Blockbuster Video is filing for bankruptcy!

The skinny!

What are your thoughts on it? It sucks the workers will be out of jobs but at the same time, the stores kinda had it coming to them. I worked there for 2.5 years and they treated their workers like crap (at least the one I worked at). My dad always told me if a company treats their workers like crap then they will not last long and this pretty much holds true to it.

Blockbuster sucks.

The one where I used to live closed down after I moved.

Good riddance. Our regional chain (Hastings) was much better...(even though they did kill our local book store )

I'm surprised they lasted this long.

SamuraiShodownSensei said:

I'm surprised they lasted this long.

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I'm surprised they lasted this long after the Viacom split.

Good
fucking
riddance.

Every Blockbuster experience I've ever had has been shit. If I desperately need a new release I'll just Redbox it but even that is too much of a pain in the ass most of the time.

Streaming/Netflix FTMFW

When I moved last year I joined the local Blockbuster because it was pretty much the only choice at the time. They required a credit card and some paperwork to join, the whole process took about half an hour. Then they charge nine dollars to rent a game for five days, no cheaper options for fewer days available. Movies were like five bucks I think. The only good thing was most of the time when I went in looking for a new game it was usually in because no one ever really went there I guess.

That was one of two stores in town, one of them shut down early this year I think. I wouldn't be surprised if the other one did soon.

It was only a matter of time.

Hopefully I can buy everything when there closing :P

Medaka said:

Hopefully I can buy everything when there closing :P

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Amen to that, the Lake St. Blockbuster always had some killer used stuff for sale (Xbox Xyanide, Graffiti Kingdom, etc.).

Medaka said:

Hopefully I can buy everything when there closing :P

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Years and years ago I got tons of great Genesis/SegaCD and SNES games when my local Blockbuster Music stopped dealing in games. Most people didn't even know the store rented movies/games so everything was new or pretty darn near it. I got stuff like MK3 on Genesis, Final Fight Guy for SNES, Splatter House and tons of others for like $2-$3 each. Each with perfect manuals and cases Sure, this was like 1997 or so, but it was sweet. It'll be worth going through the stores for gems, at the very least.

Good, I hope lovefilm follows suit

The article says that this is for restructuring, so it's probably Chapter 11. Which means some stores MIGHT close, but don't bet on it.

When they get to Chapter 7 liquidation is when you can expect a Circuit City style cluster fuck.

This is no shock to me at all.

I have been seeing a lot of Blockbusters closing up. The last time I was in one, about two months ago, I didn't feel much like a video rental store. The have had to transition to more of a store, selling random useless junk. I was thinking that they may have another couple of years before shutting down totally; this is somewhat quick.

Netflix and Hulu have killed Blockbuster...cable TV is next unless they change how they deliver content, provide more customization for subscribers.

Back in the day I love hitting up Blockbuster on a Friday to rent NES and Genesis games, the location I went to also had a nice selection of Sega CD games.

Speaking of retro games, anyone remember this.....



I did this competition two years. 7th place the first year and 2nd place the next year. I would have taken 1st, but I didn't practice at all during one of the weeks.

Neo Ash said:

Speaking of retro games, anyone remember this.....

I did this competition two years. 7th place the first year and 2nd place the next year. I would have taken 1st, but I didn't practice at all during one of the weeks.

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Yup, good times. I got first place on the DK Championships, but not store champion...so I guess I got second. But then I heard the guy that did win wasn't high enough to compete in the later rounds so I guess I didn't miss out. I think I have some of those Marvel trading cards in a box somewhere.

I always hated going there to see that the one game or movie I wanted was always rented out. I remember when I wanted to play Dragon Ball Z on the PSX and it was ALWAYS out, when it finally came back in the game was so scratched up I couldn't play it. Such a pain in the ass to get a refund at my local store.

But I did get some good deals, I got Virtua Racing on the Genny for 10 bucks when it was still being sold in the stores for 80+, Ninja Gaiden 3 and I SHOULD have gotten Christmas NiGHTS because they had three or four of them for five bucks each. I kick myself in the ass every time I see it listed in a price guide.

