Blockbuster's gone bust (again)

estebanrey said:
When I was a kid we had lots of independent video rental stores in my area. A few years later Blockbuster came to town and opened a couple of large stores. A couple more years later and the vast majority of the independents had gone out of business.

If you live by the sword........
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That happened in my little island as well years ago...

Blockerbuster where meant to be paying only around £15ea for the lastest top movies releases so they could have a load of the lastest releases on there shelfs to rent..

Where the little independents had to pay £50 to £70ea for the lastest top movie releases and could only afford a few copys of each movie..
 
They moved too slowly with the Internet. Just like some high street music shops. It's the continued death of the high street. Just an inevitable truth as the Internet marches on

I rely on love film and physical media still, but have never used blockbuster. Should be called wallet buster really

Don't really have any emotions for or against on this one
 
AlecR said:
I don't buy films very often from places like Sky Store. They're just too expensive!

The movie industry need to make films 50p a rental, not £4.99! It's too much!
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If you watch a lot of movies or TV series, you're probably better getting something like Netflix for £5.99 a month. I notice a Netflix app has just appeared on my Virgin Tivo, so it's pretty easy nowadays to get an all-you-can-eat subscription straight to your TV. I'm sure a lot of the newer smart TVs are also internet/Wi-Fi enabled and can download straight from Netflix.
 
Steampunk said:
If you watch a lot of movies or TV series, you're probably better getting something like Netflix for £5.99 a month. I notice a Netflix app has just appeared on my Virgin Tivo, so it's pretty easy nowadays to get an all-you-can-eat subscription straight to your TV. I'm sure a lot of the newer smart TVs are also internet/Wi-Fi enabled and can download straight from Netflix.
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That's what I do (see above :)).
 
al4x said:
They moved too slowly with the Internet. Just like some high street music shops. It's the continued death of the high street. Just an inevitable truth as the Internet marches on
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Thats not whats killing it. Council rent fees and so on is.
 
al4x said:
They moved too slowly with the Internet. Just like some high street music shops. It's the continued death of the high street. Just an inevitable truth as the Internet marches on
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The media cartels will panic when their products disappear off the high street, and they are left beholden to a few big players like Amazon, who demand very low prices.

When HMV went under, the music companies panicked and wrote off nearly all they were owed because they realised there was almost no one on the high street selling movies and music. There's only the big supermarkets who only stock the top 50 and demand very low prices from the suppliers.

The media companies refusal to accept the internet and new business/distribution models painted themselves into a corner where the retail shops can't survive, and the customers don't want to buy physical media from shops at excessive prices.
 
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The cost of cinema will soon leave them with Amazon and Netflix holding them by the balls just like supermarkets with farmers
 
Its not just the staff i feel sorry for. How many people would have pre ordered the next gen consoles with blockbusters only to be told they wont be getting them and worse still, they have lost any money they handed over.
I know of one person this happened to and all the manager could do was offer them a voucher for the value of their deposit.
 
nick.lidgett said:
Its not just the staff i feel sorry for. How many people would have pre ordered the next gen consoles with blockbusters only to be told they wont be getting them and worse still, they have lost any money they handed over.
I know of one person this happened to and all the manager could do was offer them a voucher for the value of their deposit.
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I'm pretty certain they are issuing refunds? As far as I know they had to write a letter to head office, but that since got reversed and it was made easier?

I'm too tired to be googling.
 
garriec said:
I'm pretty certain they are issuing refunds? As far as I know they had to write a letter to head office, but that since got reversed and it was made easier?

I'm too tired to be googling.
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Im not sure, i havnt spoken to the person since the day the manager called to inform them of said events.
 
Popped into my local one and picked up nearly a dozen Blu-Rays at £2 each and got a further 40% off at the till, winner! There was still lots of virtually full priced stuff in there though which I thought was a bit odd considering the "Everything Must Go" stickers on everything.
 
Blockbuster should have gone the Redbox route, they are everywhere over here, they have games and movies its about $1.50 a night and they can be returned to any redbox. Loads of people use it over here.
 
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