Is Blockbuster coming Back?
24-Mar-23 4:10pm
#1 Frank
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https://www.myjourna...
What do you guys think? I personally think it'd be cool to see them come back as primarily game rentals.
#1 Frank
image
https://www.myjourna...
What do you guys think? I personally think it'd be cool to see them come back as primarily game rentals.
24-Mar-23 5:27pm
#2 Finn
This idea has been popping up more and more, business that went under and are hoping to make a buck on the nostalgia effect by making a comeback. Zellers up here is doing the same thing. They have a number up pop up stores and then a Zellers food truck, they actually had a pretty cool restaurant back in the day. Was kinda stoked when Target bought them and then they moved up here but man oh man, Target management really screwed the pooch on expanding into Canada. The stores were ok, but there online presence consisted of a website that had there flyer and contact info... it was very Zellers circa 1997.
I am hoping Zellers makes a comeback personally, and if there pop up stores are anything to go by they look like they will be like a Target as that kinda middle ground between Walmart and a high end department store.
With Blockbuster though, I don't see it ending well. Renting movies is hardly a thing, I can't remember the last time I rented one to be honest and with games? It be neat but again who rents games anymore? I am sure there are some but enough to sustain a business? Who knows.
#2 Finn
This idea has been popping up more and more, business that went under and are hoping to make a buck on the nostalgia effect by making a comeback. Zellers up here is doing the same thing. They have a number up pop up stores and then a Zellers food truck, they actually had a pretty cool restaurant back in the day. Was kinda stoked when Target bought them and then they moved up here but man oh man, Target management really screwed the pooch on expanding into Canada. The stores were ok, but there online presence consisted of a website that had there flyer and contact info... it was very Zellers circa 1997.
I am hoping Zellers makes a comeback personally, and if there pop up stores are anything to go by they look like they will be like a Target as that kinda middle ground between Walmart and a high end department store.
With Blockbuster though, I don't see it ending well. Renting movies is hardly a thing, I can't remember the last time I rented one to be honest and with games? It be neat but again who rents games anymore? I am sure there are some but enough to sustain a business? Who knows.
24-Mar-23 5:41pm
#3 MrBean
Honestly, fudge Blockbuster. They killed all the small shops, putting many out of business, then went under due to arrogance.
#3 MrBean
Honestly, fudge Blockbuster. They killed all the small shops, putting many out of business, then went under due to arrogance.
24-Mar-23 6:19pm
#4 Staraang
My bet is they’ll either do a Redbox type rental unit or brand a streaming service with their name. No way they’re bringing back old school rental stores. Ain’t nobody got time for that nowadays.
And yeah Blockbuster did suck compared with local rental shops. Nobody remembers but they were way overpriced compared with their local competitors. $4 for 3 nights? Why do that when the local shop will rent one night (which is all you need) for $1-1.50. I never understood why they forced you to rent a single movie for that long other than to gouge you. They did have an excellent selection, plenty of new release copies, and well-lit stores so I’ll give them that.
You could also get some pretty good used video game deals from them too.
#4 Staraang
My bet is they’ll either do a Redbox type rental unit or brand a streaming service with their name. No way they’re bringing back old school rental stores. Ain’t nobody got time for that nowadays.
And yeah Blockbuster did suck compared with local rental shops. Nobody remembers but they were way overpriced compared with their local competitors. $4 for 3 nights? Why do that when the local shop will rent one night (which is all you need) for $1-1.50. I never understood why they forced you to rent a single movie for that long other than to gouge you. They did have an excellent selection, plenty of new release copies, and well-lit stores so I’ll give them that.
You could also get some pretty good used video game deals from them too.
24-Mar-23 6:47pm
#5 loztdogs
I would love to see block buster make a return. I have fond memories of my son and I riding our bikes to the nearest bb. Renting games and maybe grabbing a couple movies. Sadly I would never see a bb in nw Montana… ever.
#5 loztdogs
I would love to see block buster make a return. I have fond memories of my son and I riding our bikes to the nearest bb. Renting games and maybe grabbing a couple movies. Sadly I would never see a bb in nw Montana… ever.
24-Mar-23 6:54pm
#6 KCPenguins
loztdogs wrote:
I would love to see block buster make a return. I have fond memories of my son and I riding our bikes to the nearest bb. Renting games and maybe grabbing a couple movies. Sadly I would never see a bb in nw Montana… ever.
I feel old, but even my first thought was dogs showing his age. lol
That's awesome though. I remember riding my bike to rental shops in the 80's and 90's to get that weekend waster or to avoid that late fee.
Honestly the rental store was a great memory from my childhood. What's new, is what I want in stock, IS IT IN THE RETURN BIN?
