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The Day of the Video Rental Store is Dead - RIP Blockbuster
Ok, so you're reading the title of this entry and thinking one of two things, or both. #1; HorrorBid you're jumping the gun, Blockbuster isn't officially dead yet. Or you're thinking #2; Duh, video rental stores have been dead or dying for years. Before you scoff at this article hear us out because although it's common knowledge on both fronts, it's sad nonetheless...
Follow up:
Think about this. The video stores are dead. Blockbuster is going to die, it's just a matter of when. How does this relate to horror your asking? Well as a kid growing up in the 80's the video store is where horror was born. You lived and died by box art and local video stores recommending titles to you. It was the glory days for non commercial horror. Those days have been long ago memories but it's taking the recent Blockbuster news for it to really sink it. Something that will die and never be brought back. 50 years from now it will be something not even thought about. Like TV shows that have no re-runs kids and adults will forget about how things were. Not completely of course but it will be in the same category as old records or the once popular horse and buggy.
According to a report by 24/7 Wall St, ten companies are likely to no longer be around in 2011. Some brands on the list include RadioShack, Kia, T-Mobile and Blockbuster.Blockbuster was the national leader in the video rental business for nearly two decades. But after losing another $65 million last quarter, the company is now considering bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Redbox and Netflix continue to perform well.
No one knows officially what will happen to the once mighty Blockbuster. A company that came in and mutilated the small locally owned mom and pop "movie houses" of the day. At one time in our town alone we had 6 video rental stores, 6! You'll never see that again. Gone are the days of spending 3 hours looking for perfect film art to jump out at you, that's all done online now.
Blockbuster has tried to "Red Box' things up but it isn't having near the success nor is its small online home delivery setup that they borrowed from Netflix. A case of too little to late we think. Someone beat them to the punch much like the small business owner did in the early days. Only this time the mighty company is failing because of bad business decisions and poor movie selections. The proverbially case of a "dose of their own medicine" so to speak. A whole country of past mom and pop video store owners with just a hint of a smile on their face no doubt.
Good or bad I am going to miss the smell of walking into those stores. I'm going to miss the different sections to browse, the rare titles that one store may have and another may not. Of course we all knew this day was coming but now that's its on the horizon it certainly makes one long for a "please be kind, rewind" sticker on a giant VHS clam shell case. Here is somebody looking at the past, knowing the future is brighter but missing the one on one experience with that mom and pop owner that many generations after us will never get the privilege to witness.
Source: Yahoo Statistics/HorrorBid
23 comments
07/13/10 @ 22:56
I always hated blockbuster. They never carried anything good, at least around my parts. Jumbo Video was the king of the big box video stores. Free popcorn and a horror section that was decorated to look the part. I still miss those trips to my local video stores though. I love movies so much that I actually used to spend a good portion of my summer just hanging out in the local video store, chatting with the owners and watching movies on their little tv behind the counter. It's also where we picked up some of the classic horror flicks that you just couldn't find anywhere else.
07/14/10 @ 09:05
I recall, nearly 10 years ago...movie stores were my "go-to" move when on a date. You could flirt around...hold hands...and mope through the video store...sort of like foreplay. Get the right video...and back home with a feeling of accomplishment and that you and your date actually did something other than turn on the fuckin' cable box and dish out money to Comcast for shitty digital cable that now only fills 3 of our 7 tvs since they don't let you have "free cable" on all your tubes anymore.
Not only is the experience gone...but so are the posters, the cardboard structures, the plastic Halo Masterchief sculpture, the tantilizing Twizzlers & pop corn selection right before check out, the people you could meet...like girls, the responsibility of trying not to scratch a disc or remembering to rewind and return, the drive to and from the store where you might here a new song on the radio or see a nice sunset...oh and the jobs are gone too. Guess we can get used to living with our parents again, aye? Honestly, the internet isn't that awesome. I would give up the right to post a comment on your board if they would just go back to magazines and movie stores and get rid of this internet shit that has destroyed the music industry and made everyone a zombie looking/typing into their iDistraction. Back then...people talked and didn't have "friend burnout" from Facebook or MySpace. You were happy to meet someone new...not like "Geesh...just leave a comment on my wall." Fuckin' future.
