Say Goodbye to Blockbuster in 2011?

Good point. He can still view it if his cookies expire, or he deletes them, visits from another computer/browser, etc. So yeah, that whole head 'splodey thing could still happen.

I am sad.

Just called the Blockbuster nearest me, and found out Blockbuster Canada is independent of the parent company stateside.

so yeah..they aren't goin under.

dang..i was really lookin forward to the sale.

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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.

it seemed to me that you were boiling "good" down to "ability to compete", and may still be doing somewhat, which to me makes the market sound as much like a cold, single-minded entity as the hyperbolic mania that you were parodying.

for me a lot of the local stores that blockbuster put out of business actually were much better in terms of selection and filled a lot of unique niches that went away (at least as a legal commercial channel) until netflix came back. even netflix can't fully replace a couple video stores that I've seen go under, so i don't find endgame analyses (or this is just part of the eventual perfection through weeding out) completely useful. it's a tough question for me. i know most mom-and-pop video stores weren't as good as the ones in my area so you may be right that blockbuster was an improvement for a lot of people, but i guess i have a hard time reconciling this with local and temporal concerns (meaning: not just that ideal market of the future), which matter to me as well.

[edit: just read yoda's response that he posted while i was writing this post, which does clarify his stance a little more for me].

Well, I am boiling "good" down to "ability to compete," but only because "ability to compete" actually means "giving more people more of what they want more often." The terminology really clouds the issue, because "ability to compete" invokes images of underdogs and the rat race, but people forget (not you, or anyone specific, just people in general) what that actually means: it means giving people a product or service they want that they didn't have before. It sounds completely different depending on how you phrase it.

You're right about smaller stores filling "unique niches," though that's kind of the point: they're niches because not many people are interested in this stuff. The funny thing about all this is that I'd prefer an independent, more eclectic video store to any kind of chain, too, but I recognize that I'm atypical and don't blame other people for treating movies less seriously than I try to. I'm sure they have hobbies that I have no interest in, too. So, if I have an atypical amount of interest in films, I accept that this will be reflected in the number of shops that cater to that interest. If I call this "bad," I'm really just saying that I want more of it at the expense of what other people want more of. So what starts off sounding like basic human sympathy and compassion ends up looking downright selfish from the perspective of most other people.

One thing worth noting is that Netflix increasingly has more and more obscure films (there are tons of films I'd never have seen without it), and that niche businesses are finding it easier and easier to compete overall, provided they embrace technology, because it's far easier to identify the small groups of people who like very specific things than it ever has been before. So while mom and pop are probably worse off than they were before Blockbuster came along, they also have a much better chance of surviving than they did just a decade ago, provided they don't mind taking a computer course. That's probably one of my favorite things about the Internet. People with very distinct interests finally have a way to find each other easily, which makes lots of businesses tenable that were not before.

Now there's something I can get on board with. Love those sales.

A video store near my mom's house went under a couple of years back. I had the idea to go and see if I could buy their shelves, but never got around to it. Then again, I wouldn't have had the room for them, but I always thought it'd be cool, if you had the space, to put your movie collection out on movie store shelves.

Check out their link look to right margin..i wonder if its possible they excluded a niche.

Well, its funny, we loaded up here on VHS when the switch was happening.. we came late to the DVD party ..I bought ..oh 600 titles or so for $200, between the blockbuster, Rogers video and myriad of independant shops.

I really don't see Blue-ray dominating that much over DVD though to its exclusion. do mofo's?

I buy DVD's at garage sales every weekend for a dollar, 2 bucks tops.

the ability to burn copies from torrent sites has completely devalued them.

the extras, special features are the only reason i buy DVD's anymore.

I mean a good number of the Documentaries I own DVD copies of, were viewed online for free (streamed) @ googlevideo or veetle and such places.

I like seeing the Complete interviews. The Corporation 2 disc set is a great example.

Well, Netflix was founded because the guy rented a film that was overdue for about 6 weeks or so. He had a charge of over 40 dollars in late fees. That led to the creation of Netflix. Blockbuster had the opportunity to buy Netflix and the DECLINED.

Big mistake.

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Suspect's Reviews

They deserve to go bankrupt. They didn't change with the times, were arrogant, and were stupid. I felt bad when they bankrupted smaller chains with their busuiness practices, but when it happened to them, poetic justice.

Uh oh. You're in for a lesson in the "free market". Get ready.

Not this time; my stance is already there for anyone to see, so there's not a lot of point in repeating it. That said, I agree with his first two sentences completely. And there is still a poetic justice in it, anyway: mom and pop shops lost business because they refused to change, and then the same thing happened to Blockbuster. They refused to learn from the very lessons they inflicted on their predecessors.

Netflix rules...read the most recent TIME magazine article on how Blockbuster failed to fail...its tragi-comic...

They just could not adapt to the new marketplace...It is impressive to see how little Netflix started with and where they are going ..

I cannot wait to see them expand internationally even though it would be very difficult in certain parts of Europe because the mail system is not as efficient and reliable as it is in the US

However, I am sure Hastings has a good idea of it all and being able stream movies online abroad would be incredible...

You trying to up your post count, friend?

Yes I had to...because I wanted to post my survey for my graduate degree thesis on here
Here is the link...

LINK REMOVED

Next time, do it legitimately, please. Or ask myself or one of the mods to do it. Way better than cluttering up the forum with something useless, or needlessly spread out over multiple posts.

Then again, I'm kidding myself: there'll be no next time.

I love Blockbuster. I've never been a member or rented from them, but always took advantage of the 5 dvds for $20 deal. Ah well, I knew it wouldn't last.

Living In The UK , i can safely say that we still have strong DVD shops (HMV,Zavvi,Blockbuster...etc) so i can`t say that Netflix is getting rid of the competition.

I still buy my DVDs and Blu Rays from DVD Shops.

You can get a better deal than at Amazon?

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For me, the shipping costs and the conversion rate for Amazon.com makes it come out about the same price as any retail store near me.

Amazon.ca doesn't have nearly as good prices as .com


I'll be getting my dvds/blu-rays from Blockbuster, now that I recently got a job there.