@Moosehawk: Poster Moosehawk, you seem pretty savy about retailing. Do you think REDBOX and NETFLIX will raise their prices dramatically after BLOCKBUSTER folds? All the people on here may be then lamenting the loose of BB if REDBOX and NETFLIX double their prices. Remember, competition is always better for the customer.

@KhaiJB: Yeah Wal-Mart has good films. Wal-Mart had THE MALTESE FALCON for $5, mine now. They had 2001 A SPACE ODESSEY for $5, I passed on it, my bad. I got DR STRANGELOVE for $5. Steve McQueen's BULLITT for $5, mine. The orginal GONE IN 60 SECONDS for $5, I bought. ANIMAL HOUSE $5, me, me, me. Peter Jackson's KING KONG, I should have passed on it. You get the idea. I hate deadline's and I am a collector so Wal-Mart and even K-Mart (OLD YELLER $6) works for me. To each their own. Beating down on people who would rather own than rent smacks of false bravado and low self-confidence in your beliefs and as FLETCH said you will have to give back some of those Humanitarian Awards hanging on the wall.

Redbox is the nail in BB's coffin. For those who absolutely HAVE to have "physical".

I really hate what e-commerce has done to bookstores and others, not that it was much better back when the big B&M storefronts were killing the Indys. But with video, there's just not much to miss beyond local jobs.

Every industry big player makes the same mistake, though, of being too slow on the pickup. Probably Netflix will miss the all-online bandwagon, and the Blu Ray folks will be on the curb, wild-eyed and muttering to themselves, "wot happened?!?!?"

@Telekinesis123: Not when their game rentals are $8 for 1 game or $15 for 2 games for 5 days. Gamefly is $16 for a whole month of rentals with no due dates.

How about selling a customer a great "Membership" where for every 5 movies you rent you get one rental "FREE" ?

Ya... they didn't tell you all you could get for Free was a 15 year old movies that's been shown on regular televsions a millions times.

Or all the "new" releases were only a 2 day rental.

Or my favorite... charging your credit card for a movie DVD "purchase" even though you returned it after three days.

Thanks for nothing BlockBuster !

Too bad Blockbuster isn't cheap.

Instead, offer to pay people ridiculously low amounts of cash for their DVD and start a resale shop, preferably online.

@drjayphd:

Yep, a lot of crap. But when you are standing around with nothing to do while the W does her thing then the bargin bin is quite attractive.

Besides, my local store just got remodeled. The bargins are now on the regular shelves.

@KhaiJB:

The Shootist.

Shawshank Redemption.

Die Hard.

Yep, gotta love the $5 clearance bin.

@chao:

I understand monopolies and over charging consumers for crappy service quite well.

@Telekinesis123:

Yep, same phrase, different meaning.

@cc82:

Bought from scamBay? Hell no. That will never happen.

pleased to see i was beaten to the punch... this really tells it all.

Also, how about overly exuberant development to go with spending? There's a strip mall in my hometown that was supposed to have a Citibank branch. They'd opened and everything, and must have skipped town an hour and a half later. I don't even think the owners had even found tenants for all the units before Citibank bailed, and that building (detached from the strip proper) is now empty. Weird, because the Starbucks in the mall itself must be bringing in plenty of business to keep everything else semi-sustainable.

Not to knock rampant redevelopment, though. At least these newer strip malls aren't nearly as much of an eyesore as older buildings that have sat empty for probably at least a decade.

And more importantly, is it unreasonable to perform a full cavity search on oneself right before going to bed to make sure no one's hawking cut-rate cell-phone service out of your own rectum?

Good riddance!

Unless streaming catches up (if ever) with the selection of obscure titles and imports that a good video store would have, it'll never be quite as good for me.

@friedduck: I once had a blockbuster employee call me a liar to my face, suggest that my husband was having an affair on me, and then when I went to close the account, the manager asked, "Could you tell us why you are leaving Blockbuster?"

@mac-phisto: complain to the regional manager, you'd be surprised at what they can do for you. My local Blockbuster has some great PS3 games at $19 or less and the Wii stuff tends to sell for $9.99 used.

