical Blockbuster store to get ideas on what to add to my online queue. The online sites of both Netflix and Blockbuster can't match the ease of browsing at a physical location. Plus, that store I mentioned has always had really friendly and helpful people. I go to them to help suggest and help me choose movies.

FYI: Blockbuster doesn't have late fees anymore. And if you're a member of the online service, you can keep movies for as long as you want (even ones rented at the physical store). The caveat being that you just can't rent another movie until you return the ones you already have out (unless you have an unlimited "movies rented out" plan). Also, Blockbuster in the USA doesn't require movies to be "edited." That was something that happened in Canada for reasons I don't know.

Now, if Blockbuster didn't have any physical stores, then it would be a toss up between Netflix and Blockbuster Online. I tried Netflix and honestly didn't experience/see too much difference between the two. Site design was somewhat different. Speed of delivery about the same.
 
Am I the only one that will miss videogame rentals? I mean, 9+ for a 2 week game is steep, but if my store that is probably 5 miles down the road closed, how would I rent VGs? I dont really wanna do Gamefly... 4

Maybe evolve from the man (or kiddy) cave and explore the new world am just saying there's more than just sitting around and playing vg or hide behind a screen


4/UD
 
Antares said:
A lot of you are comparing Blockbuster from many years ago to Netflix today, which isn't a fair comparison.
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I disagree. Customer service goes a long way with me. If they wouldn't have been such jerks in the past, I'd probably still use them today. Maybe they're nicer now, I wouldn't know, and I'm not gonna find out.

On the extremely rare occasion that I actually had to call them, Netflix had great customer service. When I'm ready to get back to a movie watching time in my life, it's Netflix that gets my money.
 
yg17 said:
I've always found it amusing that a place called Family Video has porn.

Netflix for me too. I don't remember the last time I set foot in a BlockBuster or any other video rental store.
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Something for everybody :D

Our blockbuster started this rumor in town when family video was building it's store that they were a porn movie store. Got a few people all stirred up. First time i went in there i was impressed. Cheap, friendly service. The half price movie rentals is nice if you rent a lot of movies, especially new releases.
 
cantthinkofone said:
Something for everybody :D

Our blockbuster started this rumor in town when family video was building it's store that they were a porn movie store. Got a few people all stirred up. First time i went in there i was impressed. Cheap, friendly service. The half price movie rentals is nice if you rent a lot of movies, especially new releases.
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What part of MO are you in? I can certainly imagine some parts of this state getting their panties in a bunch (no pun intended) over it. St. Louis wouldn't care, the areas in the bootheel might.
 
yg17 said:
What part of MO are you in? I can certainly imagine some parts of this state getting their panties in a bunch (no pun intended) over it. St. Louis wouldn't care, the areas in the bootheel might.
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Rolla. It was kinda funny. You'd drive by and look at the building and it didn't look like any type of porn store i had ever seen. It's not so much that it might have been a porn store, it's the location of it. We have one but it's out of town.
 
I think redbox is starting to have video games in their machines, in certain locations, of course. Gamefly is starting to roll out their "vending machines" as well. They are yellow and black:)

Blockbuster, while i feel bad for the employees, is a lot like other companies that went out of business, ala Circuit City. They had people run the company that do not know how to change with the times. Why did it take a start-up company like netflicks to offer mail service 8 years ago? Blockbuster didn't start doing that until Netflicks started streaming online, lol. And the late fees, give me a break.

and $10 for a video game rental. Atleast there was only a $1.25 fee if you had the game for 3 weeks:)
 
cantthinkofone said:
Rolla. It was kinda funny. You'd drive by and look at the building and it didn't look like any type of porn store i had ever seen. It's not so much that it might have been a porn store, it's the location of it. We have one but it's out of town.
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No kidding? Rolla? I lived there for 4 years while at UMR. Yeah, Family Video definitely doesn't look like anything suspicious. Not that I've ever been in a porn store, but it doesn't scream "Porn sold here!" when you drive by it.

Yeah, I also can imagine the uptight morons in that town getting upset over it too.
 
Used to have a BB 5 mins down the road, opposite my local bus stop. Used it a couple of times, but stopped as it STANK. It was the most seriously smelly store I've ever been inside. Stale BO, puke, urine. God knows why.

I took out a ScreenSelect (=NetFlix) subscription for a few months, then stopped as I became a papa = no time to watch movies. That BB closed down a a few months later. Then Oxfam (charity shop) took over the store, cleaned it up. I've been in a few times, no smell whatsoever.

The location seems to be jinxed as a couple of months ago, the door fell off as I was going in. No joke having a huge glass door almost fall on you and your baby. (No harm done as it was swiftly held up by passers by but still.. )

Nope, don't miss BB at all. There's an independent DVD rental shop that has amazing films, and is nearer. But with a second sprog on the way, I never ever have time to go on.

Tilpots said:
Mostly, we cancelled it because I became a Papa in January and we've watched maybe two or three movies since, all rented through TWC's VOD service. Once things return to "normal" ...
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Welcome to the club. I'm 5 years down the line. And no, things never become "normal" again...
 
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