Blockbuster Closing Over 960 Stores

[MalReynolds]

http://assets0.likeme.net/10916/large/blockbuster.png.jpg
Hope you don't rely too much on your local Blockbuster for game rentals, because the company have announced plans to close up to 960 stores by the end of next year, Cnet reports.

Right now, there are around 7000 stores worldwide, but many of those aren't too profitable, so they're being shut down. 280-300 stores will be gone by the end of this year, with the rest to come throughout 2010.

Sad? Course you're not. The death of physical stores renting physical copies of games (and movies!) will be a slow, painful and protracted one, and this just part of the process.Sources - Cnet (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10353762-17.html); Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/5361333/blockbuster-closing-up-to-960-stores)

[Dukefrukem]

Blockbuster is still useful for older movies... until on Demand expands their catalog, there's gonna be a lot of upset people out there.

[Grifter]

Sounds like a good idea to me, with over 7000 locations closing only a thousand really isn't that big of a deal and it will probably save them boat loads of cash.

[Shjinta]

I tried the whole "Mail renting thing here" With Game Access.. Had a fast turn around for me. Problem was all my games would end up coming in scratched. I got so fed up with it, I started to just rent at my local vid store. Hopefully they don't go under anytime soon.

[muddi900]

Sounds like a good idea to me, with over 7000 locations closing only a thousand really isn't that big of a deal and it will probably save them boat loads of cash.

That's over 14% of their stores. Sounds like a big deal to me.

[Wilkz07]

Hopefully they don't close Canadian stores as there is no BBV online here. If they do close stores in canada i'm done with renting as I won't rent from Rogers Plus.

[Codicier]

Typo in the title. The quote says 960 but the title says 980.

[rein]

Between online rental solutions like Netflix and $1 rental vending solutions like Redbox I'm surprised it's not more stores closing. B&M movie rental shops are up against a lot of less expensive alternatives. I have not walked into a Blockbuster or Movie Gallery in a very long time. Movie Gallery calles ever month or so offering a free movie rental and I don't even make it in for those.

[Shjinta]

Hopefully they don't close Canadian stores as there is no BBV online here. If they do close stores in canada i'm done with renting as I won't rent from Rogers Plus.

Ewww I'm forced to rent at Videotron. But I get 2 games for 10$ the Blockbuster across the street is like 14$ + a game.. fuck that.

[Yeti2005]

Blockbuster is trying to adapt but they're still too reactive. A few months ago they lowered their DVD rental to $1 a night and $2 for Blu-Ray to match Redbox but Redbox still wins because you can reserve your rental online.

For games they're still at the a$$ raping price of $9 for 5 days.

[Nerdious]

Mmmm, deep discount liquidation sales. I wonder if they're closing any in Texas?

[Iron Past]

You stay classy, Kotaku. Not only is that a lot of people losing jobs, but not everyone can get anything aside from physical copies of games.

I have not walked into a Blockbuster or Movie Gallery in a very long time. Movie Gallery calles ever month or so offering a free movie rental and I don't even make it in for those.

I wonder if Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video will be following suit. Hollywood Entertainment is hurting really bad right now (down something like 50% from last year). I'm possitive the Game Crazy I'm at would close up if a list came out.

[OldJadedGamer]

Blockbuster has a ton of problems that they never fixed. Like charging full price for super old movies, to games that are out way too long so that it seems like they are never in stock.

They didn't adapt and are now facing the problems of that.

[AgtFox]

Blockbuster has a ton of problems that they never fixed. Like charging full price for super old movies, to games that are out way too long so that it seems like they are never in stock.

They didn't adapt and are now facing the problems of that.
I would say more than even this (and I agree with you on the old move price and allowing games out for too long) that they took too long to react to Netflix and it literally destroyed them. They had to play catchup after Netflix had gotten a good foothold and were unable to do so no matter the "perks" they gave to their online service.

Gamestop could likely face the same kind of thing if things move more toward digital download and another company comes in as a one-stop shop for that. Now, Gamestop has hired someone to oversee the digital distribution section, so they may have already headed it off at the pass.

[tacitus]

Other things that killed them just plain consumer issues. I worked with a number of people who stopped using blockbuster because they returned things in a timely manner and were still charged late fees or said stuff was never returned. Their other problem was they oversaturated the market with too many stores primarily to put rivals such as putting local Hollywood Videos and mom and pops out of business. There goal of course was to monopolize the rental market.

... and then suddenly netflix and later download comes in the picture and kicks their butt. The stupid thing is - if visiting blockbuster been a pleasant fun experience they might have garnered some lasting loyalty. But you walk into ugly store with glaring overhead lights and surley workers, what do you think is going to happen.