I've never understood places like Blockbuster that charged a premium membership just to rent a video. To pay to be a member at Blockbuster just for the right to pay more to rent. I've never used them and never will. But like one commentor said, I myself will skip going to WallyWorld and buy my videos from a store that pays their employees and a store where the employees speak American English.

Each individual card from each individual company is different, but there may be a set fee per transaction, plus a percentage.

I work for a non-profit that process some donations and payments via CC, and we get reamed on the fees.

I use their Total Access (DVDs by mail) service and find it quite reasonable. I do the lowest plan @ 2 DVDs/mth by mail for $8/mth. I can return each movie to the store (on my way home from work) in exchange for a free rental. So, I always return them on Tuesday and exchange for new movies released THAT DAY. Their selection is always outstanding too. I love it! And there are no late fees or return deadlines on either the by-mail or the in-store rentals, so that argument is obsolete.

I'm finding it hard to understand how people can want them to go bust, given the amount of jobs that will be lost and the fact that they are one of the things actually helping to keep Netflix's prices in check & innovating (e.g. digitial downloads). Monopolies are almost always 100% bad for consumers.

Not to mention the service was piss-poor. I've dealt with more than eight different BBs in my life (including four in the city in which I now live), and have rarely had a good experience. While many on this page are touting BB's game rentals, I've never been able to actually go into one and find a game I wanted to rent, mainly because anything worth renting was stocked with a scant 3-4 copies, all of which were rented almost immediately.

There is a Blockbuster less than 50 yards from my apartment, and I have stepped inside of it maybe 3 times in 4 years. Earlier this summer, I was finally able to afford an XBox 360 (the trick is to live in abject poverty and get a nice income tax return), and went in to the store to rent a game, and found none of any interest (to me) whatsoever; instead, the shelves were packed with rented out sports games and a few racing games. We eventually rented Synecdoche, NY, simply because we had already rented a pizza, and why not?

Two years before that, I went to that same BB because I had a hankering to watch the movie Heathers. No luck, their copy was rented out. I tried a different BB, again with no joy. On going to the last BB in Baton Rouge, I managed to find a copy. And here, I ran into the same problem I've always had with Blockbuster: when you borrow something from the parish/county library, you can return it to any branch of the library, but anything you rent must be returned to the BB from which it came. I understand that there would probably be a logistical nightmare if one tried to change this now (and I can imagine that there are arguments about different franchise locations being owned by different people and this is a conflict of interest, perhaps, if a customer wanted a copy of something that you did not have [a highly likely situation, going by my own experience], and you happened to have your competing business's copy, thereby making money for your location while the other location charges a late fee from their customer), but if this had been provided for some time in the past, before BB's franchise base became large enough that this was an issue, there would be no issue with it now. This is where the convenience of Netflix comes in: my best friend and I went on a road trip to the beach this summer. On the way, we planned to make a stop and visit his parents and younger brother. I wanted the two of them to have something to watch together, and, knowing that his little bro is a bit of a Green Lantern nerd, I got the newest DC animated thing with him in it. They watched, we mailed it back from out of state once we got to our destination, and I had a new disc waiting for me when I got home.

I don't want to go any further into my love of Netflix (I've commented about them enough on this site to possibly warrant accusations of being a shill), but back to BB bashing, that place is shit. And I will say that it's not as if (or, more correctly, was not as if then, considering that the Heathers incident was before Netflix had online viewing) Netflix can get you something immediately. That night, I wanted to watch Heathers, and I didn't want to wait until I could add it to my queue and wait overnight. And, as far as that goes, BB served me (relatively) well. In the long run, though, I decided to just buy the movie, so I don't have to deal with BB anymore. That, I think, speaks for itself.

Further, I am a collector/enjoyer of bad B-horror-movies from the 80s and further back, and BB has reduced the scant remaining few mom&pops that have these to rubble and endangered species status. Once, independents could hold their own based upon the clientele in small towns and pornography rentals, but the internet has spread even to the sticks now, and porn is easy to find without a trench coat, making them obsolete.

As for buying movies on the cheap (Wal-Mart) instead of renting at all, this seems like a terrible idea to me, but to each his own. I like my service because of the fact that I can watch TV shows for relatively little expense.

mine is running a BOGO as we speak, but when i tried to actually buy games that appeared to qualify for the promo, they told me they didn't. so f- that.