#6 KCPenguins
loztdogs wrote:
I would love to see block buster make a return. I have fond memories of my son and I riding our bikes to the nearest bb. Renting games and maybe grabbing a couple movies. Sadly I would never see a bb in nw Montana… ever.
I feel old, but even my first thought was dogs showing his age. lol
That's awesome though. I remember riding my bike to rental shops in the 80's and 90's to get that weekend waster or to avoid that late fee.
Honestly the rental store was a great memory from my childhood. What's new, is what I want in stock, IS IT IN THE RETURN BIN?
24-Mar-23 7:32pm
#7 beavis
I have very mixed feelings on this. For context I worked at a regional movie store from 2001-2005 off and on (Video Warehouse). I absolutely LOVE the video rental experience and miss it alot. Streaming was exciting at first and I still think it is a good form of entertainment for television shows, but watching a movie on it is a nightmare. More often than not no streaming service even has the movie I want to watch and I have to rent from Amazon Prime which is like $3.99 (which is a ridiculous price for a digital rental) and the quality dips because of various reason. HBO Max is probably the best service for movies as of now and their CEO realizes that and is starting to splinter them off onto other various streaming platforms.
With that said, Blockbuster 100% killed the mom and pop shops in the early 2000s and then made the bonehead decision to laugh Netflix out of their offices only to start their own mail distro system which was too little too late. So I don't really want to see them make a comeback as I think they will fudge it up anyways. There are a couple of local rental shops in some of the major cities that get decent foot traffic. One thing I have to wonder is how many people have the ability to play blu rays or 4k disc? Those of us here probably have a console that can do it but how much of the general population has that?
#7 beavis
I have very mixed feelings on this. For context I worked at a regional movie store from 2001-2005 off and on (Video Warehouse). I absolutely LOVE the video rental experience and miss it alot. Streaming was exciting at first and I still think it is a good form of entertainment for television shows, but watching a movie on it is a nightmare. More often than not no streaming service even has the movie I want to watch and I have to rent from Amazon Prime which is like $3.99 (which is a ridiculous price for a digital rental) and the quality dips because of various reason. HBO Max is probably the best service for movies as of now and their CEO realizes that and is starting to splinter them off onto other various streaming platforms.
With that said, Blockbuster 100% killed the mom and pop shops in the early 2000s and then made the bonehead decision to laugh Netflix out of their offices only to start their own mail distro system which was too little too late. So I don't really want to see them make a comeback as I think they will fudge it up anyways. There are a couple of local rental shops in some of the major cities that get decent foot traffic. One thing I have to wonder is how many people have the ability to play blu rays or 4k disc? Those of us here probably have a console that can do it but how much of the general population has that?
24-Mar-23 7:51pm
#8 KCPenguins
As someone who grew up where the nearest Blockbuster was an hour away, I'm pretty sure Netflix, redbox and eventually digital killed the local rental business.
Blockbuster ate mom and pop in bigger markets, Netflix and Redbox ate Blockbuster (Blockbuster had Redbox vending machines as a last ditch effort), digital (various subscriptions) hurt Netflix and Redbox.
I enjoyed the end of BB, got a lot of good deals. Welcome to the end of brick and morter. Slowly going towards fewer stores, more delivery, cutting jobs, more automation. Very few want to work anyways so what's it matter?
#8 KCPenguins
As someone who grew up where the nearest Blockbuster was an hour away, I'm pretty sure Netflix, redbox and eventually digital killed the local rental business.
Blockbuster ate mom and pop in bigger markets, Netflix and Redbox ate Blockbuster (Blockbuster had Redbox vending machines as a last ditch effort), digital (various subscriptions) hurt Netflix and Redbox.
I enjoyed the end of BB, got a lot of good deals. Welcome to the end of brick and morter. Slowly going towards fewer stores, more delivery, cutting jobs, more automation. Very few want to work anyways so what's it matter?
24-Mar-23 10:32pm
#11 KillerKlown
Streaming didn't do them in.
It was pricing and convivence. Had they charged .99-1.99 per new rental they'd still be around.
In my area it was like $4.50 for two days. Video games were like $5-8 for a week.
All they needed was competitive pricing and drop off locations at local grocery stores/gas stations around town.
It's why Redbox is still around. Nobody wants to drive 20-30 minutes out of their way to return a movie.
It seemed they did this intentionally to capitalize on late fees.
Another thing most people don't recall is "reviews."
Back then we'd rent stuff just based on the cool cover. That dried up after Rottentomatoes.
Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society.
#11 KillerKlown
Streaming didn't do them in.