Hollywood Video already closed a bunch of stores, including my favorite local store.

[rein]

Gamestop could likely face the same kind of thing if things move more toward digital download and another company comes in as a one-stop shop for that. Now, Gamestop has hired someone to oversee the digital distribution section, so they may have already headed it off at the pass.
I think the Redbox model is the best for the distribution of digitial software on a local level when we get to that point. The problem is how do you distribute the hardware? Hardware always seems to be left out of conversations when we talk about the death of B&M stores and the migration to DD. It's going to be interesting because I don't think console manufactures will be able to rely on the loss leader model they use for hardware sales right now. What would be the incentive for retailers to carry the product? Accessory sales? Big retailers would tell them to buzz of and small chains wouldn't survive. It's going to be interesting.

[johnperkins21]

They should have bought Netflix when they had the chance.

I completely disagree with Kotaku however. The death of physical rentals is a long way off. Will not happen before 2020. It amazes me how people who live in big cities forget what life is like using dial-up. And have they never been to a truck stop that rents movies? How are they going to use Netflix or digital downloads?

[OldJadedGamer]

It amazes me how people who live in big cities forget what life is like using dial-up.

There is a reason most people don't live out in the boonies.

[tacitus]

They should have bought Netflix when they had the chance.

If they had bought netflix they would have just gotten greedy and fraked it up. Of course netflix is so dominate now they might get greedy.

[Badger]

From a UK perspective this isn't all bad. Not all Blockbusters are even worth visiting, and some are in such a state of disrepair it's a wonder they kept going as long as they did. Sorting the wheat from the chaff won't be difficult from a sales point of view, those with a good games section will stay. Pre-owned and latest release games and consoles are far more lucrative than movie rentals, of course this could mean the gaming sections get bought out from under them and Blockbuster collapses altogether.

[Wasson_]

and so shall be be the fate of many such stores...

[ClannerDelta]

I gave up on Blockbuster because it was such a pain in the ass. I couldn't just rent a movie/game and return it. There was always some outstanding late fee. Every single time I'd go in there. It always ended up being some "glitch" or "check-in" issue. I turned the movies in on time (a few days early most of the time) and it would still happen all the time.

It was far too much of a hassle to keep giving them my money. Blockbuster seems to have forgotten that it's main goal should always be to make it as easy and simple as possible for me to throw my money at them. They seemed to have missed that point.

[Iron Past]

There is a reason most people don't live out in the boonies.

It's a shame that most of he planet lives in the 'boonies' by that definition. I will never, ever be cool with having access to things that I purchase be dependent on the whims of a third party, especially one as phantasmal as an internet connection.

[OldJadedGamer]

It's a shame that most of he planet lives in the 'boonies' by that definition. I will never, ever be cool with having access to things that I purchase be dependent on the whims of a third party, especially one as phantasmal as an internet connection.

My sister lives really far out in a super small town in the midwest... to the point where some of her neighbors actually own goats, and she has broadband internet.

The only people forced into dial up have to live pretty far away from society at this point.

[tacitus]

The only people forced into dial up have to live pretty far away from society at this point.
But even those with broadband are soon going to be hit with usage-caps if too much streaming stuff comes down the pike. Now, its sort of a gray area - but it will happen.

[johnperkins21]

My sister lives really far out in a super small town in the midwest... to the point where some of her neighbors actually own goats, and she has broadband internet.

The only people forced into dial up have to live pretty far away from society at this point.

True, but there are still a lot of places where you can not get broadband access. Or if you can, it's prohibitively expensive (i.e. DirecWay). I can see the idea of physical media rentals, heck all physical media period, losing its position as the major distribution method. Dying completely? Not going to happen this decade or next.

[Iron Past]

The only people forced into dial up have to live pretty far away from society at this point.

No, sir. I live five minutes from a pretty big area (that has broadband internet access), and maybe twenty minutes from one of the top ten biggest cities in the US, but still get can't it. Verizon simply won't upgrade the lines. Penetration is not nearly as widespread as people think.

[BabyJesus]

Good riddance, the one nearest to me closed and was always manned by inconsiderate jerk offs. You could never ever get a decent game, and their prices were retarded. Also sometimes had issues with returning stuff. They'd claim I didn't return it and I's have to argue with them to remove their retarded late fees.

Sorry about people losing jobs, but anyone with half a brain could see this shit coming for at least a couple years now. Probably will be gone entirely from brick and mortar retails shops in the next 12 months.