@nstonep: Actually, indie chains make most of their money renting porn, because Blockbuster is a "family friendly" company and won't stock any of it.

This may come off as making me sound like an asshole,but this is not my intention: What video store do you rent from? I have lived in many different places, and been to many different Blockbusters: in very rural Louisiana, semi-rural south, and a southern capital city (where I live now and have been to four different BBs), and I have never in my life dealt with anyone behind the counter who knew of a single movie that came out more than five years before.

If it is still policy, I'm sure they sidestep the whole problem by calling the DVDs "Unrated" or "Director's Cut" and then just not rating the new version.

Good ridance. I quick their online service and went to Netflix when they decided to alter my membership and cut both in store exchanges and removal of two free game rentals per month- yet keep my price the same. Hope they crash and burn...

Until they closed the nearby store, tripled their prices, and stopped the free coupon stuff.

Went back to Netflix.

I only use Blockbuster when:

I'm out of town on business and the internet connection at the hotel is too slow to stream Netflix.

or

I have an undeniable urge to rent something NOW - but half the time they don't carry it (most recent example: Barfly) and neither does Redbox.

They might make themselves at least slightly useful by hiring knowledgeable staff, but then again, I really dislike having films recommended to me by annoying sales staff. It might, however, be a good thing for the casual fan of movies, which is 80% of the population.

Redbox is nice for new releases, but otherwise the kiosks are useless. I don't want to rent b-movies from 2002.

@hillsrovey: Times change and businesses adapt or die.

People no longer use buggy whips, although blockbuster sure made good ones...

Their "no late fees" promotion that consisted of changing the name of "late fees" to "restocking fees" failed. NJ attorney general sued them over it.

Their mail rental program designed to compete with Netflix is on it's way to failing do to reported poor customer service and rising prices and changing terms.

Personally, after years of renting from Blockbuster, they jerked me around when I wanted to rent Blu-Ray's. My response, I joined Netflix and have not set foot into a Blockbuster store since.

That said, I am almost ready to sign up for Netflix. Almost because I don't watch movies very often, and hence would be forced to increase my movie consumption to achieve value.

@Oranges w/ Cheese is surfin the info superhighway: It might depend on the location. Mine has the New Releases along the wall and a tragically meager selection of older, cheaper movies in the interior aisles. They didn't have Wall Street when I went looking, but they did have Citizen Kane.

@mac-phisto: Your mileage obviously varies. With the exception of two, every single Blockbuster game I've ver bought came in the original box plus manual, which frankly, I don't really care for anyway. The prices I've seen at Blockbuster for used games have always been untoppable. With buy-2-get-1 free promotions and $6.99 and $9.99 games, I haven't bought a game at eb or gamestop in ages.

@TCinIowa: No, but that would be pretty damn funny! I guess since so many movies are made in Canada nowadays, it counts as "Canadian Content". Sheesh.

@Telekinesis123:

Cowtown! The BB on 17th Ave (near Melrose) has some cool folks as well, but I'm sure the stores here are going to go just as quickly as the ones in the USA.

I would say it's just a numbers game though. Entertainment is apparently what goes up in a recession and when your competitors are offering a cheaper service than you are without even having to drive to the location because it's delivered right to your home, it's hard to compete with that at all, even if you end up providing that service. You still then take into account that Blockbuster is still renting space for their locations, hiring and paying staff, and spending shipping fees to stock new movies and to move off the old ones.

I have picked up many little bargains in that bin tho. like 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' original B&W for $5 :)

It may be too late for Blockbuster to go and clone Redbox. Every grocery store I know of already has a Redbox, in addition to McDonald's locations. Blockbuster could put its kiosks in another fast-food joint but what's more ubiquitous than McDonald's?

Blockbuster should have reacted to Redbox 3 years ago.

Their best hope is to leapfrog all of it. If they can get into the digital distribution business somehow, and (the harder part) survive the next couple of years, they'll be well positioned when Redbox and Netflix are mostly obsolete due to physical media going the way of the 8-track. But Netflix and Amazon are ahead of them in that game.

I haven't frequented Blockbuster much since the grocery store near me got a Redbox. I went there once, hoping to find something a little more offbeat than what I could find at Redbox, but they didn't have much. You used to be able to get some back-catalog movies there, but the selection of back-catalog stuff sure isn't what it used to be.

