Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Blockbuster is up for sale this week. Expect the stores to be quickly shuttered and the remaining inventory used to be liquidated so the bondholders can get what's theirs. Carl Ichan's previous investment in the company looks like it will lose him money, though.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...lysts-say.html

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Just visited a Blockbuster that's closing and one that's not (at least until the whole company goes belly up). Ironically, the used DVDs at the surviving store are cheaper (and with the right of return) than those at the closing store. $9.99s and $14.99s there are $7.99. At the surviving store you can get $9.99 disks 5/$20 and $14.99 disks for 3/$20. $4 and $6.66 respectively apiece. The upshot here is: Don't wait, if there are titles you want at Blockbuster. These may be the last 5/$20 and 3/$20 deals we'll ever see. Blockbuster used disks may be going away forever very soon.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

That isn't new information. It's been mentioned and talked about over and over in all these BBV closing topics.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

The one in Dansville, NY south of Rochester is closed. I was in the area in December and did not notice any closing sales. Yesterday the cupboards were bare and the door was locked.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Pretty sweet used blu-ray prices. Today I picked up Push and Zodiac for $15. :thumbsup:

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Wouldn't they still have to honor some kind of return/exchange policy on used discs?

What if a disc you bought was so bad that it wouldn't even play at all at home? (of course, most inspect the used discs before purchasing them, but sometimes, it's the last copy available)

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

All sales are FINAL at the closing stores. I have a friend who is working at a closing store and he said they cannot even process refunds on their system...they apparently took that option away.

There are signs EVERYWHERE warning all sales are final.

So buyer beware, inspect those copies. When in doubt, put it back.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

In the news today (if hardly surprising). Opening bid set at $290 million:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...0-million.html

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

if BBV totally closes will they cease their 30-day early exclusivity rights to new releases and thus Netflix will get them ontime again?

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

/\ Doubtful. I'm sure the studios are still interested in driving consumers to purchase the sell-through, acting on impulse rather than waiting the 28 days.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

That's correct, sir. The 28 day window has less to do with the stuido's love for Blockbuster but more in trying to drive up revenue on sell through titles.

It will be interesting to see how a Blockbuster-less society changes this though...I would suspect that the window may eventually become greater.

By the way...Blockbuster received a buy out bid...

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/...r-290-million/

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

I would hope that a Blockbuster-less society would be more welcome to release NC-17 rated movies- although it's funny that my Vizio TV has Blockbuster On Demand and the NC-17 rated version of "Lust, Caution" is available on it (anyone who watches that movie for a thrill is gonna be VERY disappointed, but wonder if Blockbuster finally gave up on banning all movies with that rating?)

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

My nearby BB is closing down, but I didn't even spare the time to pick over the offerings this evening.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

I swung by tonight to one up the street from me and got some decent deals. Walked out with 8 Blu-rays for 83 bucks...all seem to be in good shape.

It was nice that everything was on sale, not just the usual PPV. So I got some older flicks I've never seen available (like the first X-Men), simple because they were trying to get rid of everything.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

83 bucks for 8 blu-rays ? Were some of them season sets or something ? There's no way that 8 blu-rays should cost that much. Unless they're some of the Disney Diamond Editions, I can't see how they'd be that much.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

$10 Blu-rays don't seem reasonable to you? :eek:

The one a block away from me is closing. I'll have to walk over there and see if they have anything good...

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Not for used. -ohbfrank-

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

I would say it's not reasonable for typical Hollywood used blu-rays. If these were foreign, obscure, or animated films, then it's a good deal for 8 blu-rays for 80 bucks. Typical used Hollywood blu-rays should cost from 5 to 7 bucks.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

i wouldn't consider that a super great deal for used. Plus they're not in the original cases, right?

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

The closing stores don't have the same deals as the stores staying open. No 5 for 20 or 3 for 20.00. Anybody paying the asking price at the closing stores are fools soon parted from their money.

And those Blu-Rays? Yeah...I bet you could have scored the same Blu-Rays on amazon.com for cheaper, if not from amazon.com themselves then from secondary sellers.


And more fun times ahead...
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Blockbuster Inc.’s creditors have agreed to a standstill on their opposition to a sale process for the bankrupt movie renter that a judge called “aggressive.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan court today adjourned a hearing on Blockbuster’s proposal to hold an auction to compete with a $290 million bid from Cobalt Video, made up of a group of lenders including Monarch Alternative Capital LP. Forty-five creditors had objected to the deal, including Walt Disney Co., Universal Studios, Yahoo! Inc., the U.S. Trustee’s office, landlords and a committee of unsecured creditors.

The stalking-horse bid is “the most aggressive document I have seen in 35 years on the bench,” Lifland said. “If anything is going to fly, this garbage truck better sprout wings,” he added.

Lifland said all creditors with the exception of Summit Distribution LLC had agreed to a standstill on their motions to reclaim assets or liquidate the company. A hearing on their oppositions to the sale will be held March 10, and Summit should get an accounting of how much money Blockbuster makes from its product until then, Lifland said.

Separately, movie studios formed an ad hoc committee to represent their interests. Robert J. Feinstein is a lawyer for the committee, which includes Paramount Home Entertainment Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc., according to court papers filed today. Members of the committee have undetermined claims for business done with Blockbuster before and after its filing, according to the document.

Blockbuster’s proposal to use the $290 million stalking- horse bid from Monarch, Owl Creek Asset Management LP, Stonehill Capital Management LLC, and Varde Partners Inc. was unfair because of those lenders’ other involvement with the company, creditors said. They also financed Blockbuster’s operations after it filed for bankruptcy, under a $125 million debtor-in- possession loan.