I won the 1st blockbuster championship in my town (hickville Georgia ) and went to the state championships. I got to the third round and lost at NBA Jam the first game because my controller was not working(I believe it was the c button).
I complained and the judges tested the controller and realized it was not working.
I won the next game by 30 and was feeling pretty good. Everything was great in my little kids mind untill the other players mom came up and said we should have to play best 2 out of 3 to be fair. I lost the third game by one point. Oh well. For the second championship my sega was broken and I did not have a chance to practice. They gave you three tries to get your best score(I believe this is true but it has been a loooong time and a lot of drinks). I was doing awesome yet this one kid was beeting me by 20,000 points. i was playing perfect games and could not fathom how that happened. I had the option of scheduling my last play and like a dumbass set it before the kid in the lead. What was I thinking? So, I start playing and this kid comes in. Him and his parents were watching me and were like damn he is good. I believe the games were Sonic 2 or 3? NBA jam, and Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd was last. I finished with One million something points and about 100 points behind this kid. I had lost. So, i decided to watch this kid. I could not believe how terrible he was. He completely sucked at the first two games as I stood with mouth agape. then it happened. There was a ledge in Judge Dredd with a fucking one million point icon and he won because of that shit. Yeah, I know it taught me about strategic scheduling.

Nesagwa said:

The article says that this is for restructuring, so it's probably Chapter 11. Which means some stores MIGHT close, but don't bet on it.

When they get to Chapter 7 liquidation is when you can expect a Circuit City style cluster

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The restructured Blockbuster will likely not have any stores.

That is my guess.

The Blockbuster by me almost never had anything I was looking for, but when they did have it, the price to rent it was usually so much, it was cheaper just to go to Wal-Mart or Target and just buy the DVD for the same price.

At least that way if you didn't like it, you could sell it and get a little back.

time to tap into the ps3 reserves.

Wonder how long it will be till grocery stores start closing.

Maury V. said:

My dad always told me if a company treats their workers like crap then they will not last long and this pretty much holds true to it.

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i like your dad's thinking. if you want satisfied customers then you have to have employees that enjoy doing their job.

Nick Slaughter said:

Wonder how long it will be till grocery stores start closing.

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already happened in germany.

a friend gave me a giftcard for blockbuster.
i spent about 30-45 minutes there trying to find something good.
i swear. couldnt find a thing i liked that i havent seen already
or wasnt just plain stupid expensive enough to not be worth it.

think i liked the stores better when
i went there during summers to pick up snes games.
it was a good place to find japanese animation on
tape, back when watching was a more niche hobby
and it was harder to find.

but yea, i'm surprised it lasted this long.

Times have really changed. I remember when going to Blockbuster on the weekend was like a special treat. It was the only way for me to play lots of games and watch anime. It's kind of sad that I don't go there anymore and that they're doing worse.

I haven't walked into a Blockbuster for years. But I guess I'll take a look to see if there's anything worthwhile that I can pick up for next to nothing.

The fact you can rent movies from a machine kills the video store. The thing is, it stinks. I loved going to look over vast movie choices. I'm tired of the entire world being so in-personal and digital that its less possible to have human interaction these days due to our technology further dehumanizing our life styles.

Nesagwa said:

The article says that this is for restructuring, so it's probably Chapter 11. Which means some stores MIGHT close, but don't bet on it.

When they get to Chapter 7 liquidation is when you can expect a Circuit City style cluster fuck.

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I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who actually read the article.

They're talking about using the bankruptcy filing to "escape leases on 500 or more of it 3,425 stores".

People don't read, and people don't summarize articles well.

America crys.

This is pretty funny, from the actual news article (i.e. not Kotaku):

Blockbuster stock, which last month was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange because of its ongoing low price and moved to the over-the-counter market, closed Thursday at 11 cents. The company’s total market value is $24 million.

In 1994 it was acquired by former owner Viacom Inc. for $8.4 billion.

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Why is that? From earlier in the article:

Blockbuster has lost a total of $1.1 billion since the beginning of 2008 and has been severely hamstrung in efforts to grow its business due to interest payments on $920 million in debt.

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Ouch.