Buh-bye Blockbuster
08-24-10, 10:59 AM
#51
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
I thought it was mainly to drive sales of DVDs. They let Blockbuster rent early because the studios made more profit on Blockbuster rentals than on Netflix, but I think increasing sales was the main motivator.
08-25-10, 09:20 AM
#52
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Hmm. I'll have to look around a bit and see if I can find some info. I was sure it had something to do with Blockbuster...
08-25-10, 06:51 PM
#53
Banned
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
With the loss of Hollywood Video and hopefully soon with Blockbuster, what are the chances of a rise in independently owned stores? Or more Family Video stores (better service, but I never had the opportunity to rent something from them)? Not everyone rents by mail or subscribes to cable movie channels. And Redbox kiosks have a limited selection.
08-25-10, 07:27 PM
#54
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
With the loss of Hollywood Video and hopefully soon with Blockbuster, what are the chances of a rise in independently owned stores? Or more Family Video stores (better service, but I never had the opportunity to rent something from them)? Not everyone rents by mail or subscribes to cable movie channels. And Redbox kiosks have a limited selection.
08-25-10, 10:19 PM
#55
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
I remember how excited I was when we had a BBV open near our house. The workers there were always nice and helpful. Pretty cool store back in the day, but I think its time has passed. It's been years since I've rented a dvd.
08-25-10, 11:02 PM
#56
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Another one closing here in a few weeks. 2 down, 2 to go.
08-25-10, 11:54 PM
#57
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
I'll miss the used stuff that popped up at a third part store for 25% the price Blockbuster asked.
Other than that, I'm glad to see this company go. I've never encountered such incompetence than I did when I rented there a decade ago. I could sum it up best with the story of why I quit renting.
I rented a PS2 game, beat it and returned it two days later, well before the due date. I tried to return it in person because I had trouble before with stuff not getting checked in on time. I ended up leaving it in the return slot.
I go in a week later and rent a DVD only to be told I owe them for the missing PS2 game. I asked what happened and they said I returned an empty case. I left the store and called the general manager the next day who didn't seem too shocked at what happened, apologized and offered me 20 free rentals. I asked him to just ensure my account was closed and never went back.
Not too long after, I found out from a friend who worked for a brief stint that the store managers would tell employees if they wanted a movie or game, to take it from something returned in an outdoor drop bin or through the slot on the outside of the building and just mark it as the customer returning an empty case. The trick was, don't do it very often, otherwise it looks suspicious. The higher ups suspected it was going on, but did nothing because the store managed to get people on bogus late fees all the time and it was too much of a hassle to fire a store manager.
I do miss Hollywood Video. Never had a problem there and their used stuff was always a great deal.
Other than that, I'm glad to see this company go. I've never encountered such incompetence than I did when I rented there a decade ago. I could sum it up best with the story of why I quit renting.
I rented a PS2 game, beat it and returned it two days later, well before the due date. I tried to return it in person because I had trouble before with stuff not getting checked in on time. I ended up leaving it in the return slot.
I go in a week later and rent a DVD only to be told I owe them for the missing PS2 game. I asked what happened and they said I returned an empty case. I left the store and called the general manager the next day who didn't seem too shocked at what happened, apologized and offered me 20 free rentals. I asked him to just ensure my account was closed and never went back.
Not too long after, I found out from a friend who worked for a brief stint that the store managers would tell employees if they wanted a movie or game, to take it from something returned in an outdoor drop bin or through the slot on the outside of the building and just mark it as the customer returning an empty case. The trick was, don't do it very often, otherwise it looks suspicious. The higher ups suspected it was going on, but did nothing because the store managed to get people on bogus late fees all the time and it was too much of a hassle to fire a store manager.
I do miss Hollywood Video. Never had a problem there and their used stuff was always a great deal.
