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Blockbuster Video

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Kingsway

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With the pending bankruptcy in the US its only a matter of time before there are a rash of closures in Canada. Queen and Spadina closed a few months ago and I have heard a couple others have disappeared...Does anyone have any insight into this?
 
From what I recall my friend who works there says the Canadian BB hasn't suffered as much as the US BB. But they do seem to be consolidating. So does Rogers for that matter. After switching our Rogers from Rogers Video to Rogers Plus, like a year later it closed down.
 
The renting of videos is a fading industry.

You can rent movies from netflix....your cable or satelite company can deliver them directly to your TV and you can buy them from places like iTunes.

The video rental business is not consolidating it is dying. All that is left now is the need for places to sell to that segment of the market place that actually wants to own a copy of the videos....that segment can (and will be) served by the offerings of record/book/department/jr department stores....the need for (and commercial viability of) stand alone video stores is an old notion that has faded fast.
 
What I've been told is that they are not in the same danger as the US arm and that they have made concessions to ensure that the American company does not levy Canada as an asset to pay down debt like what happened to Linens and Things and The Source by Circuit City.

They will likely set themselves up for acquisition, however given that the business of video rentals is dying it will probably be picked up at the last minute by Bell or Rogers for its real estate only.
 
Not sure who might want to buy them. The industry's a bit of a dog's breakfast. A few years ago, Circuit City (when they were in business) had considered it, but IIRC Blockbuster wouldn't give them full access to their books, so that was scuttled.
 
samsonyuen said:
Not sure who might want to buy them. The industry's a bit of a dog's breakfast. A few years ago, Circuit City (when they were in business) had considered it, but IIRC Blockbuster wouldn't give them full access to their books, so that was scuttled.
Click to expand...

I think it was the other way around. Blockbuster was looking into buying Circuit City; I think the idea was that the Blockbuster stores could then more easily evolve into something a little more akin to the Source stores in Canada (which, at the time, was the only profitable arm of Circuit City). Blockbuster walked away once they took a good look at the Circuit City books, IRCC. It was such a bad plan -- an ailing chain looking to buy a failing chain.
 
My old neighbourhood store closed as well. I feel a bit bad in that it WAS the store I frequented...but then I remember the multiple, small shops they forced out and didn't feel so bad at all. If WalMart ever goes under (fat chance, I know) I figure I'll be about the same.

Now I just keep my eyes open for "closing sale" signs on the other Blockbusters I pass in my travels, dreaming of picking at the bones a bit.

You reap what you sow, I guess. Hopefully the owners put something aside for a rainy day...
 
There's still a considerable segment who likes to rent and buy physical media, myself being one of them. I could care less about Blockbuster or Rogers, I go out of my way to support independent video stores that carry things other than what makes the "top 20" wall such as Suspect Video, Queen Video, 7 & 24 Video etc. To me, those stores are so much more exciting and gratifying than searching titles on Netflix, which I've never rented from. I also prefer CD media. Books and magazines too. Perhaps I'm a dying breed.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
There's still a considerable segment who likes to rent and buy physical media, myself being one of them. I could care less about Blockbuster or Rogers, I go out of my way to support independent video stores that carry things other than what makes the "top 20" wall such as Suspect Video, Queen Video, 7 & 24 Video etc. To me, those stores are so much more exciting and gratifying than searching titles on Netflix, which I've never rented from. I also prefer CD media. Books and magazines too. Perhaps I'm a dying breed.
Click to expand...

Nope... im 23 and still prefer physical media myself. I have BellTV and could rent a movie from there, but nothing beats browsing through movies at a store. The fact that the movies are only good for 24 hours with BellTV doesn't help either. And like you said, its more difficult to find those non top 20's or older movies.
 
I wont shed a tear losing Blockbuster, They forced out all the good mom and pop neighborhood video stores, a lot of those little shops carried rare and out of print movies, Blockbuster only stocked the shelves with best sellers. Also a few years back Blockbuster had that "No Late Fees" scam that backfired on them. And yes dt_toronto_geek we're a dying breed! my teenage nephews thought i was a freak for spending 20 bucks on a cd at the mall LOL
 
Skeezix said:
I think it was the other way around. Blockbuster was looking into buying Circuit City; I think the idea was that the Blockbuster stores could then more easily evolve into something a little more akin to the Source stores in Canada (which, at the time, was the only profitable arm of Circuit City). Blockbuster walked away once they took a good look at the Circuit City books, IRCC. It was such a bad plan -- an ailing chain looking to buy a failing chain.
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right on that one.

Speaking of retailers buying other retailers in other industries, how about if Future Shop ended up buying Chapters? I wonder how that would've ended up...
 
To hell with Blockbuster and other corporate rental chains. I'm glad they're going under. It's all about independent specialty shops.
 
You guys who perfer physical media over streaming content would probably enjoy Zip.ca. They deliver discs in the mail and they have a vast library of titles (as good or surpassing Queen Video, Suspect, etc). Their subscription rates are also favourable compared to renting from brick & mortar shops if you watch more than 3 or 4 movies each month.

I've been with Zip for a couple of years now and I love it. They're working on their own online streaming system simliar to Netflix, so that's something to look forward to as well.

And before you go off thinking that waiting for movies in the mail would suck, consider that you can actually hold 3-4 movies at a time, so you're rarely left without anything to watch.
 
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