Did anyone even go to Blockbuster anymore?

[Jagos]

So it looks like BB Canada has decided to close up shop (http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/08/31/blockbuster-canada-close.html)

"As a result of the significant changes in Blockbuster Canada Co.'s competitive landscape, the company's 'bricks and mortar' business model has experienced significant challenges over the last few years, largely due to the proliferation of various alternatives available to media consumers in Canada," the receiver said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

So the question is simple. With all of the DVDs you can either pirate or Netflix, why would you want to pay $5 for the first day, then $3 each additional day? Did anyone still do this?

[Fifthfiend]

Nope, haven't set foot in one for years.

[Nikose Tyris]

I go to Blockbusters all the time. I find stores that are going out of business and buy the heavy discounts on anything good.

I've yet to nab any of those bitchin' console display stands though.

[Flarecobra]

Haven't SEEN a Blockbuster in about 4 years now. Haven't set foot in one in longer.

[Loyal]

There's a Blockbuster about 5 minutes from my house, but I think it's been six years+ since I last stepped foot in any of its kind.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I don't think we ever HAD a blockbuster around here. Lesser video/dvd rental shops all closed down years ago too.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Wait, that's how much it costs you rent films? Here it's like $2 a week. And we use monopoly money.

[Azisien]

This may come as a shock. I know it shocked me. There's one thing I learned about people whilst working in a video store. You see lots of different people there. Young to old, tall to short, cheery to insane, dumb to sharp, male, female, everymale, skinny, fat, bald, mohawk, afro, straight, gay, M Night Shamyalan fan.

Everyone in the video store had one unifying trait. They had no clue how technology worked. And so there they were, in the video store.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Had some good memories there. it's sad to see them go. :(

Would have thought they'd go the way of the media shop and just sell movies, games, and music.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

This may come as a shock. I know it shocked me. There's one thing I learned about people whilst working in a video store. You see lots of different people there. Young to old, tall to short, cheery to insane, dumb to sharp, male, female, everymale, skinny, fat, bald, mohawk, afro, straight, gay, M Night Shamyalan fan.

Everyone in the video store had one unifying trait. They had no clue how technology worked. And so there they were, in the video store.

Some of my friends have computer science doctorates and electrical engineering and we stil rocked the video store. Because video stores are rad.
So either you don't know how technology works or you are a sweet 80s punk-gang.

[Azisien]

Some of my friends have computer science doctorates and electrical engineering and we stil rocked the video store. Because video stores are rad.
So either you don't know how technology works or you are a sweet 80s punk-gang.

This story sounds made up.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Well we're not an 80s punk gang but we still go to video stores because they are rad. And like fuck, you can get a fistfull of movies for a couple of dollars. Its cheap, its effective and you can can find awesome shit that you woudn't find by looking online. And videostores have this crazy videostore smell- it's addictive.

[synkr0nized]

There used to only be two video stores in town -- a Blockbuster and a locally-owned store.

Both have closed down since I moved out here, citing Netflix and Red Box rentals as a primary reason.



Oh wait there was some Hollywood ____ store, but no one went to it. It was the first to go.

[Fifthfiend]

I go to Blockbusters all the time. I find stores that are going out of business and buy the heavy discounts on anything good.

I've yet to nab any of those bitchin' console display stands though.

IDGAF how cheap their deals are I'm not getting the stench of those places on me ever again.

I don't think we ever HAD a blockbuster around here. Lesser video/dvd rental shops all closed down years ago too.

Snapping the necks of small video renters is the second-best favor Netflix ever did the world right after strangling the big chains to death in their beds.

EDIT: actually the small renters probably all died cause you can go on the internet and get all the porn you want.

[Ecks]

No. I have not personally been to a Blockbuster in some time.

I don't see too many rental places about either.

It's official: the internet has killed the rental business.

[mauve]

There's a Blockbuster about 30 miles from my house. I haven't been there in ages. Their selection was horrible. I think I went there twice in the past three years, both times looking to rent a video game and both times I left empty-handed because the only 2 copies of said new game that they actually had were out. I don't have the internet speed to stream off Netflix, so basically we have rented maybe four movies total in the past two years, all from a dinky little local place. Otherwise I just wait till it's on tv, or buy it from a local secondhand store where you can get legit copies of movies for like $1.50. Also, I bought a bunch of movies when Borders and Hollywood Video went out of business.


Also, lol @ Netflix banner ads.

[Krylo]

It's official: the internet has killed the rental business.

I saw you on the DVD back in ninety two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you
If I was young it didn't stop me going to you.


