Thetownend.com

May be going out of business!

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/09/24/2010-09-24_now_not_playing_video_rental_big_goes_bust.html

They should have a massive sale if it goes ahead.

Only the American branch apparently, the UK branch of Blockbusters is a different company with different owners and not in any danger of collapse.

It's the same owners but a separate legal entity, and not affected for that reason.

Blockbuster are just one of a number of market leaders that pretty much fucked up and didn't move with the times when the internet started taking over. They had the market share and brand to do it but poor management missed the window.

I'm always surprised HMV continues to survive. Virgin going bust was probably the only thing that has saved them.

Tis true. I wonder how long the UK side will last though.

What with Love film, and the price of films a lot cheaper.

HMV won't last long in their current format. In croydon there are two massive stores within 100 feet of each other, which is particularly stupid. Their pricing is up shit creek also, particularly in the "sales" when lots of items go up 50% I don't buy anything in there ever. Just browse and get what I want from Amazon et al.

With Blockbuster their strategy of countering the internet threat from Lovefilm et al seems to be by getting titles on an 'exclusive' for a set time. I personally don't see that many people bothered - cheapness and convenience beats exclusivity. If I want to see a film quickly there is the cinema!

I guess it may be an interim solution and the VOD market may be what they go after?

They do of course sell stuff too. But I never think of going their to buy a game/film!

I only go in there when a certain forum member is working so I can get free rentals! soapy tit wank!

I reckon they've already missed the window for other markets, even if they enter them now there are established players doing a decent job. If Netflix launch in the UK which they've talked about before, it will be the end of Blockbuster.

The other problem though is the amount of video available at a low cost nowadays. If you've got Sky or Virgin you've got loads of channels to watch already, add on all the catch up and VOD services, websites, torrents and so on. Is there really anything you have to watch immediately and pay extra for? Plenty of other stuff to watch for free.

I think HMV has a few more years left in her... They're starting to going into fashion, gadgets and confectionary which I interpret as an early death rattle.

Personally i think they're already preparing long term for life outside of the High Street. HMV.com, Gig venues, cinemas, festivals etc.

Blockbuster is pretty poor, the selection and prices on Lovefilm are far better unless you're only interested in brand new releases.

I went into HMV in Leamington Spa today, as others have said the prices were all over the place - there's an independent record store in the same shopping centre which was selling all of the Talking Heads albums at £5 each, in HMV they were about a tenner. I wish I could find a decent independent record shop around here, I don't like buying music online so always got stuff through Rapture in Witney and didn't mind paying a little extra to keep them in business.

As some of you know, I work at Blockbuster. We got a "don't panic" message from the head honcho today, that was nice. Blockbuster US got rid of late fees, I reckon that was their downfall. Still, I reckon the UK side have only got a few years left, tops.