ProfessorEcho

I believe it was holier-than-thou Blockbuster who said they would never carry any NC-17 movies in their stores, no matter what they were. This was one of the reasons why we saw so few NC-17 movies being made during the 80's-90's; Blockbuster wielded a lot of power in those days and studios wouldn't think of producing something that couldn't be stocked at Blockbuster.

And if memory serves, they also refused to carry SHADOWS AND FOG, though they claimed it had nothing to do with the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow scandal going on at the time. They just said they wouldn't carry it because it was lousy movie. Wow, since when did they become such arbiters of quality movies? I guess that accounts for every Steven Seagal straight to shit that lines their shelves?

Does anyone really think Viacom, the eventual parent corporation of Blockbuster, cared about not just the employees who lost their jobs at the M&P video stores they put out of business, but M&P themselves who lost their entire livelihoods and life savings they invested in their little businesses? For Viacom this will all be a simple write off and, I'm sorry, but that's the reality for any employee at any corporation at anytime. You want some company loyalty and care and concern for employees? Go work at a M&P company. Whoops!

Good riddance to Blockbuster and I feel absolutely no guilt in saying so.

Drexl

The future's so bright, they gotta sell shades.

I understand that video stores, even Blockbuster, are going away. But, as far as I'm concerned, streaming is nowhere near ready to replace discs, even just for rentals. Even putting aside the physical aspect, holding it in your hand, etc., there are still major quality issues. I've tried out NetFlix's streaming, and I'll wait for the disc in most cases. I've seen some very poor quality on that service, even for recent movies.

It isn't like games, where on Steam the game you download the exact same quality as the disc.

Alan Smithee

"It's my belief that no true movie lover has any business going into Blockbuster in the first place, since its policies have done so much harm to modern American cinema."
-Roger Ebert

They really are taking a long time to die- this is at least the 3rd wave of store closings I've heard about in the past couple years. I've heard that they are trying out a machine rental system too, similar to Redbox.

I want to find a copy of that cut version of "Showgirls" that was made for them, since they've always refused to carry NC-17 rated movies (and a big reason why so many movies are cut for an R rating or lower before theatrical release- it used to be THE main reason but probably not so much nowadays.) Of course the huge hypocrisy now is that they DO carry "unrated" versions, since they're technically not rated even though the content would warrant an NC-17, but if were rated they wouldn't carry it.

UAIOE

I'm not dancing that people are gonna be unemployed, but I'm not going to feel sorry for a company that (IMO) has done little to keep itself relevant.

whotony

there is some truth to that.
I was hired about 8 years ago.
at the time there was a raise twice a year but at the end of that first year they changed it to once a year and didn't make up the difference.
So about 8 years ago there was a loss of 10 to 15 cents an hour for some people.

Also I've noticed that most of these complaints are from 8-10 years ago when BB had a dope running the place.
The guy obviously had no vision.

At least this new guy is trying to catch up and fix what the last guy didn't want to do.

While no were close to redbox there is going to e about 1000 BBV boxes in stores at year end.
Probably not enough though and mostly too late.

UAIOE

The last guy sounds like the reason BB is in the mess its at now.

Right on both accounts. 1,000 isn't enough, and BB is just going to try and play catchup to Redbox

My Other Self

If you're still working at Blockbuster knowing the company will eventually be belly-up, then it's your own fault if you you don't find something else in time.

This isn't just BB going out of business; it's tough times in this economy so playing the "Boo-hoo people hate me and I'll lose my job then they'll be happy!" card is just stupid since other retail stores have closed their doors and lots and lots of companies have been laying off workers left and right.

Be smart. Defend Blockbuster all you want - good for you. But UNTIL your store goes out of business, check out want ads and look at other stores to find something. If the chain goes out of business no one's going to give a crap about you defending it.

JoeySeven

I didn't read through all the post so I hope this is new news.
I believe they have 5000+ stores now.

I use Netflix,Redbox,local Library and also trade DVD's.
Only go into Blockbuster when they have A REALLY good sale to buy DVD's.

Would not surprise me if the store in Albany,Or closes.
The town has lost at least 3 big stores and we have A Hollywood Video that is twice as nice as the BB Video.

Blockbuster Closing 960 Stores – Opening 9,500 Kiosk

It’s been a rough few years for Blockbuster. So rough in fact, that they’ve announced the closing of nine hundred and sixty retail stores across the US.

685 of those stores will be closed by year’s end, with the remaining 275 shutting down in 2010. According to their SEC filing, Blockbuster is ready to shut down up to 1,500 locations should the need arise. Clearly, Blockbuster is losing ground in the brick and mortar space, but they have a plan to rejuvenate their company, a plan inspired by their biggest competition.

Adding to the 497 current Blockbuster Express rental kiosks already deployed, the company plans to open an additional 2,000 by the year’s end. By 2010, Blockbuster hopes to have 10,000 rental kiosks in locations across the country.

That still puts them at around half of Red Boxes current install base, but Blockbuster seems to be hinting towards some major retailer support. Additionally, existing Movie Cube rental kiosks will be converted into Blockbuster Express kiosks thanks the acquisition of competing kiosk company The New Release.