08-25-10, 11:56 PM
#58
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
With the loss of Hollywood Video and hopefully soon with Blockbuster, what are the chances of a rise in independently owned stores? Or more Family Video stores (better service, but I never had the opportunity to rent something from them)? Not everyone rents by mail or subscribes to cable movie channels. And Redbox kiosks have a limited selection.
http://www.moviemadnessvideo.com/
08-26-10, 06:52 PM
#59
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Apologies if this has already been posted earlier in the thread, but I didn't see it:
Blockbuster tells Hollywood studios it's preparing for mid-September bankruptcy
http://lat.ms/bedfxS
Blockbuster tells Hollywood studios it's preparing for mid-September bankruptcy
http://lat.ms/bedfxS
After dominating the home video rental business for more than a decade and struggling to survive in recent years against upstarts Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy next month, according to people who have been briefed on the matter.
Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a "pre-planned" bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks.
Blockbuster is hoping to use its time in Chapter 11 to restructure a crippling debt load of nearly $1 billion and escape leases on 500 or more of it 3,425 stores in the U.S. Maintaining the support of Hollywood's film studios during the process will be critical so that Blockbuster can continue to rely upon an uninterrupted supply of new DVDs.
Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a "pre-planned" bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks.
Blockbuster is hoping to use its time in Chapter 11 to restructure a crippling debt load of nearly $1 billion and escape leases on 500 or more of it 3,425 stores in the U.S. Maintaining the support of Hollywood's film studios during the process will be critical so that Blockbuster can continue to rely upon an uninterrupted supply of new DVDs.
08-27-10, 05:50 PM
#65
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
I read 500-800 more stores will be closing once chapter 11 is filed. So you can count on some sales somewhere.
I hope to score me some decent shelving units for my DVD/Blu-Ray collection. BBV has some nice tall wire shelving units that would look great and fit in my apartment rather nicely.
I hope to score me some decent shelving units for my DVD/Blu-Ray collection. BBV has some nice tall wire shelving units that would look great and fit in my apartment rather nicely.
08-27-10, 09:03 PM
#66
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
I read 500-800 more stores will be closing once chapter 11 is filed. So you can count on some sales somewhere.
I hope to score me some decent shelving units for my DVD/Blu-Ray collection. BBV has some nice tall wire shelving units that would look great and fit in my apartment rather nicely.
I hope to score me some decent shelving units for my DVD/Blu-Ray collection. BBV has some nice tall wire shelving units that would look great and fit in my apartment rather nicely.
btw id love too to buy me some of their shelves. I've been thinking about that.
08-27-10, 10:12 PM
#67
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Ironic, isn't it, that Jim Keys came from 7-11 and he took Blockbuster's only two options to chapters 7 or 11.
08-28-10, 08:32 AM
#69
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
My view is Blockbuster isn't just dying, it committed corporate suicide.
Back in the late 1990s when DVD was new and before it was a successful format, Blockbuster could've gotten a similar rental deal over DVD releases to what they already had with VHS releases. But Blockbuster got greedy and tried to get an even better deal. So the companies who created DVD instead didn't include Blockbuster in their plans for the format.
This blog details it more as the #4 Bad Move by Blockbuster
There should be a book written on how Blockbuster got control of a particular market and then completely blew it.
Back in the late 1990s when DVD was new and before it was a successful format, Blockbuster could've gotten a similar rental deal over DVD releases to what they already had with VHS releases. But Blockbuster got greedy and tried to get an even better deal. So the companies who created DVD instead didn't include Blockbuster in their plans for the format.
This blog details it more as the #4 Bad Move by Blockbuster
There should be a book written on how Blockbuster got control of a particular market and then completely blew it.
08-28-10, 10:35 AM
#70
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Another thing that Blockbuster completely blew...
Back around a decade ago I was curious to check out foreign websites of American companies. I checked out blockbuster.co.uk to see what they were up to...and they had RENTAL KIOSKS. This was a decade ago. In the UK. I didn't follow up on them to see how well they did, but bottom line here is they had the Redbox sales model LONG before Redbox had it. It would have been super easy for them convert those kiosks to accept US credit cards and bring them on on over here. Squash Redbox before Redbox ever had a chance to think of doing something like that.