They took the money for your rented panoply
Rewritten by machine and new technology
And now I understand the problems you can see

I met your children
What did you tell them?

Internet killed the video store
Internet killed the video store

Downloads came and broke your heart.

[Michie]

There's a Blockbuster down the street from my house. I don't think I've been in it in the last 10ish years. I'd rather use Netflix but if I have to rent it'll be Redbox for $1.

[Eltargrim]

Both of my local Blockbusters closed up shop about a year ago. No loss.

[Azisien]

There isn't much of Red Box in Canada yet, and the Netflix selection is vastly inferior, so rental stores [other than Blockbuster] are going to persist for a while longer here.

[phil_]

I rented stuff from my friendly local video store while I had no power recently (laptop charged at the library=DVD player). I couldn't find a satisfactory copy of The Last Dragon on the internet, so they helped there, too.

Incidentally, it's really great having almost everything I need/want on the street behind my house.

[The Murderer]

Yeah, i go to blockbuster all the time. It's a short walk from my house and i'm signed up for their non stop gaming program so whenever a new game comes out that i know i won't be playing after a month i just rent it from there.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

I'm not really sure what Blockbuster is. From what I've gathered it's like a Redbox that you, I dunno, walk inside? And there's a fee for taking a big case with the movies? I'm not too sure. I'm only sixteen so this is pretty before my time.

[shiney]

Gaming is about the only thing they were still useful for, to a degree, and that's not something you can base an entire business from.

I would feel sorry for them if THEY didn't become huge by killing off other businesses. I feel more sorry for the employees than the company.

[Nique]

I would feel sorry for them if THEY didn't become huge by killing off other businesses.

*DING DING DING DING DING*

[Jagos]

I'm not really sure what Blockbuster is. From what I've gathered it's like a Redbox that you, I dunno, walk inside? And there's a fee for taking a big case with the movies? I'm not too sure. I'm only sixteen so this is pretty before my time.

It was this big store where you could rent DVDs, instead of getting them in the mail. Everyone hated these stores, but they were the only ones where you could get movies, holding a monopoly on the tastes of millions of people across the land.

But lo! The internet sprung up, allowing streaming of movies, playing of PC games reviving the industry again, and the expansion of music.

The Blockbusters they slowly closed down, cursing the internet and the Red Boxes and the Netflixes of the world. For the very expensive $5 dollars plus the late fees accrued to screw up your credit, they were the lifeblood of this foul demon.

And so it goes that our demonic friend that was Blockbuster can no longer harm you, dear friend. You can find movies online. You can find games cheaper at Gamefly. And you can never worry about a late fee again with Netflix. Life has turned good.

You can live happily ever after.

[Magus]

I went to one that was closing and bought a bunch of DVDs real cheap. They also had complete TV seasons of some minor shows that only had one season for ten dollars a piece (got the entire run of The Dresden Files and Firefly that way).

So to answer your question, no.

[Bobbey]

I think the only Blockbuster around here (EXTREMELY rare, since we've got Vidéotron here as well in Québec, don't know about the rest of Canada) closed around a year ago. I've never actually been in one neither, but I rarely rent movies anyways, even online. I'd rather go to the movies directly when something seems interesting to watch.

[Flarecobra]

I would feel sorry for them if THEY didn't become huge by killing off other businesses.

Basically, they're getting a taste of their own medicine, huh?

[Magus]

Wait, that's how much it costs you rent films? Here it's like $2 a week. And we use monopoly money.

Yeah, here there's a basic standard of two dollars a night for new releases (and places like Blockbuster usually charged like 2.49 or something just be assholes). They had like a five movie/five day special or something where you saved some money but all in all renting movies is not particularly cheap.

That said, before I got high speed internet I rented a lot more movies than I do now. I live in a rural area and we got high speed internet last. BUT I wasn't renting from Blockbuster, I was renting from the local grocery store, so...in fact because of bandwidth caps I still rent from them sometimes.

EDIT: However, I remember back when I was a kid though there was this little old lady who ran a rental shop (back when they they were still video cassettes and laserdiscs were this new amazing technology with machines cost hundreds of dollars), and she was basically renting the movies more just to do something and interact with people than to make any money. She just rented them out of the front of a shop that she actually lived over the top of. Anyway, she rented video games and movies pretty cheap. Used to play a lot of NES games that way. Only downside was she never cleaned any of the stuff so they could gum up your machine, we tended to not rent a lot of videocassettes from her but the NES games we rented all the time (since our machines were interminably dirty anyway. You'd be surprised how cheap used games were in the early '90s, a lot cheaper than nowadays, like five bucks for games that had been fifty bucks only two or three years before. GameStop really overcharges for used games if you think about it). She seriously only charged like a quarter a night or something crazy like that.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

All jokes aside, Blockbuster going out of business has been fantastic for my DVD collection.

