Blockbuster Is Going Bankrupt.

[Vidboy10]

Beleaguered rental chain Blockbuster's financial woes have gone from bad to really bad, with the LA Times reporting that the company will next month file for bankruptcy.

According to "people who have been briefed on the matter", Blockbuster has already begun meeting with Hollywood's big movie studios to discuss the move, which its hoped will help them restructure $1 billion in debt and allow the company to get out of leases on around 500 of its stores.

In total, between 500-800 stores (of a total of 3,425) will be shuttered as part of the move, to go with the 1000 closed last year.

It's hoped that filing for bankruptcy will allow the company to continue to expand into new markets like automated kiosks and online streaming, but even if just under 3000 stores survive this mess, it sounds like the days of the bricks-and-mortar Blockbuster store could soon be coming to an end.[/p]

Source

 

[Mantis41]

Another victim of piracy.

Now.... Why does Karate Kid keep saying can't render file........ Hmmmm.....

 

[Bladexdsl]

video rental stores are pretty much going obsolete anyway

 

[Mantis41]

video rental stores are pretty much going obsolete anyway

Quite true, with on demand services on the increase I would have thought they were a thing of the past.

You know they will blame piracy for the demise no matter what.

 

[Fluto]

Block Buster went away very quickly in Aus lasted 3 months then Video Ezy came in

in my town it was
blockbuster - villagevideos - video ezy
one after another they kept on buying the land

 

[Depravo]

I only ever use Blockbuster for cheap used PS2 games and even then it's rare to find anything decent among the thousands of old Fifa's and Pro Evo's.

 

[smash_brew]

I worked for blockbuster for 10 years. 5 as a general manager. I left a little over a year ago. To be honest im surprised that they have not completely folded yet. The store i was running was barely breaking even and that was only because we kept renegotiating the rent with the landlord. Glad i got out when i did.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I only ever use Blockbuster for cheap used PS2 games and even then it's rare to find anything decent among the thousands of old Fifa's and Pro Evo's.

Thing is, you only really want to go inside one when it says "Out of business sale!" and everything is dirt cheap.

But with Netflix and on-demand services, no one goes out and rents movies any more. Plus movie piracy is just as easy as music piracy, so you may as well just pirate a movie and watch it.

 

[FAST6191]

I can not say I will shed a tear for this one. Every time I walk into the place I get the same feeling that I used to get when I walked into PC world (for the USians in the audience think the worst best buy you ever went into/heard about/imagined and then imagine that on a bad day).

I reckon if they went the pile it high, sell/rent it cheap route rather than the cavernous open plan nonsense they have now and stopped trying to rip people off on hardware and snacks it might help- when I am considering walking into a co-op or spar to not get ripped off you know you are doing something wrong.

 

[injected11]

Another victim of piracy.

Now.... Why does Karate Kid keep saying can't render file........ Hmmmm.....

I doubt the problem was piracy. They got rocked by vending machines (Red Box, etc) and the internet (Netflix, Gamefly, etc).

It's hard to compete with things that are newer, more convenient, cheaper, and still advertised. I'm amazed Blockbuster has lasted as long as it has, but it's time to pack up shop.

 

[gokujr1000]

I'm not to suprised about this in the city I live in we have 3 main Video Rental Stores here is the order on how big they are:

Video Ezy ( Giant)

Network Video (Bound to go bankrupt)

Blockbuster( An old crappy store which no-one visits seeing everything they have availible is bad or already been played or seen 1 million times before therefore destroying every piece of nostalgia you once had)

And then theres simple things like Netflix and Bigpond which allow you to order your games, dvds etc. online via the push of a button.

 

[Revolution [9]]

I'm actually surprised it has took this long. The Blockbuster's around my area have gone out of business for at least half a year now. Things like Netflix and Red Box (for the average, law abiding citizen) must have taken its place.

 

[Bladexdsl]

there's still a BB here but i don't go to it cos they don't have many BRD or fail to get the new releases. that's the only time i go to a rental store now to rent BRD.

 

[The Catboy]

I would feel bad, but I haven't had a Blockbuster in my area for years

Hell thinking back I can barely remember where it was.

 

[DJPlace]

i'm surpised my blockbuster is still around where i am living.

 

[Scott-105]

I already knew this was happening. It kind of sucks though.

 

[gov78]

blockbuster lol i aint been to one of them in about 7 years... rental is basically dead i havent ever rented a video game or movie from anyware in almost 10 years

 

[monkat]

Old news...I mean from piracy to netflix/redbox, blockbuster has a lot of competition....competition that is a lot cheaper.

 

[OSW]

I can not say I will shed a tear for this one. Every time I walk into the place I get the same feeling that I used to get when I walked into PC world (for the USians in the audience think the worst best buy you ever went into/heard about/imagined and then imagine that on a bad day).

I reckon if they went the pile it high, sell/rent it cheap route rather than the cavernous open plan nonsense they have now and stopped trying to rip people off on hardware and snacks it might help- when I am considering walking into a co-op or spar to not get ripped off you know you are doing something wrong.

Have to say I agree with you there FAST. Even here in melbourne, I always got the same feeling walking into blockbuster.
Not that other stores don't try to capitalize on snacks and all, but the feeling from BB is just.. uncomfortable. And the prices were way steep!!!

Also, last time I checked there was still a blockbuster about 5 minutes away from me. Pretty big one at that.

 

[Jakob95]

Now where will I go and rent games and then burn them into DVDs for myself to keep now?