Article about how Blockbuster Video went out of business

I rarely ever rented a video, and the stress about getting it back to the store (by 10am ??) to avoid paying into their core "business" ... the Late Fees.

I did use BB to rent an (original) Playstion in the 1990's and a Need For Speed II disc, to test out the play.

After a few days, I returned the player , and bought one.

Visiting my local BB was not a good experience. In the winter, the morons that ran the store, kept the heat too high, like 78F, or higher. So you walk into the store on a cold day, with your jacket on, and it gets very uncomfortable quickly.

I also remember well the folly of Blockbuster Music and their fall.

Got some good deals around Christmas each year.

 

Blockbuster also existed here in the UK, moving in by purchasing a national chain sometime in the early 1990s, and finally going out of business sometime in 2013.

In this town we had a branch which was only open for a couple of months at most. It had previously been a branch of Choices, a chain involved in video rental, plus sales of music, games and video. Choices went out of business sometime in 2007, and Blockbuster acquired many of their stores. Our local one was re-branded as Blockbuster, only to mysteriously close within weeks.

 

I went to FYE a few weeks ago, and found it had moved to a different spot in the mall. Sadly, they appear to be going down the same road as Blockbuster with a bunch of other merchandise in there. Completely different layout than I was used to over the last couple decades. I wonder if the same guy took them over?

 

I remember when Music CDs were an important part of Best Buy store displays.

Then it was movies.

The Best Buy still has a few CDs and it has movies, but the display space is cold and unfriendly. How so?? Well, it's not the "friendly" atmosphere that it used to be. It's hard to pin it down, but I just know it. I rarely go to Best Buy to shop for movies. Amazon is a more pleasing experience.

 

f.y.e. store leader says "progress validates" short-term profit pain

Beginning of the end

 

One of the 6 last Blockbuster Video locations is closing.

One of Blockbuster's Last 6 Locations Is Shutting Down in the North Pole

 

Our local TARGET, just reduced it's DVD space DRAMATICALLY! To about 8 aisle sides to about half that. Filling one aisle side with BOOKS and combining the cds and dvds in the remaining aisles. BEST BUY has done the same.

 

I’m sure the remaining will eventually be shutting down.

 

I used to love to go into Blockbuster's, browse around, and buy used movies. I thought they would be able to change and adjust to the the media climate.

 

They were stubborn and arrogant and it cost them big time.

 

H. Wayne Huizenga, Owner of Teams and a Business Empire, Dies at 80

 

I liked the Blockbuster DVD through the mail business, it's been seven or so years since I had it, but I miss it.

 

John Oliver did a segment about the last Blockbuster in Alaska. I'm not sure how long this clip will stay up, so apologies if it's gone:

 

There will soon be only one Blockbuster Video left...

There Will Only Be 1 Blockbuster in America Soon

 

And that one happens to be Oregon.

 

The original article that the OP posted called Blockbuster "one of America’s most beloved brands". Does anyone feel that way about them? Just curious because our local nickname for them was "Lackluster".

Even in their prime years I didn't like them compared to some of the local mom 'n' pop stores. BB had a less interesting library and higher rental and late fees. Going there was more of a matter of convenience since they were walking distance from my then-GF's house.

 

Reminds me of a meme I saw last week.

 

Other than renting an occasional 'blockbuster' I hardly stepped foot in a Blockbuster.
I was way more brokenhearted when IFC and Sundance started showing commercials and mainstream movies/ TV shows. Those were my go to channels from the late 90's to the mid 00's .

 

Only been in Blockbuster once or twice from what I remember, we didn't have one in my town;. We had Family Video (Which still stands), Carnival Video, Circus Video, and Movie Gallery

 

Sure miss the demise of physical media shopping and rental video stores like above, with wall to wall titles.

 

Anybody rent from Video Archives, Manhattan beach, calif?

 

The local Family Video -which took over the spot of the local Blockbuster- closed down a few months ago. I may be a dinosaur, but it's still hard to accept.

 

There's now only one Blockbuster left on the planet

 

I have some Blockbuster memories– for a time, it was a place to be and you could bump into a lot of your friends there.

They put the hurt on a lot of independent video rental stores by having dozens of copies of a new release title available to rent rather than just one or a few. Most independents could not compete with that.

There were a few independent video rental stores that I will miss, but I don't know that I'll miss Blockbuster. Some BB stores had interiors that were very dated looking and weren't exactly clean. Their rental copies and/or cases were often dirty or outright filthy.

Now you can buy a streaming device and rent films from a library bigger than what any Blockbuster store ever had, and there's no driving back to store late at night to avoid late fees.

 

The last time I went to a Blockbuster Video, some guy who was probably earning about half of my salary told me I couldn't bring a tote bag into the store. I never went back. I have to carry a tote bag when I take the train to the office. I don't have a car trunk to put my stuff in.

Wouldn't their electronic gate be able to track if someone left the store with a video that wasn't checked out? It's just like using the public library.