Then they started to phase out everything good.

The only time I go to my local BB is if I want to buy Wii pre-played game... They have good deals on those, usually.

Stop charging so damn much.

I'd still rent from them if they drastically reduced their prices.

When Blockbuster online first came out, it was actually BETTER than netflix. I could do 3 at a time for cheaper than netflix 3 at a time, then immediatly turn them in and get 3 more in-store movies, and meanwhile, they would ship me my next 3 movies. Also I had a free game coupon twice a month for a game rental. The movie delivery service was slower by about one day, but it didn't matter because if the in-store switch.

Then they jacked up the price 2 times in 6 months, so that it cost more than netflix, they got rid of the immediate shipment of the 3 movies in the mail (so instead of having 6 out, you still only had 3, and now you were still stuck with a slower delivery service), and they dropped the free game rentals. So now it was an inferior service that cost more. They were in a position to remain competitive, but decided they wanted more money.

@mrbenning: 208 dollars, actually.

@TCinIowa: All movies come with mandatory French subtitles.

then netflix came along & destroyed their business model...

i really think they could have a profitable model, they just aren't trying very hard. stop the gimmicks, stop carrying 1000 copies of paris hilton's new b movie & round out your selection.

plus, with blu-rays increasing the cost of movie-purchasing to an average of $25-30, rentals will most definitely increase as the format expands.

Hollywood video had EVERYTHING, but sadly they've gone south too.

That's must be the only one in this country. Everywhere I've been they're rude, under-stocked, overpriced and dirty.

@mariospants:

Does Blockbuster Canada have to stock 80% Canadian movies and games?

@MonkeyMonk: Were you 17? Cause they have a policy to check for ID and proper age for anything R and above.

@SpruceStreetPhil: Lots of library systems don't collect fines--like subsidized busses that are free--the trouble of doing it is not worth the money they'd collect, plus fines and fees make patrons unhappy.

So, I searched out some local stores and discovered there was a whole world of movies out there that Blockbuster didn't carry. Then eventually I discovered Netflix. I haven't stepped in a physical Blockbuster in nearly a decade.

@Lincolnsbeard33: A lot to be desired as in it won't run on Linux distros.

Er..what I pay for netflix. I used to have blockbuster online and it sucked.

@fusilier: The Blockbuster near my old neighborhood stopped charging just $3 a movie a long, long time ago. To rent a new release was $4.50!

Netflix isn't doomed. They are a forerunner of digital distribution. If anything, they will be growing over the next few years, especially after blockbuster shuts down stores. Usually...I watch a movie once, and I am good. If I did your plan, in order to watch 5-6 movies a month, I'll have to spend double what I pay for Blockbuster...and secondly...Walmart's movies are only $5 after being out for years. Also...I like blu ray.

@suezahn: I don't think so. Blockbuster is closing a lot of stores, but the stores they're closing were likely the underperformers in the first place. And considering that have thousands of locations, closing 800 isn't as much of a blow. More likely, they're getting rid of the fat. I think Netflix still has a viable competitor in iTunes, Amazon UnBox, and Redbox.

@nstonep: Blockbuster is not the only place for B movies. Netflix has a massive catalog of B movies, and with some of their membership plans it can be anywhere from 50 cents a disc to $2 a disc.

There are still plenty of people out there that want to browse a store and talk to competent staff to help them find a movie. Blockbuster will never be as big as it was, but I think it still has a place in the market.

@mariospants: Redbox has alleviated a lot of this by having multiple kiosks in locations. And if you browse online first, and your movie isn't in stock, there might be another kiosk nearby that has it - if it doesn't, you're out of luck, yes, but if it does have it in stock, you can reserve it.

@Bunnyhat: But Netflix and Redbox are movie rental companies. So it does make sense for people to rent movies.

@Nighthawk Foo: Agreed. Since you can't browse the internet in the car (yet) without getting pulled over or getting into a wreck, the radio is the best source of updated news in the morning. When I used to drive to work, I would listen to WTOP and be updated on local, national and world news. I can't replicate that with any other medium.