Instead Blockbuster decides to pursue some asinine goal of having a store within 15 minutes of everybody in the United States (I don't know if there is an official record of this anywhere...I worked for them and I knew that this was what they were saying in their meetings, though.) They expanded to 7000 stores in seemingly no time. So instead of bringing over low overhead rental kiosks to supplement the areas where there were no Blockbusters immediately close by they built new stores. I don't know who was responsible for that decision at BBV corporate but I am willing to bet they got some fat bonuses for that "brilliant" idea. For all I know they got rid of the kiosks in UK as well and Redbox is all the rage over there...I don't know. Or care. This company isn't really worth the effort it takes for me to research this stuff.
What I think is the biggest shame in this (and in any corporate store model that fails) is that there are individual stores out there that are turning a profit. They are making the brick and mortar rental store work. And they have Blockbuster over the door outside. There are store managers and staffed stores within this company that make money for the company. Squandering it away on Tivo deals, trying to get into the kiosk rentals at this point, digital media, online rentals, pickles, etc, BBV corporate becomes this black hole for these profitable stores. And it's a shame to see those hard working folks facing losing a job because they are attached to this dinosaur of a store model. They had an opportunity to do online rentals before Netflix and failed. They are never going to be the leader in streaming digital media. They are never going to be the leader in rental kiosks. They are never going to be the leader in online rentals. They are the LAST of the main brick and mortar stores because if they fail the successful stores out there will close, not be franchised out or sold and turned into mom and pop stores. The ONLY thing this company can now look forward being the leader of is the brick and mortar rental system, dying such as it is. Until they can focus just on that -and they won't- they are doomed to failure.
I would dare say 90% percentage of any companies failure is due to their own doing in failing to adapt to changing times and letting competitors come along and do it better. They pass on the opportunities to change and think because they are so big and mighty they can make more demands, leaving room for the competitor who doesn't need to make so many demands to make the new way work. It always fails.
Back around a decade ago I was curious to check out foreign websites of American companies. I checked out blockbuster.co.uk to see what they were up to...and they had RENTAL KIOSKS. This was a decade ago. In the UK. I didn't follow up on them to see how well they did, but bottom line here is they had the Redbox sales model LONG before Redbox had it. It would have been super easy for them convert those kiosks to accept US credit cards and bring them on on over here. Squash Redbox before Redbox ever had a chance to think of doing something like that.
Instead Blockbuster decides to pursue some asinine goal of having a store within 15 minutes of everybody in the United States (I don't know if there is an official record of this anywhere...I worked for them and I knew that this was what they were saying in their meetings, though.) They expanded to 7000 stores in seemingly no time. So instead of bringing over low overhead rental kiosks to supplement the areas where there were no Blockbusters immediately close by they built new stores. I don't know who was responsible for that decision at BBV corporate but I am willing to bet they got some fat bonuses for that "brilliant" idea. For all I know they got rid of the kiosks in UK as well and Redbox is all the rage over there...I don't know. Or care. This company isn't really worth the effort it takes for me to research this stuff.
What I think is the biggest shame in this (and in any corporate store model that fails) is that there are individual stores out there that are turning a profit. They are making the brick and mortar rental store work. And they have Blockbuster over the door outside. There are store managers and staffed stores within this company that make money for the company. Squandering it away on Tivo deals, trying to get into the kiosk rentals at this point, digital media, online rentals, pickles, etc, BBV corporate becomes this black hole for these profitable stores. And it's a shame to see those hard working folks facing losing a job because they are attached to this dinosaur of a store model. They had an opportunity to do online rentals before Netflix and failed. They are never going to be the leader in streaming digital media. They are never going to be the leader in rental kiosks. They are never going to be the leader in online rentals. They are the LAST of the main brick and mortar stores because if they fail the successful stores out there will close, not be franchised out or sold and turned into mom and pop stores. The ONLY thing this company can now look forward being the leader of is the brick and mortar rental system, dying such as it is. Until they can focus just on that -and they won't- they are doomed to failure.
I would dare say 90% percentage of any companies failure is due to their own doing in failing to adapt to changing times and letting competitors come along and do it better. They pass on the opportunities to change and think because they are so big and mighty they can make more demands, leaving room for the competitor who doesn't need to make so many demands to make the new way work. It always fails.
