A few weeks ago, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which will allow it to continue operating its rapidly deteriorating number of stores. Here‘s a short article about it from The Washington Post.
I can’t say I’m surprised about Blockbuster hitting this all-time low. Two or three years ago, there were two stores both a mere five minutes away from my house. Now both are empty spaces looking for new businesses to come in. And honestly, every time I drive by I feel a little saddened by the thought of Blockbuster tanking.
[Image]The new king of DVD rental, Netflix, certainly owes Blockbuster a thank you. As the Washington Post article points out, “The bankruptcy marks the end of an era that Blockbuster and its blue-and-gold torn-ticket logo helped establish. Americans who once trooped to video-rental stores now watch movies from DVD-by-mail services such as Netflix, cable video on demand and Redbox vending machines.” Since Blockbuster started the whole concept of watching movies at home, it’s kind of sad to watch the store fall so far from the top. It makes me think of (getting nerdy for a second) how Call of Duty toppled the juggernaut that was Medal of Honor and howRock Band took the concept of Guitar Hero and made a game that was 10 times better.
I guess it’s the natural progression of things – one company comes up with an innovative idea and eventually that company gets beat out by other companies who find a way to make the idea better. Do you remember the search engine Alta Vista?
When I pass the empty Blockbuster stores in my neighborhood, that sad nostalgic feeling I get at first is quickly replaced by a different thought. It was kind of their own damn fault. They were always playing catch up with Netflix, Redbox, and all the other companies who were doing it better than them. They tried to compete with Netflix by starting up their own DVD-by-mail service. But by then, people who wanted to enroll in such a service (myself included) had already joined Netflix.
Blockbuster has always had one advantage over Netflix – the ability to go get pretty much any movie you want in the short time it takes to drive to one of their stores. Yeah Netflix has “watch instantly,” but if you haven’t noticed the selection there is pretty slim. The same goes for “On Demand” type programs where you can order movies directly on your TV. But rather than capitalize on this advantage, Blockbuster managed to screw it up by charging ridiculous rental fees. The last time I checked, it cost about $5 to rent a movie. I’m not sure about you, but I’d rather not cough up $5 when I can just wait two days for it to arrive on Netflix. I’ve never encountered a situation in which I so badly wanted to see a particular movie that I just had to go out and rent it ASAP. And even if I did, I’d probably think twice about paying five bucks to rent it.
Though they brought it on themselves, I do hope that Blockbuster somehow comes out of this major slump and figures out a way to actually compete with the other movie rental companies. The Medal of Honor franchise is making it’s big comeback this fall, so aBlockbuster return might not be impossible after all!