@Michael Belisle: RedBox carries the movies most of the country wants - new releases. Once in a while I'll go to Redbox, but they don't usually carry movies older than 5 years, and it's very rare for them to carry more obscure movies. I was surprised to see "Memento" in the kiosk last time I was there to rent something.

@Michael Belisle: According to this NY Times article from last week, Blockbuster's "contingency plan" is to try to imitate Redbox:

[www.nytimes.com]

"Blockbuster is scrambling to introduce its own rental kiosks. There are now about 500 Blockbuster Express machines, and plans call for 2,500 more by the end of the year; the company expects to open 7,000 in 2010, a spokesman said."

@catastrophegirl: Yeah, I noticed that early on. Haven't experienced it recently, though.

@dohtem: and my university libraries have always had a food drive where you can bring a can/package of food in lieu of paying your fine.

@Bitter_Old_Punk: Wow. If you worked full time, that would be like 200 bucks annually.

Ugh. Has Blockbuster ever had ingenuity? Ever since Netflix started cutting into their customer base, the survival plan has been to copy the competition.

@StanTheManDean: Everyone else has already made great points. For me, the overriding factor that makes Netflix better than any other service is that I spend relatively little to obtain a lot. For what amounts to $2 a DVD, I can watch a lot of movies, and feel less of a loss if I emerge disappointed, despite my careful steps to choose a good movie. My money is important to me. If I choose not to watch a movie in theaters, and rent it instead, it's still important to me how much money I spend on the rental.

The reason why cost-wise, Netflix beats RedBox is because Netflix also offers older movies and TV shows on DVD. RedBox only offers new releases and campy B-movies.

Because of this, the hard sell tactics, and the general mess the stores are in, I signed up for Netflix last wednesday and couldn't be happier now!

@KhaiJB: Buying The Matrix for $5 is fine, but it's been 10 years since the movie came out, so I certainly hope that it's much less than original price. And I certainly hope you're not waiting until now to see it for the first time.

I had a Blockbuster membership 10+ years ago. I stopped using it within a couple of months as the hassel of goint to and returning movies was a royal pain.
I don't rent any movies now.
I don't need to see a movie when it is released to DVD. I can just wait until it showes up on cable and with On Demand and cable stations I have enough to watch to keep me occoupied.

If you don't use it now, my family and I watch a lot of movies instantly via Netflix. Ultimately, movie streaming will be the way to go - pay one monthly price ($15-$20) and watch as many movies as you want on your TV.

No VHS, No DVD, No parking lots, No late fees, No mailing.

And watch this happen to CD Music too. Why purchase and carry around music when you can get access to it anytime? (like Pandora).

The CLOUD is coming.

I switched to Netflix when it first started up and I never looked back. I was tired of being fined over and over again for being a couple hours late, etc. Screw them.

(My only concern is that if they do finally go belly-up, will the drop in competition cause Netflix to increase prices?)

(matrix? thank you... all 4 lethal weapons? thank you.. predator 1 & 2? thank you.....)

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Don't forget, the fee is usually capped to the replacement cost of the book (assuming you actually came into the library and told them that you lost it).

@Darkest Daze: I don't generally watch a lot of movies so for me, Blockbuster was convenient as I could decide on a whim that I wanted to sit down and watch a movie this weekend. On-Demand through my cable provider changed all of that. Now I can scroll through the list of available movies and it will begin playing instantly.

The pre-viewed stuff is worth it if you can find 3 movies you like in their bins. Easily 20 movies in my collection are from there. :)

I'd never rent there after a fiasco I had with a franchisee in New York who said I didn't return a dvd when I did. Before that, I had their rewards card and rented catalog movies just about every night (it had to be a buck or two at the time).

I think the last dvd I actually bought new (that wasn't a tv season) was THE HOST. Good movie...not worth 20 bucks. I used to be horrid with buying dvds...I have more than one copy of several movies because I forget that I actually own them. Nowadays I won't even buy the new simpsons or family guy dvds.

@mariospants:
There's also their "in-stock" guarantee. If you want to rent a certain movie from Blockbuster, and they are all rented out, you get a free rental. If you want to rent a movie from Redbox, and they are all out, then tough.

Sure it is.

Video games cost 50-70 dollars. Much like what VHS tapes use to run.

However it's not uncommon to be able to get a new release from walmart for under 15 dollars or you can wait a few months and get pre-viewed movie for 5-7 dollars.