[Magus]

I know, right? I was getting brand new movies like Quantum of Solace and Traitor and stuff for like three bucks a piece or something (this was a year or two ago I went to the one that was closing). Not bad, and they weren't selling stuff that didn't work, either, since if people were renting the things they had to make sure they worked or they wouldn't make any money.

[Doc ock rokc]

I go to BB's to rent games on occasions when i can aford it. Doing the math its actually cheaper then doing Gamefly-off-the-handle-with-prices

[Magus]

Gamefly seems really overpriced to me, since technically they will be sending out a lot less discs, since people tend to play games for at least two or three days (and much longer if it's a good and lengthy game) as opposed to one day with a movie, pretty much maximum. I think if they dialed it back about five bucks it would be much more of something I'd get into. And of course things like OnLive are going to start one-upping them with online digital distribution.

[Nique]

HEY GUYS NETFLIX IS GOING TO BE TOTALLY AWESOME AND RENT VIDEO GAMES NAO

[Michie]

No they aren't. "Qwikster" is. :D

Oh, and they're going to charge extra for it.

[Marc v4.0]

Still better then Cable/Sat

[Magus]

I dunno about Cable but my satellite company keeps giving us free three-month trials of all the premium channels every once in a while...seems to work out pretty well for catching Boardwalk Empire and Dexter this fall. Just have to time it right when we call and ask about their promotions.

[Marc v4.0]

Our Cable and Sat. options are all 35-45 for any decent range of channels, price not including on-demand and DVR, services which can range 10-15 each.

So I'll pay 15 dollars, HAPPILY, instead of dealing with that again.

[Fifthfiend]

Gaming is about the only thing they were still useful for, to a degree, and that's not something you can base an entire business from.

I would feel sorry for them if THEY didn't become huge by killing off other businesses. I feel more sorry for the employees than the company.

I would feel sorry for them if they didn't build their business model around gouging late fees out of people.

They made renting a movie, a thing which should be relaxing and enjoyable, into a source of additional goddamn stress where I had to have shit back by their dumb deadline or get charged, or maybe get shit back by their dumb deadline but get charged anyway, and never knew what random amount of money I'd get charged the next time I tried to rent a goddamn movie.

I'm willing to allow that sometimes bigger business kill off littler businesses but when the bigger businesses try to thrive by providing a shittier and more unpleasant experience then pour the fucking gasoline and strike a match on your way out as soon as anyone else comes along with a better idea.

[shiney]

Thoroughly and unapologetically agreed.

[McTahr]

Gouging is far too kind of a word for what they did.

The scars.

Oh the scars.

[Doc ock rokc]

I would feel sorry for them if they didn't build their business model around gouging late fees out of people.

To be fair they are not the worst. I find Red box and family video things to be worse in my opinion. They charge a 1-3 dollars a day for every day you have it. and those fucking machines/employees can fuck up and not detect the code correctly leading to you getting charged a buck a day for the rest of the month when you find out and call them...Yes, this did happen to me why do you ask?

[Jagos]

To be fair they are not the worst. I find Red box and family video things to be worse in my opinion. They charge a 1-3 dollars a day for every day you have it. and those fucking machines/employees can fuck up and not detect the code correctly leading to you getting charged a buck a day for the rest of the month when you find out and call them...Yes, this did happen to me why do you ask?

And you wonder why piracy is so rampant in the world?

[shiney]

To be fair they are not the worst. I find Red box and family video things to be worse in my opinion. They charge a 1-3 dollars a day for every day you have it. and those fucking machines/employees can fuck up and not detect the code correctly leading to you getting charged a buck a day for the rest of the month when you find out and call them...Yes, this did happen to me why do you ask?

Did they fix the problem when you called them about it? If so, then they are 100% better than Blockbuster.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Man does netflix have like dodgey 80s porn and naziploitation films. Cause otherwise it's just not the same.

[Doc ock rokc]

Did they fix the problem when you called them about it? If so, then they are 100% better than Blockbuster.

They never refunded. They just said that they were sorry and stoped the charges but I NEVER GOT A REFUND.:mad:

[Fifthfiend]

Wow.

Fuck every video rental service that isn't soon-to-be-terribly-renamed netflix I guess.