08-28-10, 11:34 AM
#71
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Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Even longer than a decade ago Blockbuster tried kiosks in Plano, TX (don't know about the rest of Dallas) with VHS tapes. They couldn't have held very many tapes at all, but I never took a close look at one and only saw them in passing. It just couldn't really be successful until DVD. But who knows if Blockbuster could have even made it work. Their late fees lost the brand a lot of customers.
EDIT: It took some googling, but I am glad I wasn't imagining things!
http://www.cspnet.com/ME2/dirmod.asp...0226E187A50575
150 is actually quite a few tapes, but when you break it down to new and recent releases not so much.
EDIT: It took some googling, but I am glad I wasn't imagining things!
http://www.cspnet.com/ME2/dirmod.asp...0226E187A50575
This isn't the first time Blockbuster has experimented with vending machines, the report said. In 1999, it installed a larger version inside two 7-Eleven stores, one in Oak Lawn and another in North Dallas and outside two Texaco stations in Plano and Dallas. The box was bulky at twice the size of a soft-drink machine because it was dispensing VHS tapes. It held 150 titles, old and new, and accepted only credit cards. It was too early for its time and the test went nowhere, Raskopf said.
Last edited by MBoyd; 08-28-10 at 11:39 AM.
08-28-10, 02:24 PM
#72
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Blockbuster was also late to the DVD market. I bought my first DVD player back in 1998 and looked around for rental places. Not Blockbuster, which didn't carry DVDs at all for the first few years that DVD was out. So I instead ended up at small, local Laserdisc rental places that were getting into the new standard. And then I heard online about a brand new website that rented DVDs so I joined it in 1998. It was called NetFlix.
08-28-10, 08:04 PM
#73
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
I walked into BBV last night for about 90 seconds. Long enough to check out the BOGO game sale, which consisted of crappy PS2 titles. The 3 employees literally did not want me to leave. I made a quick sweep through the store, and was about to hit the door, and was asked if I needed help, i politely replied I was good, and didnt find what I was looking for.
Then I'm out the door, and they keep talking to me. I'm literally outside holding the door open, trying to leave. They asked me if I saw any news crews outside, filming about the other location closing. I reply no, and they launch into a story about when another location closed earlier this year, the news lied about why it was closing (netflix) They asked me if I saw that report. Again I replied no, and was lying since I was interviewed for that report in Bestbuy, talking about how I buy DVD's
After more awkward chitchat I was able to escape.
Then I'm out the door, and they keep talking to me. I'm literally outside holding the door open, trying to leave. They asked me if I saw any news crews outside, filming about the other location closing. I reply no, and they launch into a story about when another location closed earlier this year, the news lied about why it was closing (netflix) They asked me if I saw that report. Again I replied no, and was lying since I was interviewed for that report in Bestbuy, talking about how I buy DVD's
After more awkward chitchat I was able to escape.
08-28-10, 08:59 PM
#75
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Re: Buh-bye Blockbuster
Another thing that Blockbuster completely blew...
Back around a decade ago I was curious to check out foreign websites of American companies. I checked out blockbuster.co.uk to see what they were up to...and they had RENTAL KIOSKS. This was a decade ago. In the UK. I didn't follow up on them to see how well they did, but bottom line here is they had the Redbox sales model LONG before Redbox had it. It would have been super easy for them convert those kiosks to accept US credit cards and bring them on on over here. Squash Redbox before Redbox ever had a chance to think of doing something like that.
Instead Blockbuster decides to pursue some asinine goal of having a store within 15 minutes of everybody in the United States (I don't know if there is an official record of this anywhere...I worked for them and I knew that this was what they were saying in their meetings, though.) They expanded to 7000 stores in seemingly no time. So instead of bringing over low overhead rental kiosks to supplement the areas where there were no Blockbusters immediately close by they built new stores. I don't know who was responsible for that decision at BBV corporate but I am willing to bet they got some fat bonuses for that "brilliant" idea. For all I know they got rid of the kiosks in UK as well and Redbox is all the rage over there...I don't know. Or care. This company isn't really worth the effort it takes for me to research this stuff.
