Look out for Blockbusters closing in your area

[dell71]

Full disclosure: I used to work at Blockbuster and still use their online program.

Blockbusters are closing left and right. I don't think they passed up the opportunity to kill Netflix, they were just too late on getting in on the online stuff.

Penny for penny, BB's online program is technically better because of the store. For those unfamiliar, you can return movies you received in the mail to the store for a free rental while you're waiting on the next movie from your queue to be mailed out. The problem is unless you're a movie nut like me, it's just excessive. You don't need it. For most people, Netflix is the way to go. It has a less expensive product because they don't have the overhead BB has, and they've become the most well known and trusted brand in online rentals.

In a few short years, BB will only be kiosks and online rentals. The stores will completely disappear. I, for one, will miss wandering around the "New Release" wall and up and down the aisles of older movies trying to figure out what to rent, the same way I miss doing similar things in the music store.

 

[Rivers17ncsu]

yea we had the BB online thing partly because you could return them for free rentals. Two days after we found out they were closing the store we switched to Netflix. I basically just use the instant que, there is a lot to choose from, but wish it had even more.

With BB I used to rent numerous movies at a time because we'd get like 3 out at a time. Now its only one out at a time, so I still have to used redbox sometimes to get new movies. BB was better because you had no due date to turn them back in.

 

[Buzzman]

Can someone explain the blockbuster in store exchanges? I have blockbuster online right now. Is what I am reading this, I get my movie in the mail. I watch it and the next day I can return it to a video store and exchange it for another movie and still get one in the mail as well so technically I could have two movies at once as long as I stay under the 5 exchanges per month?

 

[dell71]

Can someone explain the blockbuster in store exchanges? I have blockbuster online right now. Is what I am reading this, I get my movie in the mail. I watch it and the next day I can return it to a video store and exchange it for another movie and still get one in the mail as well so technically I could have two movies at once as long as I stay under the 5 exchanges per month?

Almost. I think they recently changed it so that they won't mail out your next movie until you've returned the free one from the store.

 

[Buzzman]

I wonder how family video is doing. I haven't seen a store closing and I have 3 of them within 20 minutes of me.

 

[padman59]

How long has the turnaround been for you guys who use Blockbuster online? The reason I ask is because I used to subscribe to Blockbuster's service, but the average wait time to get the next movie on my list from the day I mailed back a movie was about four to five days.

 

[Buzzman]

I just started because I basically got a free trial while buying movies at a closing store. I mailed my return on Monday, I can tell you soon.

 

[Rivers17ncsu]

I would turn them back into the store to get a rental, so by the time i turned it in they would've gotten it back and be ready to send me my new disc. It usually took 2-3 days.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Ironically I think thats the one thing that should stay.

Its amazing how badly blockbuster missed the boat on both mail and kiosks.
They had every chance to pummel Netflix and passed it up everytime.

In times of bailout and corporations buying laws to kill competition its refreshing to see stubborn antiquated companies get killed by smarter more useful upstarts.

Sadly I think kids today and on will never know the feeling of going to a video store to pick out a movie.

Unlike going to a music store, this is one thing we as a whole are better off for.

Faithful Netflix subscriber for like 7 years. It is the crowned champ.

 

[BrntO4Life]

Unlike going to a music store, this is one thing we as a whole are better off for.

Faithful Netflix subscriber for like 7 years. It is the crowned champ.

Amen. Video store clerks may also be some of the most insufferable beings on Earth.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Much like the search for music at music stores, where you would wander the aisles, looking at album art, and in more recent years, sampling it with those junk ear phones, you do the same for the movie biz online.

You wander Netflix aimlessly, looking at movies, watching trailers, reading plots...and you can in the snap of a finger, kick back in your home, lights off, and watch an HD stream of the film in the highest of definition.

You can't get that at the store...

The "movie store" was always the slowest to evolve because they could never get with the times fast enough...it'll happen with Netflix, too. Video stores lost when the switch to DVD occurred. You had these lil mom n pop video stores that had a shit load of inventory that was now, basically, worth nothing. Had to re-stock DVDs, but Blockbuster got exclusives and turned their inventory over faster.

The digital age brought Netflix, much cheaper alternative than Blockbuster with the caveat of "unlimited"...Blockbuster couldn't catch up considering they have a shit load of overhead .

Netflix has morphed a little bit, with the streaming of movies, to meet the "onDemand" age - as have cable companies - and now Redbox, located at convenient stores, make Blockbuster completely irrelevant. But, as time moves on and the movie medium becomes more of an onDemand service, companies like Netflix and Redbox will disappear, too.

 

[Hitman]

So Blockbuster was just acquired by the company that I work for, Dish Network. I'm at a loss with what we'll do with it. My theory is that we'll pull an EA and just put the Blockbuster name on our On Demand stuff and rake in the little money their online subscription service and redbox-like kiosks pull in..