Yeah my store in Canada just had a sweet DVD and video game sale - buy 2 get 1 free.

LOL, see thats why I like in store game rentals, and I know they guys at my Blockbuster - they're really nice - and they save stuff for me if I ask and even if I don't it's usually there. You can't get that post office box.

You really don't understand new media, do you?

@SpruceStreetPhil: But here's the thing - there's WAY too much retail space in the States.

Basically there was this thing that came along called the Internet. At first the fact that people bought things there was a silly thing that you could poke fun at (anyone remember First Bank of the Internet?) but really it was thought to be just a competitor with catalog shopping... or maybe the Home Shopping Network.

Fast forward 15 years - now Amazon.com (a single company that didn't even exist in 1995) is .5% of all retail sales in the U.S. 30% of music is purchased online.

Couple this with the follow-up to a terrible recession following a period of irrational exhuberance and spending and you have just way too much store space available. We'll have to find a way to repurpose that space at some point, for now it's storefronts that sit empty.

It's funny how the internet revolution wasn't taken seriously by most large companies in the 90's... and now it's killing Radio, Newsprint, Television and Brick&Mortar retail.

In other news - it's much easier to get porn.

If not, you're looking at a wait of anywhere from a few weeks to almost a year, depending on popularity.

I just stopped by a Blockbuster on my way home from the grocery store, though before that I think it had been at least 6 months since I'd been inside their store.
What I saw was sort of amusing: five employees (wearing uniforms that ranged from sloppy and ill fitting to non-existant) hanging out bantering with one another behind the desk in a store completely devoid of customers besides myself. Five employees in an open physical location on the clock with no money coming in to the store? Yeah, I think they are doing it wrong.

Oh, and they didn't have the dvd I was looking for either.

Make that more like 940 stores, or around 22% of their locations.

Blockbuster suffered from two problems - one was being an early success in a previous medium but failing to innovate (i.e., Netflix and downloads will be their ultimate demise); and two, years ago Blockbuster decided to go all moral on its customers and started offering sanitized versions of movies. That kind of crap doesn't fly (I'm looking at you, Walmart).

Combine all the above with several years of poor management and you get to where Blockbuster is today. They will die a death by a thousand cuts and wither away, probably within 12 to 24 months.

I have no interest in ever renting a movie. Ever.

Any movie I want to see, I will buy on DVD. Or maybe BD. But either way, I'm buying it.

No rental service of any kind, whether download, streaming, or physical disk will ever appeal to me.

Yay! WallyWorld...isn't that from Griswold's Family Vacation?

"Discounted" $5 rentals and i have to return them or fined?

"Discounted in-store movie exchanges: Under any Total Access plan with free in-store movie exchanges, you may exchange your Online Rental for a discounted in-store movie rental once you have exhausted all free in-store exchanges under your plan. However, unlike free in-store movie exchanges, discounted in-store movie exchanges: (1) will not count towards the number of DVDs you are allowed out under your Total Access plan; and (2) are subject to all of that store's terms and conditions, including rental terms, due dates and fees associated for product kept beyond the due date. Your in-store receipt will give you the due dates for these discounted rentals."

Can you get the games in your house the day of their release for rental?

@SpruceStreetPhil: Here in Flushing, NY, there was a BB & Pier 1 side-by-side. When BB went bye-bye, Pier 1 moved out of their store and into the BB location (I'm guessing the moving company didn't really need a GPS system to help them get there). Now the smaller Pier 1 location is empty (granted, so was the BB before P1 moved into it - I guess it took some time for the deal to be worked out).

There are few movies I would watch more than once. And if I want to, I can just put them back into my Netflix queue. I don't have room for a bunch of movies (although I do seem to make room for my large book collection).

We only have a couple redbox locations and they're always broken.

They are good for renting games, I think they should turn into small stores for mainly renting games and a tiny movie section if at all; I haven't rented a movie in 5 years but I rent games quite often, it saves me a lot of money and besides most games aren't worth buying.

It's still damn good for renting games, but as far as movies go, I don't think I've rented one in over 5 years.

Library: free.

Local video store: has deal days that would never happen at big stores; and has a nice selection that kiosks would never be able to hold.