Not only is the experience gone...but so are the posters, the cardboard structures, the plastic Halo Masterchief sculpture, the tantilizing Twizzlers & pop corn selection right before check out, the people you could meet...like girls, the responsibility of trying not to scratch a disc or remembering to rewind and return, the drive to and from the store where you might here a new song on the radio or see a nice sunset...oh and the jobs are gone too. Guess we can get used to living with our parents again, aye? Honestly, the internet isn't that awesome. I would give up the right to post a comment on your board if they would just go back to magazines and movie stores and get rid of this internet shit that has destroyed the music industry and made everyone a zombie looking/typing into their iDistraction. Back then...people talked and didn't have "friend burnout" from Facebook or MySpace. You were happy to meet someone new...not like "Geesh...just leave a comment on my wall." Fuckin' future.
07/14/10 @ 10:01
It's not Blockbuster I miss it's the small mom and pop video stores that were so amazing. There was one in the plaza next door to us run by this old Polish couple and it was great. You could go in and get not only a new release but you could also rent On the waterfront or even old 80's horror like Sleepaway camp. Those were the days
07/14/10 @ 10:16
Very sad indeed! Here in Brazil it's the same, first there were the local rentals, then in the mid 90's Blockbuster came and bankrupted most of them. I used to love going to local movie rentals, then to blockbuster that was a very big and pleasant movie rental here, where besides the movie I could buy some ice cream, popcorn and soda to eat and drink while watching a movie.
Blockbuster also went bankrupt here and was bought by an awful popular sell everything store, that still keeps the blockbuster name and rent movies, but have turned the former blockbusters into some horrible popular sell everything stores that I have absolutely no pleasure of going to.
On the other hand there are still some nice local rentals, one chain in special where I can find some rare movies, like horror "B" movies, old classics and rare Europeans, etc... And some big stores like fnac and other big bookshops chains that have a wide selection of movies to buy.
I still like to spend some time looking for good movies in the stores, but nowadays instead of "trusting" the cover or the opinion of the seller, I just go online on websites like rotten tomatoes and others to know more about the movie, which is "safer".
Also, there are websites like Amazon where I can find movies that I can not find anywhere else, for a very good price, which is also not something bad.
Anyway, I think that in the future, maybe in 50 years from now, discs to see movies will no longer exist, people will just download them, and that's a serious risk not only to movie rentals, that will be long gone, but to the whole movie industry, as it is going to be very hard to control this downloads and I guess most people will just do it for free, as it happens nowadays- and with each time better home theater equipments, why will people go to the cinema? My guess is that people will just download movies for free and watch them at home. So in a sad future there will be no more rentals, or cinemas and the movie industry will have to reinvent itself or die.
Blockbuster also went bankrupt here and was bought by an awful popular sell everything store, that still keeps the blockbuster name and rent movies, but have turned the former blockbusters into some horrible popular sell everything stores that I have absolutely no pleasure of going to.
On the other hand there are still some nice local rentals, one chain in special where I can find some rare movies, like horror "B" movies, old classics and rare Europeans, etc... And some big stores like fnac and other big bookshops chains that have a wide selection of movies to buy.
I still like to spend some time looking for good movies in the stores, but nowadays instead of "trusting" the cover or the opinion of the seller, I just go online on websites like rotten tomatoes and others to know more about the movie, which is "safer".
Also, there are websites like Amazon where I can find movies that I can not find anywhere else, for a very good price, which is also not something bad.
Anyway, I think that in the future, maybe in 50 years from now, discs to see movies will no longer exist, people will just download them, and that's a serious risk not only to movie rentals, that will be long gone, but to the whole movie industry, as it is going to be very hard to control this downloads and I guess most people will just do it for free, as it happens nowadays- and with each time better home theater equipments, why will people go to the cinema? My guess is that people will just download movies for free and watch them at home. So in a sad future there will be no more rentals, or cinemas and the movie industry will have to reinvent itself or die.
07/14/10 @ 10:16
Good fucking ridance to blockbuster. In the Uk around 1995 they saw fit to buy out every video shop and then get rid of every film that was older than 6months old (Good 4 me who bought just about every horror film I could get my hands on), this action systematicly killed the whole point of a trip to the video shop and now I only visit blockbuster to hire videogames. For me I'll never forget the hay day of video during the 80s and as far as I'm concerned Blockbuster was the death of it all, so this final nail seals a 15 year prophecy set in motion by blockbuster. Hopefully more corporations will fail and the rise of small traders will prevail
07/14/10 @ 15:59
To krsdacritter i couldn't agree more blockbuster single handly killed off the rental market in the uk. I loved the small video stores the nearest 1 was a 35 min walk. The excitement of the trip there 'what was going to be in' and 'what new films can i book' only to get there and the film you wanted to have a film on loan plastic tab on :) and even better was to book a film only to go the next night at 7 (when it was ment to be returned) only for the person behind the counter to tell you that they must be keeping it another night arhhhhh great days. Going back even futher making a trip there and all the best films you wanted to see were only availible on betamax. Misspent youth god i miss it :)
07/14/10 @ 16:28
I, as a cinema lover, not only of horror movies, but of almost every genre (excluding things like twilight!), go very frequently to watch movies in the theatres, and rent and buy a lot of DVDs/Bluerays. If a lot of people do that we can postpone the inevitable death of an important part of the movie industry because of the Internet.