Blockbuster also hopes to capitalize on their Total Access and On Demand services, which have a high profit margin and little upfront cost. Interestingly, while Netflix is listed as a competitor for Blockbuster’s Total Access movies by mail service, the name is absent from the competition list for Blockbuster On Demand.


http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...00_Kiosks/3455s

My Other Self

Maybe you should read all of the posts. Or even look at the thread title. Then maybe you'd see that this is what the thread is about.

calhoun07

Probably not the best place to say it, but since I am thinking of it... I would dare say that handing your movies to an employee is the WORST way to ensure they get checked in on time. It seems there is a small segment of customers who think this is safe. And it probably works most of the time, but for the random time it does not work, it looks like you may have made the mistake if they can't locate your movies.

I guarantee you putting it in the drop box is far safer. They have procedures in place to make sure the movies in the drop box get checked in and if they do get missed, it's likely just one stack of 20 or so movies that get missed and the manager does a FOS report everyday (found on shelf) and they will soon realize they forgot a stack of 20 movies in the drop box and realize they did make a mistake in not checking in your movies.

If you hand them to an employee, they may put them down and wait on somebody else and then you just don't know what happens to them. They could get locked and put back on the shelf, maybe another customer found one or two of them and thought about renting them and decided not to get them and just dropped them at some random place in the store...anything could happen and then it's your word against theirs and they will play the waiting game to see if you find them or if they have an inventory coming up to see if they are in the store.

Just use the drop box. That's what it's there for.

calhoun07

I fail to understand how a corporation who has stores in the UK used rental kiosks similar to Redbox YEARS before Redbox ever came around and did not think, "Hey, this could work in America." Or just not even try it in a few test locations to see if it would catch on at the least.

And, yes, Blockbuster UK had rental kiosks like Redbox in the early 2000's.

And I do read the trade magazines...it seems the biggest company suffering in the Redbox era is Netflix, not Blockbuster so much. Blockbuster (as has been pointed out) has been suffering for many years now, before Redbox even came around. And they have no excuse when the SAME CORPORATION that runs the UK stores failed to capitalize on something that was working over there and use it here in America and allowed another company to swoop in and take that market share. It's an epic fail on their part.

calhoun07

But what Blockbuster online has done is gradually reduce the benefits of the online rentals and taken things away from the customer over time. Not all at once...that would piss them off...but it's far from the great deal it was when it first rolled out. And it gets worse all the time.

calhoun07

Viacom hasn't owned Blockbuster for YEARS. They actually shed them when the company was still doing well for itself, so it's been a while.

whotony

this is a good point.
I've done it, hand it to me while I'm on register talking to another customer and then forget about the 2 dvds someone just walked over with and handed to me.

The biggest problem I've seen in the 2 stores were I work are the people who just drop the dvds on the shelf ABOVE the hole in the wall that is the drop box.

Whenever I notice someone do it I have to tell them "in the slot please" and explain that just laying it on the counter allows for anyone to walk by and pick it up.

jjcool

Oh, believe me, that is how I normally operate. There just happened to be a guy standing behind the counter that day, with a Manager's tag on that specifically said "Hand those to me". I figured that the Store Manager would know how to do his job. First and only time I made the mistake of thinking anyone working at a Blockbsuter video knew anything at all.

ProfessorEcho

I stand corrected. Thanks for the update!

JoeySeven

That they are Opening 9,500 Kiosk.
Be interesting to see what they charge per disc and what kind of selection these kiosk will have.

Alan Smithee

It'd be fun to return Blockbuster kiosk discs with porn in them (you can fit 2 discs in the cases, so you could still return the movie and give the next customer a little something extra and give Blockbuster the finger for their policies.)

UAIOE

Probably isn't going to be $1 per night.

Because, ya know, that is too cheap (so says movie studios).

orangecrush

I could see $2 for first night, $1 for each additional night.

jfoobar

I have always considered Viacom's move one of the wisest corporate sales in modern business history.

jfoobar

Numerous Maryland stores had already closed long before this was announced. I used to pass 2 on the way home from work, one in Lanham and one in Seabrook. Both have been gone for some time. The only two anywhere near me that are still around are Bowie and Berwyn Heights (edge of College Park) and I doubt either of those are going anywhere.

dkedvd

UPDATE ON STORE CLOSURES!
Just got word from a manager/friend at Blockbuster. Blockbuster is NOT closing 960 more stores! About two years ago they announced they would be closing 520 stores nationwide. They have slowly been closing them down since that announcement. They just recently announced the number would be going up to 960. So in fact 960 more stores are not closing only 440. My area was already affected by the closings two years ago. So if a bunch of Blockbusters shutdown by you within the past two years do not expect anymore by you to do so. The same rules still apply. They are going to try and keep stores at least 10 miles apart and get rid of any who pay outrageous leases.
Also...
Some stores (even the ones not closing) have the used DVDs in the CD jewel cases for sale all marked at 9.99.

cpgator

They are selling used DVDs in CD cases for $10? Seriously?

dkedvd

Yea but I'm sure they are expecting most people to use the 5 for $20.00 deal on them.