By Chris Scott Barr
I remember a time long ago when I used to visit these very strange stores. I guess you would call them stores, but they were really more of a rental shop. Anyway, you would walk in and find the walls lined with movies that you could take home for a few days in exchange for several dollars. Of course if you didn’t bring them back by the designated time, you would be charged a fee. I hated those fees. Eventually technology advanced and no one needed to visit these stores anymore. You could either watch what I wanted by streaming it online, or with a few clicks have the movies sent to you via snail mail. Those companies that didn’t evolve to embrace the new technologies eventually died out, leaving only empty buildings in their wake.
It’s stories like that which I’m going to be able to tell my kids not long from now. Blockbuster, the largest movie rental store looks like it will be closing up in short order. They really don’t have much to offer the tech-savvy customers anymore, and rely on those that either haven’t hopped on the streaming bandwagon or are too impatient to wait a few days for their movie to arrive. Even if Blockbuster manages to find some more funding, I don’t suspect that they (or other movie rental shops) will survive more than a few years.
[ AP ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]
I guess now would be a good time to use up your Blockbuster gift cards if you have any.
“You could either watch what I wanted…”
That's the problem right there. I wanted to watch what *I* wanted.
I, for one, will not miss Blockbuster. They had plenty of time and opportunity to compete. They had a huge customer base and when Netflix began chipping away at it Blockbuster seemed to actively sabotage themselves. They were slow to react and when they did react with their own Net-to-Mailbox service, they had the upperhand with in-store returns because you could get your movies quicker and (at least some of us — I have heard from people who did not get such a deal) you got 2 free game rentals a month. They could have won with that. But then they chopped that up and raised their prices. That is what finally drove me to the loving arms of Netflix.
Though, with another competitor out of the picture, I hope Netflix does not seize the opportunity to slack off or raise prices.
You realize these companies still make tons of money. Movie gallery grossed 2 billion dollars last year. Netflix only 1.2 billion. Blockbusters gross income hasn't changed in years.
Very interesting – i'll be sad to see it go.
Very interesting – i'll be sad to see it go.