Summit, an independent production and distribution studio, was the first studio to file papers in the case seeking to reclaim its product after money wasn’t paid for shipments made after Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 in September. The world’s largest movie-rental company is “administratively insolvent,” or unable to pay the costs of its bankruptcy, Summit said.

The case is In re Blockbuster, 10-14997, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...y-auction.html

The stalking horse group, called Cobalt Video Holdco LLC, holds more than half of Blockbuster’s $630 million debt in 11.75 percent senior secured notes. It made no commitment to continue the business. A provision in the agreement gives Cobalt the right to compel a conversion of the Chapter 11 reorganization case to liquidation under Chapter 7.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...539308980.html

Blockbuster Sale Plan Is Criticized
By ERIC MORATH
Unsecured creditors of Blockbuster Inc. are calling for the company's bankruptcy case to be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation, unless significant changes are made to the video-rental chain's plans to sell itself to a group of senior noteholders.

In papers filed Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Blockbuster's unsecured creditors committee said its constituents, including vendors, landlords and junior bondholders, would fare better if the nation's largest movie-rental chain liquidated rather than pursued a proposed sale that would keep a majority of the company's stores open.

The sale plan calls for some 600 more Blockbuster locations to close.


The current sale proposal is "designed for the exclusive benefit" of Blockbuster potential buyers and would result in "devastation" for unsecured creditors owed some $486 million, the creditors committee said in court papers.

Blockbuster, which is seeking to reorganize in Chapter 11 proceedings, has struck a deal to sell itself for $290 million to an investment group including private-equity and hedge funds Monarch Alternative Capital LP, Owl Creek Asset Management LP, Stonehill Capital Management LLC and Varde Partners Inc., which together own more than half of Blockbuster's $630 million in senior secured notes. An initial hearing on the proposed sale is scheduled for Wednesday.

The deal provides several special privileges to the Monarch-led group, the creditors said. For example, the deal would allow the buyers to dictate who receives the sale proceeds. That would allow Blockbuster to make a $125 million payment to its bankruptcy lenders, a group that includes the would-be purchasers, while leaving little for vendors and landlords that provided goods and services to the company since its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Terms of the sale would put assets such as proceeds from certain lawsuits and an interest in Blockbuster's foreign subsidiaries out of unsecured creditors' reach, wiping out a significant potential source of recovery, the creditors said. The deal would also allow the buyers to convert the bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 proceeding at their discretion.

The creditors say the terms allow the proposed buyers to dodge protections granted to landlords under Chapter 11 and extend the time Blockbuster could hold going-out-of-business sales at the stores it intends to close. The sale plan calls for some 600 more Blockbuster locations to close their doors.

The creditors said they want those and other contentious points of the sale proposal removed, or they would rather see the company liquidate.

A Blockbuster spokesman declined to comment on the creditors' request.
Monarch and the other members of the investment group didn't return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

A liquidation, the creditors said, would halt the continuing losses vendors and landlords are suffering, increase unsecured creditor recoveries and block the buyers from gaining special privileges.

If the court allows the Monarch group to continue with its efforts to acquire the company, its bid would be subject to higher and better offers at auction.

The sale plan Blockbuster is now pursuing is an about-face from when it filed for bankruptcy last September with a tentative plan to reorganize. But a lackluster holiday season forced Blockbuster to scramble for more money from creditors, leading to the Dallas company putting itself up for sale.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who was heavily involved in Blockbuster's initial reorganization plans, still looms as potential rival bidder to the Monarch group's offer.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/V092fX76FLI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Wow, out of business!

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

I live in Chicago, and the only 2 locations I know of(as of right now) that are closing is a location at Irving Park and Kimball, and at the intersection of Clark/Barry/Halsted(next to Sports Authority). Both locations are at 10% to 30% off. There are a few other locations I may swing by to see if they are still open, but I'm not sure all of the ones that are currently doing liquidation sales at this very moment. Interestingly, the one only blocks away from me, not to mention has been in business for about 20 years has yet to begin its liquidation sale, despite that I heard a rumor it was going to be on the list of immediately closing stores last year. So I might just check out the location right by me while I still can, since I agree the liquidation discounts(and selection) tend to stink with closing sales, unless you get lucky with your timing.

It's impressive that BBV can still keep any locations open, since I'm aware they've been slowly shedding stores for 5-7 years.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

I was going to see a friend tonight, and saw the location at Foster and Pulaski is closing as well, but didn't stop in. I'll probably find the status of some other locations over the next few days, as well. Laughed too when I took a different route back, and saw a sign for $5 DVDs, since that's what all non-closing BBVs regularly sell DVDs for when they move them out of being rental copies(and sometimes $4 as well).

Bet the number of local BBVs closing has to be far greater than just those 3 stores....

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Mine closed here in Huntington Beach, CA. I'm considering Netflix now because the only reason I liked my Blockbuster membership were the 5 free instore rentals per month. So sad.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

Just last night I drove by the Midwest City, OK location on Air Depot and saw it is going out of business. I'm surprised it lasted this long, given their outdated business model. That's the last video store in town since Hollywood closed last year.

Re: Blockbuster shuts down 960 stores -- if yours is closing post here
 

The one on Ridge Road West in Greece, NY is closing but I didn't stop in. Not much I'm really interested in and I'm sure the minute I buy Hot Rod to resell it the price will plummet on eBay to $1 and I wouldn't do that to you guys.