Hollywood can adapt, of course, just like the music industry have done. Musicians nowadays don't earn much out of DVD sale, so they have to make a lot of shows, and sell merchandise to make money.
Movie studios will have also to make money in the future out of something else other than ticket and DVD sale. Perhaps out of licensing merchandise, and/or including more publicity in the movies (like the James Bond ones), and/or including advertisement into free official download- but I think that it won't be easy for them.
It is going to be the same for writters, musicians, etc... Intelectual property is a big issue on the times of free download.
I know that this article is about the death of video rental, but this is only a small part of something much bigger.
Hollywood can adapt, of course, just like the music industry have done. Musicians nowadays don't earn much out of DVD sale, so they have to make a lot of shows, and sell merchandise to make money.
Movie studios will have also to make money in the future out of something else other than ticket and DVD sale. Perhaps out of licensing merchandise, and/or including more publicity in the movies (like the James Bond ones), and/or including advertisement into free official download- but I think that it won't be easy for them.
It is going to be the same for writters, musicians, etc... Intelectual property is a big issue on the times of free download.
I know that this article is about the death of video rental, but this is only a small part of something much bigger.
07/15/10 @ 15:06
That's what $5 movie rentals and $10 game rentals will do to a company over the years....
Hmmmm.... let me think. Pay $10 for Netflix/monthly? Or $10 for 2 movies at Blockbuster per weekend?
No brainer.
Today, you have to evolve and tailor to the internet... or a slow death awaits.
Hmmmm.... let me think. Pay $10 for Netflix/monthly? Or $10 for 2 movies at Blockbuster per weekend?
No brainer.
Today, you have to evolve and tailor to the internet... or a slow death awaits.
07/16/10 @ 08:32
wow i saw this coming a long time ago.
and this hits close to home with me.
honestly good riddance to bad rubbish, over priced new releases, over priced video games, rude clerks who knew nothing about the movie if you asked them about it, next to no older movies, the only thing ballbuster was good for was buying used dvds when they have the 3 for 20 sale and that was if you could find anything you actually wanted since they hardly EVER carried any lower budget horror, its pretty sad when you can find better movies at worst buy to purchase.
i stopped with ballbuster years ago when family videos started opening up they seemed to have a better selection (even Hammer movies!) and were much cheaper though now i just do netflix and gamefly for my habits
i miss the old mom and pop stores though, i remember one when i used to live in phoenix that always got the coolest horoor movies in regardless what the "demographics" were at the time because they were smart enough to know that kids like me wanted to rent movies like re-animator when they came out on vhs. and one that i lived near in michigan when i was in high school that would take my word for it when i asked them to get different titles in that they didnt have because 9 times out of 10 i was right that if they got what i asked them to order it would rent well, try asking ballbuster to special order a movie they laugh at you, all ballbuster and the like want to rent out is the newest piece of shit from angelina jolie, ZERO customer service these days my friends.
i wouldnt say this is the end of an era, the era we loved died in 1991 when ballbuster started taking over............................
and this hits close to home with me.
honestly good riddance to bad rubbish, over priced new releases, over priced video games, rude clerks who knew nothing about the movie if you asked them about it, next to no older movies, the only thing ballbuster was good for was buying used dvds when they have the 3 for 20 sale and that was if you could find anything you actually wanted since they hardly EVER carried any lower budget horror, its pretty sad when you can find better movies at worst buy to purchase.
i stopped with ballbuster years ago when family videos started opening up they seemed to have a better selection (even Hammer movies!) and were much cheaper though now i just do netflix and gamefly for my habits
i miss the old mom and pop stores though, i remember one when i used to live in phoenix that always got the coolest horoor movies in regardless what the "demographics" were at the time because they were smart enough to know that kids like me wanted to rent movies like re-animator when they came out on vhs. and one that i lived near in michigan when i was in high school that would take my word for it when i asked them to get different titles in that they didnt have because 9 times out of 10 i was right that if they got what i asked them to order it would rent well, try asking ballbuster to special order a movie they laugh at you, all ballbuster and the like want to rent out is the newest piece of shit from angelina jolie, ZERO customer service these days my friends.
i wouldnt say this is the end of an era, the era we loved died in 1991 when ballbuster started taking over............................