What I think is the biggest shame in this (and in any corporate store model that fails) is that there are individual stores out there that are turning a profit. They are making the brick and mortar rental store work. And they have Blockbuster over the door outside. There are store managers and staffed stores within this company that make money for the company. Squandering it away on Tivo deals, trying to get into the kiosk rentals at this point, digital media, online rentals, pickles, etc, BBV corporate becomes this black hole for these profitable stores. And it's a shame to see those hard working folks facing losing a job because they are attached to this dinosaur of a store model. They had an opportunity to do online rentals before Netflix and failed. They are never going to be the leader in streaming digital media. They are never going to be the leader in rental kiosks. They are never going to be the leader in online rentals. They are the LAST of the main brick and mortar stores because if they fail the successful stores out there will close, not be franchised out or sold and turned into mom and pop stores. The ONLY thing this company can now look forward being the leader of is the brick and mortar rental system, dying such as it is. Until they can focus just on that -and they won't- they are doomed to failure.
I would dare say 90% percentage of any companies failure is due to their own doing in failing to adapt to changing times and letting competitors come along and do it better. They pass on the opportunities to change and think because they are so big and mighty they can make more demands, leaving room for the competitor who doesn't need to make so many demands to make the new way work. It always fails.
Back around a decade ago I was curious to check out foreign websites of American companies. I checked out blockbuster.co.uk to see what they were up to...and they had RENTAL KIOSKS. This was a decade ago. In the UK. I didn't follow up on them to see how well they did, but bottom line here is they had the Redbox sales model LONG before Redbox had it. It would have been super easy for them convert those kiosks to accept US credit cards and bring them on on over here. Squash Redbox before Redbox ever had a chance to think of doing something like that.
Instead Blockbuster decides to pursue some asinine goal of having a store within 15 minutes of everybody in the United States (I don't know if there is an official record of this anywhere...I worked for them and I knew that this was what they were saying in their meetings, though.) They expanded to 7000 stores in seemingly no time. So instead of bringing over low overhead rental kiosks to supplement the areas where there were no Blockbusters immediately close by they built new stores. I don't know who was responsible for that decision at BBV corporate but I am willing to bet they got some fat bonuses for that "brilliant" idea. For all I know they got rid of the kiosks in UK as well and Redbox is all the rage over there...I don't know. Or care. This company isn't really worth the effort it takes for me to research this stuff.
What I think is the biggest shame in this (and in any corporate store model that fails) is that there are individual stores out there that are turning a profit. They are making the brick and mortar rental store work. And they have Blockbuster over the door outside. There are store managers and staffed stores within this company that make money for the company. Squandering it away on Tivo deals, trying to get into the kiosk rentals at this point, digital media, online rentals, pickles, etc, BBV corporate becomes this black hole for these profitable stores. And it's a shame to see those hard working folks facing losing a job because they are attached to this dinosaur of a store model. They had an opportunity to do online rentals before Netflix and failed. They are never going to be the leader in streaming digital media. They are never going to be the leader in rental kiosks. They are never going to be the leader in online rentals. They are the LAST of the main brick and mortar stores because if they fail the successful stores out there will close, not be franchised out or sold and turned into mom and pop stores. The ONLY thing this company can now look forward being the leader of is the brick and mortar rental system, dying such as it is. Until they can focus just on that -and they won't- they are doomed to failure.
I would dare say 90% percentage of any companies failure is due to their own doing in failing to adapt to changing times and letting competitors come along and do it better. They pass on the opportunities to change and think because they are so big and mighty they can make more demands, leaving room for the competitor who doesn't need to make so many demands to make the new way work. It always fails.
BlockBuster has a dead business model. People are not going to get sucked into renting from a B&M store. Netflix has a businees model that will last for years because renting movies online is way better than going to a B&M. Likewise with VOD. Video-On-Demand has continusly grown in the last few years. BBV needs to realize that they are hanging on from a tread in today's society.