It was pricing and convivence. Had they charged .99-1.99 per new rental they'd still be around.
In my area it was like $4.50 for two days. Video games were like $5-8 for a week.
All they needed was competitive pricing and drop off locations at local grocery stores/gas stations around town.
It's why Redbox is still around. Nobody wants to drive 20-30 minutes out of their way to return a movie.
It seemed they did this intentionally to capitalize on late fees.
Another thing most people don't recall is "reviews."
Back then we'd rent stuff just based on the cool cover. That dried up after Rottentomatoes.
Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society.
25-Mar-23 1:25pm
#12 Frank
KillerKlown wrote:
Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society.
There's plenty of people who go out of their way to watch terrible movies
#12 Frank
KillerKlown wrote:
Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society.
There's plenty of people who go out of their way to watch terrible movies
25-Mar-23 2:58pm
#14 theJaw
KillerKlown wrote:
Streaming didn't do them in. It was pricing and convivence. Had they charged .99-1.99 per new rental they'd still be around. In my area it was like $4.50 for two days. Video games were like $5-8 for a week. All they needed was competitive pricing and drop off locations at local grocery stores/gas stations around town. It's why Redbox is still around. Nobody wants to drive 20-30 minutes out of their way to return a movie. It seemed they did this intentionally to capitalize on late fees. Another thing most people don't recall is "reviews." Back then we'd rent stuff just based on the cool cover. That dried up after Rottentomatoes. Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society.
Is this a poem?
#14 theJaw
KillerKlown wrote:
Streaming didn't do them in. It was pricing and convivence. Had they charged .99-1.99 per new rental they'd still be around. In my area it was like $4.50 for two days. Video games were like $5-8 for a week. All they needed was competitive pricing and drop off locations at local grocery stores/gas stations around town. It's why Redbox is still around. Nobody wants to drive 20-30 minutes out of their way to return a movie. It seemed they did this intentionally to capitalize on late fees. Another thing most people don't recall is "reviews." Back then we'd rent stuff just based on the cool cover. That dried up after Rottentomatoes. Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society.
Is this a poem?
26-Mar-23 7:29am
#15 citizen_zane
I was never a fan of Blockbuster. It was either a smaller, more local store or maybe Hollywood Video.
#15 citizen_zane
I was never a fan of Blockbuster. It was either a smaller, more local store or maybe Hollywood Video.
26-Mar-23 8:59am
#16 gameremporium
Heard it may be nothing but if it is may be a vod service thru there website. I think it would take too much money to go brick n morter retail store again.
#16 gameremporium
Heard it may be nothing but if it is may be a vod service thru there website. I think it would take too much money to go brick n morter retail store again.
26-Mar-23 9:01am
#17 benstylus
I think Blockbuster's success in the 90s and early 2000s wasn't necessarily because people loved the company. And I don't think that any nostalgia for the brand would be a long term sustainable business.
I have some good nostalgia of browsing rows upon rows of VHS and subsequently DVD cases. But I have more negative memories of them.
Blockbuster put the smaller local stores in my area out of business. They literally opened a store right next door to an existing mom and pop rental place, which struggled to compete for a couple years before they finally closed down.
(Red circle is where the original rental shop was, blue is where Blockbuster opened up shop)
image[/url]
Even with their higher prices, they had more copies of new releases, and often negotiated exclusives before the actual retail home video release. I kept renting from the mom and pop place until they closed because their rentals were about 40% cheaper.
Blockbuster's late fees were no joke, either. Especially when they switched to their "no more late fees!" slogan, where instead of a daily late fee they would just charge full MSRP to the card on file if you kept over a week too long. Had a friend in school whose parents were NOT happy to see that charge on their credit card bill when he failed to return a game.
I kind of rejoiced on the inside when they went under. Although now that things are all streaming, you have to have multiple subscriptions to watch everything you want. So I don't really know if I can say things are actually better...
#17 benstylus
I think Blockbuster's success in the 90s and early 2000s wasn't necessarily because people loved the company. And I don't think that any nostalgia for the brand would be a long term sustainable business.
I have some good nostalgia of browsing rows upon rows of VHS and subsequently DVD cases. But I have more negative memories of them.
Blockbuster put the smaller local stores in my area out of business. They literally opened a store right next door to an existing mom and pop rental place, which struggled to compete for a couple years before they finally closed down.
(Red circle is where the original rental shop was, blue is where Blockbuster opened up shop)
image[/url]
Even with their higher prices, they had more copies of new releases, and often negotiated exclusives before the actual retail home video release. I kept renting from the mom and pop place until they closed because their rentals were about 40% cheaper.
