Unfortunately today it was announced that the Receivers involved with Blockbuster Canada want the rest of the stores closed down. In June 2011 150 locations closed while 253 continued to run. Apparently there has been no buyer for the remaining stores. The ruling will be made September 6th. If this is passed the stores will start closing down days after. If you have a gift card for Blockbuster still please use it before September 6th. It is highly likely the ruling will be in favour of the Receiver.
But… The news isn’t all bad. The US has a “new company” called the “New Blockbuster” that has the potential of being brought into Canada. At this time there is no announcement of any plans, just speculation.
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Yep sad news…more lost jobs. I was just at BB today and the guy was hoping that he would still have a job. I still like renting movies unlike the lazy generation that just wants to dl everything. Hopefully they rule against this stupid receiver!
Hmmn, I don’t think it’s lazy. For us its a cost thing. Why pay $6 bucks for a movie when you can rent it online for a few bucks, or I can walk to my corner store and rent the same movies at Blockbuster for 1.99.
I worked at Blockbuster for 5 years, 3 of which as a store manager. I kept telling my District Manager that the company’s business model had to change to be competitive in the new market. Three years later, the stores are going under. Happy I got out when I did.
Good-bye Blockbuster Video.
While it is sad that jobs are being lost, I don’t think downloading movies is lazy in the least… nor is netflixing them, or getting them on-demand.
Why would a person in their right mind waste gas or bus fare to get to a store that may or may not have the movies you wish to see in-stock (oh the many disappointing trips to the video store I remember in my childhood, often the best new movies were all rented out for weeks at a time)PLUS risk late fees should something come up and you’re unable to get back to the store asap? You have to spend money on gas to drive MOVIES back and forth!
Online and subscription-based movie rentals are the future. Things are changing and it’s not lazy to want convenient, cost-effective ways to entertain the family. At 8 or so bucks a month, netflix-type services cost about the same as one child’s ticket to a movie or maybe 2 movie rentals, for unlimited movies and shows. You can see which is the better deal.
On topic though, I’m going to miss the pet mascots for the commercials, despite not having seen them forever.
Sad indeed!
What exactly is the ‘lazy’ generation? I’m 27, mom’s 54 and we both download all our movies, albums, etc. I wouldn’t say we’re lazy, we’re saving money and going with the times. Sure BB is going out of business and it’s sad for Canada but we all saw this coming.. there is no way any physical store could compete with Netflix & Itunes. The only items I ever rented from BB was video games, and once they hit $10 for a RENTAL I gave up on them.
Torrents bury another company that refused to enter the online movie-on-demand business. Sorry, but companies who neglect to see the value in today’s online/download market are not needed.
I find the new name incredibly original lol
It’s sad to see any business close and jobs lost. Unless they keep up with technology it becomes inevitable really.
My brother told me he passed by the local Blockbuster yesterday while walking to the supermarket. There were 3 staff members inside and not a customer in sight. How can any business keep going like that?
Sad, but not unexpected.
When they started charging $10 for 1 PS3/XBOX360 title, I stopped going to BBV. My family is still loyal to BBV, and will miss the store and few of the friendly staff @ local location.
lol. “New Blockbuster.” I feel bad for those who are losing their jobs but not for BBV in general. The one in my hometown had been a cause of grief for a few reasons (claiming I was defrauding them with a free rental voucher received from a Blockbuster, charging late fees when the videos were back on time (just not recorded by the moron behind the counter), not to mention that my cousin, who worked at our hometown one for years and became a supervisor, was fired from the store he transferred to when moving to Ontario because of his mental condition.
For these and various other reasons, I haven’t gone to BBV in years. Any time I want to rent a blu-ray (instead of on demand) for new releases, I go to Jumbo or Rogers instead.
I will miss the Blockbuster in my small town and feel bad for the people losing their jobs.
Although, I am sad to see jobs lost, I am not very sympathtic to BB closing. I remember when they first opened up, and put out of business, a lot of mom and pop video rental stores. My friends parents store was one of them. What goes around comes around…..
Sorry to see them go. We have spent all summer coming and going renting movies for the kids. We’ve been in so often that we know a few of the workers by name. It’s the end of an era really. Hopefully our Blockbuster will remain open under the new name.
To the original comment about the “stupid receiver” – do you even know what a receiver is? This receive is doing what is best for all the creditors that BBV owns LOTS of money too. Yes it is sad that people will be losing their jobs but at this point nobody knows if there is any severance going to be offered. Like others have said the stores were always empty. I haven’t rented movies in about 10 years but I will miss BBV for the previously viewed blu-rays although now Walmart/Future Shop/Best Buy have deals on new releases that are a great price.
too bad, if they do close down i will definitely not wait until one of the last days they’re open like i did in june to buy stuff. I’m actually somewhat surprised give the joke netflix canada is, you can thank the CRTC for that as they’ll do everything they can to increase Bells and Rogers profits. While in the States it was just blockbusters fault not moving towards online streaming fast enough.
Now where i am going to get unlimited Game rentals for $30/mo without waiting for them in the mail
If blockbuster closes, there will not be a single video store around me to rent a movie from. I have lots of happy childhood memories, going to the video store to pickout a movie or game to play.
Well for the folks like myself and others in my area. We can’t get strong enough internet access to download movies off computers, etc within a decent timeframe [we’re fast but large downloads take a bit].
I never rented a lot of movies.. due in large part to my brother working there for 6 some odd years.. so he’d get the movies free a week in advance to ‘review’ so..ya…
I dunno.. i still rented games form them.. but lately they hadn’t been getting new releases.. this would explain why..but i’m going in for 9pm to pick up my brother from work with my dad and we are going to run around blockbuster grabbing things we want to ‘hide’ so we can purchase them when they go on sale.
i could never understand why they didnt try to do anything online several years ago, like when netflix was first coming about. blockbuster was the place i went to for a long time (unfortunately, though, after the mom n pop video store closed) and i was actually looking to them for an online offering at the beginning of netflix…they just didn’t really respond.
A couple things: Netfix canada sucks large…they just added Date night and iron man 2….wow! They’ve only been on dvd for a year already! And walmart doesnt sell blurays for $5. If they do, I bet you’ve never heard of the movie. BB Canada was mostly profitable but the US brought them down. And my local BB is not always empty and can been quite busy on weekends and nights. Not all businesses have a constant flow of customers.
And lastly DJ learn to spell!
while i haven’t rented a movie in at least 8 years, i did have a game pass for $30/mo, it is a little bit more then what the mail delivered ones are, but i could drop by any time, instead of waiting for it in the mail, then if its damaged i have to wait even longer. was considering getting the movie pass as well
It is amazing to me when people who have clearly no idea what they are talking about place a comment. BBV employs thousands of people and through no fault of their own are losing their livelihood. It wasn’t downloading or Netflix or Torrent it was the debt from BBV in the USA. Some compassion would be nice since they will soon have to be dealing with the vultures circling and tearing apart what they built up.