Blockbuster to close remaining 300 U.S. stores [video]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-blockbuster-to-close-all-stores-20131106,0,2509893.story

by bdcravens • 13 years ago

40 28 13 years ago

jccooper• 13 years ago

Seems inevitable, but I do note constant usage at RedBox kiosks, so there's clearly still demand for local (i.e. instant) movie rental. Even with the (significant) additional overhead, I'm kind of surprised that a store's not viable as a local option with much broader selection than RedBox. I guess the long tail of local movie rental isn't thick enough.

bdcravens• 13 years ago

Costs of carrying inventory + employees + several thousands USD/month leasing costs for property

I'd say RedBox provides 80% of the experience; online options provide the rest. However, read the article, as it touches on the reality: the illusion of choice. Almost everyone who goes into a Blockbuster is interested in the same couple of dozen options that the RedBox provides for a fraction of the (business) cost. For the most part, everything else that was in Blockbuster was merely filler.

jack-r-abbit2• 13 years ago

Agreed. When we went into Blockbuster, we started at one end of the New Release wall and walked the store perimeter. If we didn't find anything in the New Releases, we usually just left. Every once in awhile, we checked out the middle shelves... but rarely. Blockbuster would also carry dozens of copies of the same movie... devoting entire sections of a shelf unit it. I don't know how many copies any given Redbox machine has at any one time. Since you can return the disc to any machine, the stock self rotates a little.

gambler• 13 years ago

All of the factors you mentioned existed before Blockbuster went bankrupt.

I found nearly half of the good movies I ever watched simply by looking at DVD covers of older titles there. Yes, it had lots of filler. Netflix has even more filler percentage-vise.

The thing I disliked about Blockbuster was that renting new stuff there was a stressful experience where you felt ripped off at the end. It was too expensive and the time limits were way too short.

cstejerean• 13 years ago

Redbox kiosks are almost 5x cheaper than renting from iTunes or Amazon. I suspect this has a lot to do with the strong demand for Redbox compared to online instant rental alternatives. The other factor is the availability of devices for streaming movies on the living room TV, but that gap is closing fast with new TVs, BluRay players, game consoles and Apple TV and related devices.

For long tail, Blockbuster wouldn't stand a chance against online alternatives at the price point needed to support physical stores. From what I remember of Blockbuster (and it's been years since I've been to one), their rentals were about the same price as renting from iTunes today. Not to mention that most of the really long tail content is available for instant streaming from Netflix, even if you didn't want to wait for a DVD.

kenrikm• 13 years ago

I would like to add that they can be ripped so you can get a illegal copy without the fear that the MPAA will track down your IP.

mmanfrin• 13 years ago

I imagine the proliferation of RedBox is due to a few points:

  1) It promotes DVD purchasing (by encouraging DVD usage). 
  2) It is a complimentary service to your local 7-11/CVS/Safeway. 
      Pick up a box of popcorn with your movie. 
  3) RedBox buys DVDs in the same schema that Blockbuster 
      did -- a schema content producers are used to.

smaili• 13 years ago

As someone who grew up with Blockbuster but now have become a hacker, I'm torn between the old fashioned enjoyment of getting out of the house to rent movies, and the efficiency of online services like Netflix and Hulu.

adventured2• 13 years ago

There's an individually owned rental store a few minutes from my house (the Blockbuster nearby closed, as well as the Hollywood Video), I always go there to get the new releases. I also have Netflix and Amazon Prime, but I actually enjoy wandering around the rental store, looking over movies. I occasionally find new releases I wasn't aware of.

There are a few perks with the store as well. The lady that runs it lets me get away with murder on returning movies late. There's a vast selection. Older movies (6 months+) are $1, and the rental lasts a week. For movies not available through Netflix and Prime, that deal kills the rental cost + term from the digital competition (as an example, I Am Legend is $1.99 on Amazon to rent for 24 hours). So in my household, I can watch the movie today, another person can watch it several days later; that nicely beats what Amazon & Co offer me.