Blockbuster's late fees were no joke, either. Especially when they switched to their "no more late fees!" slogan, where instead of a daily late fee they would just charge full MSRP to the card on file if you kept over a week too long. Had a friend in school whose parents were NOT happy to see that charge on their credit card bill when he failed to return a game.
I kind of rejoiced on the inside when they went under. Although now that things are all streaming, you have to have multiple subscriptions to watch everything you want. So I don't really know if I can say things are actually better...
26-Mar-23 10:33am
#18 Staraang
Things are better in the sense you have the convenience of an insane amount of content at your fingertips for a reasonable price. For example, I would have never dreamed of having a service where the entire Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney libraries were available for a few bucks a month. If I went to someone’s house as a kid and they had a large selection of Disney animated films on VHS that was considered a big deal.
It’s not as good now in that the convenience of having all this content kind of devalues it a bit. Simply because it’s so accessible it just isn’t as big a deal anymore.
#18 Staraang
Things are better in the sense you have the convenience of an insane amount of content at your fingertips for a reasonable price. For example, I would have never dreamed of having a service where the entire Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney libraries were available for a few bucks a month. If I went to someone’s house as a kid and they had a large selection of Disney animated films on VHS that was considered a big deal.
It’s not as good now in that the convenience of having all this content kind of devalues it a bit. Simply because it’s so accessible it just isn’t as big a deal anymore.
26-Mar-23 10:38am
#19 KillerKlown
Frank wrote:
KillerKlown wrote:> Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society. There's plenty of people who go out of their way to watch terrible movies
Example: Horror movies, Jack Frost or Satan's Little Helper.
When they came out, my video store had like 50 copies.
An entire wall.
Frost had a really cool lenticular cover.
Both were consistently checked out for months.
Tons of movies back then were produced specifically for VHS rental release.
Tons of cheap comedies and horror movies.
I presume flicks like that aren't as successful on streaming or Redbox. Or not on the same levels.
Video stores paid $100-$200 per tape. Now companies are paid by clicks.
Or we'd see more films being produced.
I say that because I have some friends who made a movie. It has like 100 positive ratings on Amazon, yet according to them it's barely broken even. They had a small 40k budget.
To the point they aren't motivated to make another one.
Unless it's sponsored by one of the larger platforms nobody even knows it exists.
Navigation of films on these platforms is terrible. Unless you know specifically what you're searching for you won't find it.
In a store it's right in front of you.
But in todays age, a consumer will look up reviews. If under a 7, I'm unsure people would rent it.
This is why companies spend millions on fake reviews to bump up numbers on sites like Rottentomatoes.
#19 KillerKlown
Frank wrote:
KillerKlown wrote:> Those types of films wouldn't get rented in today's society. There's plenty of people who go out of their way to watch terrible movies
Example: Horror movies, Jack Frost or Satan's Little Helper.
When they came out, my video store had like 50 copies.
An entire wall.
Frost had a really cool lenticular cover.
Both were consistently checked out for months.
Tons of movies back then were produced specifically for VHS rental release.
Tons of cheap comedies and horror movies.
I presume flicks like that aren't as successful on streaming or Redbox. Or not on the same levels.
Video stores paid $100-$200 per tape. Now companies are paid by clicks.
Or we'd see more films being produced.
I say that because I have some friends who made a movie. It has like 100 positive ratings on Amazon, yet according to them it's barely broken even. They had a small 40k budget.
To the point they aren't motivated to make another one.
Unless it's sponsored by one of the larger platforms nobody even knows it exists.
Navigation of films on these platforms is terrible. Unless you know specifically what you're searching for you won't find it.
In a store it's right in front of you.
But in todays age, a consumer will look up reviews. If under a 7, I'm unsure people would rent it.
This is why companies spend millions on fake reviews to bump up numbers on sites like Rottentomatoes.
26-Mar-23 6:47pm
#20 lightslime
I went to the last blockbuster in bend Oregon and seems like they make more off selling merchandise than actually renting movies, lots of tourists taking pictures of it n crap. Basically looked like a blockbuster would look in the early 2000s but sunfaded and with a large merch section in the middle. I don't think they could come back with the same business model renting movies. Hollywood video was way better than blockbuster where I was back in the day, more sketchy and run down but had a better selection and cheaper
#20 lightslime
I went to the last blockbuster in bend Oregon and seems like they make more off selling merchandise than actually renting movies, lots of tourists taking pictures of it n crap. Basically looked like a blockbuster would look in the early 2000s but sunfaded and with a large merch section in the middle. I don't think they could come back with the same business model renting movies. Hollywood video was way better than blockbuster where I was back in the day, more sketchy and run down but had a better selection and cheaper
Is Blockbuster coming Back?