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Blockbuster is closing the doors

Green Balls

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On Wednesday, DISH Network, which purchased Blockbuster in 2011, announced it was closing the chain's 300 remaining U.S.-based retail stores, as well as its distribution centers.
"Consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment," said DISH president and CEO Joseph P. Clayton in the press release about the closures. His statement echoes many from recent years about the migration of entertainment from physical objects -- CDs, DVDs, books, games -- to bits, bytes and pixels available on various screens and portable devices.

Your late fees are waived: Blockbuster closes - CNN.com

In the article there is a link to a 2008 Onion clip which makes fun of how people used to rent movies.
 
Good riddance. They sucked.
 
:( This is sad to me. I mean, sad in an "all the brick and mortar video stores are gone, now" way. Not sad in a "You bastards made fun of Movie Gallery when we closed, so karma is a bitch" kind of way.
 
No question that Netflix is a far, far better way to rent movies.
 
No question that Netflix is a far, far better way to rent movies.

Well it's easier, but easier doesn't always mean better. I was talking to my husband about this last night, and we were talking about how so many things are becoming obsolete that were a part of growing up. Bookstores? Video stores? Record/CD stores? Lots of things are no longer needed, but that doesn't mean they aren't missed.
 
We had one real close to the house when the kids were growing up. We often went over in the winter and got movies to watch. Pretty nice times.
 
No question that Netflix is a far, far better way to rent movies.

Correction: the combination of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other pay-for-view websites are a far better way, as the selection of each alone is kind of terrible.

Anyway, it was never possible for video rental stores (even just that name alone is so anachronistic) could possibly compete with instant streaming (and torrents).

I will, however, miss those independent rental stores that made a point of stocking everything.
 
We had one real close to the house when the kids were growing up. We often went over in the winter and got movies to watch. Pretty nice times.

Yup. I loved being able to just go to the store and browse. It's not the same now. Plus I like to watch a lot of obscure movies, foreign horror films and such, and they are hard to find now.
 
I'm old enough to remember a time before Blockbuster when the independent movie rental stores popped up, before the VHS/Beta war had been won, and it cost $69 annually to "join the club" and about $10 a pop to rent a movie. When Blockbuster came along, all those independents withered away because Blockbuster was new and "cheap". Technological advancements are incrementally faster and faster these days and I'm increasingly more technologically illiterate with each passing day. I'm of the generation that didn't have technology at every step of the education process, so I didn't grow up with it as second nature. But soon, all us old farts will be gone and technology will rule all your lives. I'm going to hold on to my independent sanity for as long as I can and I'll lament the end of the video rental store.
 
Although I had it out with Blockbuster so many times it wasn't funny, I will miss the idea of going in and picking up a handful of movies to watch when it was to cold to do anything else. As dumb as it sounds it was kind of a family tradition. Back then we didn't have a lot of money and it was relatively cheap to rent a couple hours of entertainment.

We have Netflix now and the selection is ok, but it's not the same. Honestly I don't watch as much tv as I used to anyway.
 
my town still has a movie rental store, but from the desperate flyers i'm getting in the mail from them, i suspect its days might be numbered as well. might have to rent a movie the old fashioned way while i still can.
 
We had one real close to the house when the kids were growing up. We often went over in the winter and got movies to watch. Pretty nice times.
Yep, I use to get all excited when I knew that 'one' new movie was being released. I'd schedule my day around hitting the store when I knew I'd have a chance to get it.

I miss those trips to the movie store.

All the BB video stores around here closed nearly a year ago.
 
All of the smaller video stores here have closed within the last couple of years. I think that there might be one BB left on SSI, but the rest are all gone.
 
Netflix. Watched "Them" the other night.
Yup. I loved being able to just go to the store and browse. It's not the same now. Plus I like to watch a lot of obscure movies, foreign horror films and such, and they are hard to find now.
 
Used to love renting B horror movies from there; They had quite the selection. It was annoying when they would edit them themselves, however.
 
I'm not going to wax nostalgic about a place that was truly a waste of space and time.

Good riddance.
 
I'm not going to wax nostalgic about a place that was truly a waste of space and time.

Good riddance.

It wasn't a waste of space and time until Redbox and Netflix came along. Until then, it was the only way to watch movies.
 
Correction: the combination of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other pay-for-view websites are a far better way, as the selection of each alone is kind of terrible.

Anyway, it was never possible for video rental stores (even just that name alone is so anachronistic) could possibly compete with instant streaming (and torrents).

I will, however, miss those independent rental stores that made a point of stocking everything.

We have one of those near us. They have dollar a night rentals but they also sale anything they rent out. So if you would rather just purchase it, just ask the price. They have a ton of movies and shows. They have a much bigger selection than the Blockbuster we had near us in NC. They even have deals when it comes to some of their "for sale" videos (a section of the store is only for sale, not for rent) where you can buy like 12 of their $3 or less videos for something like $15 total.
 
Think I will get the original "Blob" this weekend. I think that was the one with Steve McQueen.
 
The shark that ate the Mom and Pops was eaten by another shark.

and the circle of life continues.
 
Can't say I'm sorry to hear this because of the way they used to rape people for late fees. Insane.


:shock:

(I know what you mean it just really brings up an interesting mental image....)
 
Well it's easier, but easier doesn't always mean better. I was talking to my husband about this last night, and we were talking about how so many things are becoming obsolete that were a part of growing up. Bookstores? Video stores? Record/CD stores? Lots of things are no longer needed, but that doesn't mean they aren't missed.

Well... I mean technically they increasingly aren't. I'm in my early 20's so I grew up with video stores, but didn't really get into music until digitization had killed off most physical music consumption so I never had the chance to miss it. Likewise I imagine that as time goes on no one will miss video stores because no one will have grown up with them. I bet people felt similarly when other things passed away like the advent of the supermarket over your local farmer or grocer.
 
Gotta keep up with the times and the changing market.
 
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