There is really no reason to use rental stores anymore. I personally use a combination of Netflix (for movies generally), Hulu (for current TV shows), and the library (for entire TV seasons I've missed) to catch the stuff I want to watch, and all of those options are far cheaper than Blockbuster.

It won't be too much longer before we need to find uses for: newspaper buildings, terrestrial radio & TV, and whatever else doesn't fit in the instant gratification ADHD generation's lifestyle.

They tried to compete with Netflix, and couldn't. Now we're going to see them spend the last of their money on poorly functioning Redbox-esque machines. I like to think that they're building their own coffins.

Blockbuster's demise is inevitable. Their advantage of huge inventory will disappear when Cable movies-on-demand gets it's act together and offers more selection.

According to recent article - Redbox also knows that's it's days are numbered but saw a gap that they could profitably enter and serve for the next few years.

I love Hollywood Video though. I once had a late fee of over $60 and they still let me rent movies and make payments on the $60+ that I owed.

I used Netflix for a couple years and then let the membership drop when I got laid off. Six months later they were running a special and I decided to join again but they wouldn't let me take advantage of the special so I decided to just stick with Torrents and Redbox instead.

I guess that noise would be the employees groaning that just found themselves out of a job.

It does not make much sense anymore for people to rent movies. Between Netflix, Redbox, and the fact that buying movies have gotten so cheap now there's not much of a market.

Physical stores just can not compete with mail in services. They use to with VHS because tapes cost so much more to buy, but DVD's do not have the same margin.

I went completely digital with my music a few years ago and donated all my CDs to my local library. Best thing I ever did!

Having to work at a video rental store before I'm gonna tell you something.

I couldn't count how many times a day I would have someone ask me if this movie came in full screen. They would then always go on about how they can't watch a movie with the black bars on it, that they wanna see all the movie.

I try explaining to them, but it never works.

So don't blame Blockbuster. Blame the idiotic people that make up the majority of rentals that want full screen.

Actually doing something like pairing up with walmart and building inside them would probably been a good idea if walmart didn't already have red boxes in them.

@mariospants:

That really is the only reason I go to Blockbuster; easily half of my movie collection was bought there, usually at $5-$7 a pop. I've only had a problem with a disc once or twice and was able to return it for a replacement.

That is to say, without the economic clusterfuck, people wouldn't have had as much incentive to change their habits. Netflix probablty gained ground faster because people started pinching pennies and didn't want to give up movie night.

We don't subscribe to netflix, but we do have digital cable and several movie channel packages. At any given time we have a rotating selection of a couple hundred commercial-free uncut movies we can watch for no additional cost. We stopped renting movies from Blockbuster (except on rare occasions) once we got digital cable. The brand-new movies we can pay for and order through digital cable and the slightly older ones are available to us for free only a month or two after they are made available at Blockbuster

Then again, last time I went to Blockbuster, having a selection of old movies didn't do much for me. They only a couple of the old movies I wanted.

Of course Blockbuster is doomed. So is Netflix.

I would much rather buy a DVD for $4 to $5 at WallyWorld then RENT a DVD for any price. I get to keep the WallyWorld DVD and re-watch repeatedly at my leisure.

They still want us to rent movies like we did in the 80's.

Oh wait, it was actually very sustainable. It took Uncle Sam to come in and beat just a bit of sense into them.

If they didn't already have an online offering, I'd say they're doomed. But they've been working at their contingency plan for a while. There is a way out.

I'm going to miss Blockbuster just like I miss Circuit City.

Watch them blame this on the economy instead of their retarded business model.

Incidentally, Blockbuster Canada will likely end up surviving...

Funny how their competition has been around for a long time, and they're just now trying to figure out how to deal with it.

Blockbuster, adding to the empty strip malls that plague America

I'm sure NetFlix is hugely relevant...

Any business that capitalizes on punishing it's customer base, is in peril.

Netflix brought this upon them rapidly. The banking industry is another great example.

How much do you think the running costs are associated with a RedBox? (Stocking, maintenance, renting costs, etc)

Now how much do you think the running costs are of a store with a parking lot, employees, electricity & other utilities, etc?

Even if Redbox made an eighth of the sales of a Blockbuster they'd still probably be ahead. (Just throwing numbers out there basically)