Mervyn's closed their doors. Circuit City is now extinct. BLOCKBUSTER IS NEXT?

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xplaytendo

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 12:18 PM

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I guess NETFLIX wins....

Quote:
"While we believe that...we will be in a position to close on the amended credit facility on or about May 11, 2009, there can be no assurance regarding these matters," the filing said. "The risk that we may not successfully complete this refinancing...raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE53568L20090406

posters5

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 12:57 PM

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and to think that blockbuster almost bought circuit city, lol.

i worked at a blockbuster back in 2002-ish. during training, they kept telling us to promote the company as our customers' total entertainment solution, from renting movies/videogames to buying movies/videogames, from buying hardware (such as dvd players) to buying snacks. what idiots! why would people buy dvds for $25/$30 when best buy, wal-mart, and target had the same titles for $10???

not to mention the fact that they sold off-brand dvd players for about twice what it cost to buy a name-brand dvd player elsewhere. sheesh.

mvckalel

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 1:10 PM

says... I now own UP and Monsters, Inc. on blu-ray!!!

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In theory, the 'total solution' sounds excellent...but in practice, prices ruin everything...

Tim Raynor

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 1:21 PM

says... It looks fake . . . very fake!

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I think it's a sign of the times more than an economic slump that's hurting Blockbuster. People are finding that it simply is more convenient to wait for movies in the mail rather than beating the hustle & Bustle at over-priced Blockbuster. To me, it's a hassle to walk around a rental store and nine times out of ten the film you want is rented out. I find it a lot more hassle free to order films from the comfort of my home, and spend literally half of what I would spend at Blockbuster. Knowing that, it isn't like I didn't see this slowly coming.

JJ79

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 1:57 PM

says... Also known as The Movie Rambler

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Usual disclaimer: people being out of work is not a good thing. The lack of a nationwide competitor for Netflix prolly isn't good, either.

Good bloody riddance to Blockbuster if they go under. They've been overpriced from the get go and were woefully slow in adapting to new technology or business models. Netflix had them creamed from the start and 'buster continuously tried to reinvent intself...to no avail.

Jason

posters5

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 2:38 PM

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tell you a funny story...blockbuster's stores still use DOS for their database system, lol.

Love Hendrix!

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 4:46 PM

says... Thanks for visiting DVDTOWN, and enjoy the news!

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Tim said -

Quote:
People are finding that it simply is more convenient to wait for movies in the mail rather than beating the hustle & Bustle at over-priced Blockbuster. To me, it's a hassle to walk around a rental store and nine times out of ten the film you want is rented out.

FYI... For the last four years, Blockbuster has also had competitive disc-rentals-by-mail service (just like Netflix), as well as an expanded "Total Access" plan (of course you know this

)

Blockbuster still offers the HD DVD rental option (unlike Netflix), no additional costs for Blu-ray rentals (unlike Netflix), and usually has more of their titles available in the online queve (unlike Netflix). I'm reading of many who are now quitting or down-grading their Netflix memberships due to the recent (2nd!) rental-price hikes of Blu-ray discs.

Finally, while Netflix has a healthy #1 status in online rentals, Blockbuster is still by far the #1 overall renter of home video product. I read this info again not long ago in an issue of Video Business.

Unlike many firms on Wall Street who try to hide or gloss over their financial condition, Blockbuster has been open about it's business numbers, and whether strong or weak provides the info so they can't be sued for misleading investors, etc.

-JOE- (Love Hendrix!)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 4:56 PM]

tylerdurden

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 5:59 PM

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Quote:
FYI... For the last four years, Blockbuster has also had competitive disc-rentals-by-mail service (just like Netflix), as well as an expanded "Total Access" plan (of course you know this )

Not competitive enough, apparently. They're playing catch-up in the cyberside of business.

Quote:
Blockbuster still offers the HD DVD rental option (unlike Netflix), no additional costs for Blu-ray rentals (unlike Netflix), and usually has more of their titles available in the online queve (unlike Netflix).

Yes, they do support the BEATEN format. How much of that consumer pie are they actually making a profit on? Besides, why rent a HD-DVD movie for 3 bux, when you can buy it for 6!

Quote:
I'm reading of many who are now quitting or down-grading their Netflix memberships due to the recent (2nd!) rental-price hikes of Blu-ray discs.

Well get ready for future reports of workers getting LAID OFF from BROKEBUSTER, due to overhead employee costs, rental space, and other brick-n-mortar headaches. NUTFLIX doesn't have these issues. As for the Blu-ray rental hike from NUTFLIX: That sux for us consumers, big time! If BROKEBUSTER market "cheaper blu-ray rental" slogan both ONLINE & IN-STORE, they may just make a prof.... OH WAIT- they still have the brick-n-mortar expenses that WILL CERTAINLY OFFSET this theoretical profit. Nevermind.

Quote:
Finally, while Netflix has a healthy #1 status in online rentals, Blockbuster is still by far the #1 overall renter of home video product.

Given CHEAPER COST to do business via internet, instead of establishing thousands of brick-n-mortar branches all over the country - PROFIT VS EXPENSES has opened a large gap for NUTFLIX (not to mention multiple business partners for streaming their video, like through the Xbox 360 for example). BROKEBUSTER MUST FOLLOW NUTFLIX's business model if it wants to survive. Yes, it would mean closing doors & laying off workers.

Welcome to Recession, Brokebuster.

[Post edited by tylerdurden on Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 6:00 PM]

InvisibleBiker

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 6:48 PM

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Never liked Blockbuster and I do not care for NetFilx. I guess video rental stores are so 80's. I mean back in the day we used to go in and stock up on VHS tapes for the weekend. Remember when McDonalds would give away a series of movies over the holidays. And then there was Pizza Hut who had the dinner and a movie promotion. Yea I picked up Mr. Mom and a large pan pizza. I gues what I am trying to say, is that I still like buying, I still like collecting DVD's. I mean it was cool picking up a juicy pizza and getting a movie to go with those breadsticks. I mean we have become that society that we sit at home and wait for everything to be delivered, beamed, emailed, twittered right to our front doors. Go ahead call me OLD or OLD SCHOOL, but it was so much more innocent........man I miss the 80's.

Movielover316

Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 7:02 PM

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It's an end of an era, I remember in the 80's when VHS tapes sold for like 80 dollars new, and renting was really the only way to go if you wanted to see the movie at home. Not to mention the movie studios often had contracts with the rental companies to force a movie to be rented for a certain period of time before it was sold.

With Netflix, On demand cable, digital downloads, and cheap DVD's. There's a way to view a movie for pretty much everyone.

I was thinking about this the other day, I used to love to go to the video store it was so fun to peruse the aisles and my family used to play this game that one of us had to pick a movie we hadn't seen and we all had to watch it. It usually ended up being some straight to video POS but it was fun to mock those movies for their so bad it's good quality.

I live literally 3 minutes from a blockbuster and my friends and I the other night wanted to watch a movie, and we were actually debating whether we really wanted to drive to blockbuster. That's how used to the new forms of movie delivery we are.

[Post edited by Movielover316 on Apr 7, 2009 - CDT 9:13 PM]

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