Blockbuster To Close
Brent Finnegan -- December 22nd, 2009
The franchise company that owns the Harrisonburg Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy, and the local video rental store will close January 3, according to today’s DNR (I first found out about the closure from Josh, who was using the hburgnews hashtag on Twitter).
Whether you view it as a sign of a bad economy, or another victim of the so-called “Great Restructuring,” Blockbuster is the second brick-and-mortar entertainment business in the Kroger shopping center to announce closure this year. In March, Plan 9 Records closed their Harrisonburg location.
Tags: bankruptcy, blockbuster
What’s going to happen to all those DVDs? A big sale similar to what Acme had would be awesome for last minute Christmas gifts.
I think the liquidation sale may already be underway (SNL).
The sale is already underway.
My friend posted this on Facebook last week and said they were already selling out of a lot of things. They were almost out of Wii games then.
Will there be any video rental places left in town?
Backstage Movies-N-Games is still open in Forbes Crossing.
And of course the rental vending machines at Kroger, Martin’s and Walmart.
I gotta send the wife down to H-Burg tonight, I’ve got a long list of DVD’s I would like, and Christmas is around the corner…lol
I have several memories of going to Blockbuster looking for independent, documentary, or foreign movies they didn’t have. Once, an employee told me that Blockbuster has a complicated formula that determines the movies that are sent to each store and H’burg is basically an all horror/action city.
I was really excited about Red Box (it’s so cheap and easy to use!) but they have such a small inventory that it only takes a few movie nights to run out of good movies. If you have high-speed internet and a way to connect your computer to your TV you can rent movies from the iTunes Store for $3.99.
When I was living in Austin, they had several cool independent video stores. I had this idea that if I ever moved back to H’burg, I would open one downtown. Then I subscribed to Netflix and soon realized what a dumb move that would be.
I’ve only been to Blockbuster a handful of times since. Netflix cashed in on the long tail and (mortally) wounded Blockbuster in the process. The music industry has been undergoing the same sort of brick-and-mortar to online delivery process for the last several years as well.
If you’d like to give online video rental-on-demand a try, check out the free deal Emmy posted on “I May Be Cheap:”
Free $4 Video on Demand Credit
http://www.imaybecheap.com/2009/12/free-4-video-on-demand-credit/
When the emergence of Netflix forced Blockbuster to cease charging late fees their business model was busted beyond recovery. Then rental volume began to dwindle and it was only a matter of time.
I was surprised this didn’t happen earlier. With Red Box units in places around town now, I’d rather take that limited selection for $1 and not having to remember a membership card than having to head to a separate store that’s more expensive (and was usually out of most of the best movies anyway). Not to mention on-demand whether online or cable is pretty much the same price and just as cheap. Backstage with their automated 24-hour store has been my choice for blu-ray rentals since they opened anyway.
We stopped by last night, picked up some favorites we have on tape but not on disc. People are returning rentals, so even some of the newer stuff is still appearing on the shelves, though not, I suspect, for long (got a copy of Revolutionary Road and State of Play).
My husband stopped by this afternoon and there was a sign in the window saying they are closed. There is still a lot of merchandise in the store, though.
Inevitable and far, far less to do with the economy. Many comments referred to it but can be summarized in two words: “Netflix” & “Redbox”.
final liquidation sale on january 3
Wow. This makes me sad… this was definitely a frequent destination for me.
Stopped by today. The sign on the window says closed but they may re-open next week for presumably the final liquidation sale Seth mentioned above.