Overall I find the store to be a positive experience, I'm glad it still exists.

thenmar• 13 years ago

Are these DVDs? Blu ray?

yeukhon• 13 years ago

Yes. Rental store always have a movie you want. Well, older movies. Those Netflex/Nulu have difficult time to get. Netflix actually lost most of the older collections early this year http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/netflix-losing-movi... which makes Netflix have fewer titles to enjoy. I still can't watch Nolan's Batman franchisee today! How stupid Hollywood is these days.

ryanjodonnell• 13 years ago

Seems like a good opportunity for someone to buy the blockbuster brand on the cheap and re-build the company from the ground up as a video streaming platform. Of course there's a lot of competition in that arena but maybe amazon or someone else could utilize the brand?

winslow• 13 years ago

I believe Dish network bought blockbuster because of their contracts of getting movies earlier in order to use it on their own Dish Network On Demand service.

On the other hand, Blockbuster is a tarnished brand name IMO due to the way they treated customers.

jack-r-abbit2• 13 years ago

Blockbuster is a tarnished brand name IMO due to the way they treated customers

I've heard this a few times. Personally, I've never had a bad experience with Blockbuster. I'd been a card carrying member for over twenty years. Switched from Netflix to Blockbuster back when they were just DVD By Mail services because the added value Blockbuster had with the physical locations. I've not heard anything very specific about what types of things they did to those unhappy customers. The brand is not tarnished for me. I understand why they died. But it is still a little bit sad.

staunch• 13 years ago

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

mathattack• 13 years ago

At the office, I was going to suggest we all wear our Blockbuster memorial outfits of light blue shirts with khakis. Then I realized nobody knows what that is anymore.

bobbles• 13 years ago

The Blockbuster near me in Sydney just closed down and on the last day had all DVDs on sale for $2. They still had loads of stock left at the end of the day...

blisterpeanuts2• 13 years ago

How about a video store that lets you watch videos, ie in-store kiosks? $0.99 to watch pretty much anything in stock. They could offer popcorn and soft drinks (reputedly the biggest profit center at movie theatres). Don't want to finish it right now? Take it home. Have screening rooms for groups of friends to enjoy a film together. It seems to me that an enterprising person could make some money using this hybrid approach. It requires some capital investment up front, and probably some ridiculously expensive licenses to serve drinks etc., but once you're set up it would be a relatively low cost operation.

sillysaurus2• 13 years ago

Relatively low cost, and relatively illegal. Movie theaters are draconian precisely because it'd be so easy to usurp them if they weren't.

blisterpeanuts2• 13 years ago

What would be illegal about it, exactly? Note that I'm talking about playing DVDs, not watching first run movies.

acjohnson55• 13 years ago

I once came up with a similar idea, but probably more on the premium side: the micro movie theater. No need for showtimes, just make a reservation. Kind of like a private karaoke place. The perks are privacy, lack of annoying people, better viewing/listening experience than home theater, availability of new releases, etc.

I think the toughest thing would be getting the sound and viewing distances right, and what that would mean for how many people you can service per square foot. But in a modern cineplex-style building, you could stack all of these mini-theaters pretty high, I'm thinking.

DanBC2• 13 years ago

Almost what you propose: The Screening Rooms. It's a very small cinema. It has to-your-seat food and drink service, including wine and beer or hot drinks. It has wide, deep, comfortable seats. It has a reduced number of seats (maybe 50?).

It's a little bit more expensive than the regular cinema (right next door) but that's good.

http://www.thescreeningrooms.co.uk/experience

They don't show any photos of the inside which is stupid, because it's nice. This trip advisor page has some user supplied photos. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186284-d3207...

FedRegister2• 13 years ago

This would work wonderfully on a college campus. The only difference would be to make this "bring your own content". Provide fast Internet connectivity, premium cable TV access, VHS, DVD, BluRay, and current/next-gen video game consoles and controllers along with a screen so that kids in the dorms can take in a movie or play games with friends in a place that isn't their tiny dorm room.

If you're worried about copyrights and having your own content, split it into two stores - one small shop that does nothing but rent games/movies and one bigger area (physically separate, two separate entrances, owned by two separate corporations) that provides the viewing area.

MilesTeg• 13 years ago

This is good news if you want to be able to purchase movies on the cheap. When a Blockbuster closing a few years ago where I lived they sold off all their movies. I think it got down to $2 per Blu-ray movie by the end and I picked up more than I care to say.

Blockbuster to close remaining 300 U.S. stores [video]

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