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Blockbuster Closing 960 Stores – Opening 9,500 Kiosks
Thu Sep 17, 2009 at 01:45 PM ETTags: Blockbuster, High-Def Retailing (all tags)
It’s been a rough few years for Blockbuster. So rough in fact, that they’ve announced the closing of nine hundred and sixty retail stores across the US.
685 of those stores will be closed by year’s end, with the remaining 275 shutting down in 2010. According to their SEC filing, Blockbuster is ready to shut down up to 1,500 locations should the need arise. Clearly, Blockbuster is losing ground in the brick and mortar space, but they have a plan to rejuvenate their company, a plan inspired by their biggest competition.
Adding to the 497 current Blockbuster Express rental kiosks already deployed, the company plans to open an additional 2,000 by the year’s end. By 2010, Blockbuster hopes to have 10,000 rental kiosks in locations across the country.
That still puts them at around half of Red Boxes current install base, but Blockbuster seems to be hinting towards some major retailer support. Additionally, existing Movie Cube rental kiosks will be converted into Blockbuster Express kiosks thanks the acquisition of competing kiosk company The New Release.
Blockbuster also hopes to capitalize on their Total Access and On Demand services, which have a high profit margin and little upfront cost. Interestingly, while Netflix is listed as a competitor for Blockbuster’s Total Access movies by mail service, the name is absent from the competition list for Blockbuster On Demand.
Source: Securities and Exchange Commission
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Blockbuster to Go Blu-ray Only in 1400+ Stores
Mon Jun 18, 2007 at 01:52 AM ETTags: Blockbuster, High-Def Disc Rentals, Industry Trends (all tags)
Blockbuster says it will expand its high-def disc rental program by 1,450 stores in July, but in a blow to the HD DVD camp, each of the new stores will only carry Blu-ray.
The nation's largest video chain began renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs in 250 stores in late 2006, but it says it has found that its customers have chosen Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time.
"The consumers are sending us a message. I can't ignore what I'm seeing," Matthew Smith, senior vice president of merchandising at Blockbuster told the AP.
While the company will continue to rent HD DVD discs in the original 250 stores and via its online rental service, its July expansion to 1,450 additional stores will see the rentailer go Blu-ray only.
Blockbuster told the Associated Press that the decision was helped in large part by the lopsided availability of titles in Blu-ray. "When you walk into a store and see all this product available in Blu-ray and there is less available on HD DVD, I think the consumer gets that," Smith said.
The HD DVD Promotional Group called Blockbuster's decision "shortsighted," and attributed Blu-ray's performance at Blockbuster to that format's stronger release slate in the first three months of 2007.
"I think trying to make a format decision using such a short time period is really not measuring what the consumer is saying," said Ken Graffeo, co-president of the group.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
- Related links:
- Blockbuster to favor Blu-ray HD disc [Associated Press]
- Earlier on High-Def Digest:
- Blockbuster to Test Blu-ray, HD DVD Rentals (Nov 06, 2006)
Rumor Mill: Blockbuster to Stock HD DVD, Blu-ray? (Updated)
Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 05:03 PM ETTags: Blockbuster, High-Def Disc Rentals (all tags)
Struggling video rentailer Blockbuster may be testing the high-def waters this holiday season with a rumored expansion to HD DVD and Blu-ray in some of its most high-volume stores.
At least that's what one poster on AVS Forum says a New York-based Blockbuster store manager told him.
According to the poster's account, beginning on November 7th, select Blockbuster outlets will participate in what's being termed an "experiment" -- stocking 40 titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray, and adding 4-6 titles each month. The high-def titles will rent at the same rate as standard def discs.
If true, this wouldn't be Blockbuster's first foray with the high-def formats. Like Netflix, the company has been renting high-def discs via itsonline rental service Blockbuster.com since the formats both launched earlier this year.
But given the limited shelf-space of their bricks and mortar outlets, such an experiment would nonetheless be notable, and might serve to encourage other bricks and mortar video rental stores to follow suit.
We'll let you know when (and if) this story is confirmed, and if you see high-def discs for rent at *your* local Blockbuster, please drop us a line (and send us a photo) via our tips and submission form.
UPDATE: (9:00pm ET, 11/1/06) A couple updates on this one -- first, readers in Florida and California wrote in tell us that they too have been told that Blockbuster will begin carrying high-def discs in select stores in their area. And second, Murilo from Brazil sent along this photo from a Brazilian Blockbuster that is apparently already carrying high-def discs. Thanks to all for the tips.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
- Related links:
- Select Blockbuster stores will carry BR & HD disks starting Nov 7th [AVS Forum]
- Earlier on High-Def Digest:
- Blockbuster Adds High-Def to Online Rental Queue (Apr 13, 2006)
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