07/17/10 @ 15:25
Blockbuster never carried any indie stuff anyways i go in there and cant find anything i want ever, i dont care but its sad to see video stores are going away , im a filmaker and am part of that old vhs boom so to sell my movies these days is a challange and netflix is just as bad cause they wont carry indie titles eiether, they claim they donnt have room to house them but they have 500 copies of shit like avatar so you cant win long live indie filmaking and mom and pop shops
07/19/10 @ 23:12
We always had two stores: Video-Events and Family-Video. We always went to video events cuz family-video has no selection and just sucked period. Our video store was the small mom-and-pop kind with big cardboard cutouts, a gumball machine, and lots of great movies on VHS. Eventually our store had to close and "join" with family video. I never saw a single title from our store in that place either. I'll never forget all those hours spent wandering the back of the store where they kept the horror movies though; always a good seection of quality titles, unlike family which doesn't even separate by genre anymore because they don't want anyone to notice that their entire collection of dvd's is dime-bin shitfests and zero-budget "horror-movies" with shit for effects.
08/24/10 @ 14:36
HAHAHAHAHA I AM SSOOOO GLAD STUPID ASS BLOCKBUSTER IS CLOSING AND WHY? BECAUSE WHO IS REALLY GOING TO RENT A MOVIE FOR 4'99$ REALLY WHO? I TELL U THIS MUCH "NOT ME" AND THAN CHARGE YOU MORE IF ITS RETURN LATE, WOW SO EMOTIONAL. AND WELL HOLLYWOOD VIDEO IS REALLY LITERALY DEADDDD I HAVENT SEEN 1 IS LIKE WWOOOWWWW LONG TIME. ALL THE ONES I KNEW WHERE CLOSE DOWN. BUT W/E IM GLAD CAUSE I HAVE NETFLIX SAVE ME SOME GAS MONEY ANDD REDBOX WHICH IS JUST ACROSS MY HOUSE. WE DONT NEED BB, SO REST IN PIECES LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
09/03/10 @ 18:43
I miss video stores. As a teenager I too would spend hours browsing shelves, even if not to rent a movie, just to know what was out there. What I loved weren't the huge chain stores, but the mom and pop stores. The ones where the people working there were movie buffs and every store had certain obscure horror titles the other stores didn't.
HOWEVER...
I used to work for Ballbuster Video. Fuck them. They treat their employees horribly and have no respect for their customers either. I'm not going to go into all my stories, but I was screwed over BAD by Ballbuster and was encouraged my management (regional and district too) to screw over the customers. I say good riddance to you Ballbuster Video, serves you right and SEE YOU IN HELL!
HOWEVER...
I used to work for Ballbuster Video. Fuck them. They treat their employees horribly and have no respect for their customers either. I'm not going to go into all my stories, but I was screwed over BAD by Ballbuster and was encouraged my management (regional and district too) to screw over the customers. I say good riddance to you Ballbuster Video, serves you right and SEE YOU IN HELL!
09/05/10 @ 04:55
HAHAHA... i cant stop laughing! Karma just bit Blockbuster in the ass! It is so true that they treat their customers like shit. On my last and final trip to BB... First the employee at the register made me wait for him to finish texting on his phone. He refused to help me find any titles that i was looking for. He double charged me for my candy. He signed me up for some rewards program for $20 that i said no to. Also the free movie coupon that was handed to him magically vanished. I tried calling the 800 number multiple times and still no response. I walked away from the register to grab one more thing and had left my daughter to pay. Are they taught to screw over lil kids? I guess they can use all the 'stolen' money from us customers to pay their lawyers!
**ALSO**for the person that was looking for indie movies.. I came across a DVD mail rental place called GreenCine.com today that all sorts of crazy shit that ive been trying to find.
**ALSO**for the person that was looking for indie movies.. I came across a DVD mail rental place called GreenCine.com today that all sorts of crazy shit that ive been trying to find.
09/13/10 @ 23:41
It's odd that things have happened like this, yet somewhat expected. I preferred the mom n' pop shops instead. They usually had something good.
The entire infrastructure has definitely changed. Funny also that we sell about 100 orders a day from my work at cd warehouse online.
The stores may have suffered, but the disc isn't dead.
The entire infrastructure has definitely changed. Funny also that we sell about 100 orders a day from my work at cd warehouse online.
The stores may have suffered, but the disc isn't dead.
10/23/10 @ 14:20
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