On Thursday, Blockbuster Alaska announced that the rental chain's last two Alaskan stores will shut down on Monday, with liquidation sales to follow. The news means that only one Blockbuster store will remain in the United States, in Bend, Oregon.
"We hope to see you at our stores during the closing, even if it's just to say 'Hello,'" the final two shops' managers posted in a Facebook announcement on Thursday. "What a great time to build your media library and share some Blockbuster memories with us."
Blockbuster fans, act now to return your late videos! Perhaps your late fees can keep them alive.
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Alaska's Last Two Blockbusters Are Shutting Down, Leaving One in US
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(Score: 3, Informative) by MrGuy on Monday July 16 2018, @02:42PM (1 child)
To follow The Last Blockbuster [soylentnews.org] on Twitter.
Sadly, unofficial.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @03:58PM
https://mobile.twitter.com/loneblockbuster [twitter.com]
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday July 16 2018, @05:01PM (2 children)
Maybe if they plowed their parking lot more and put out some ice melt they would have been able to build up a war cash in the winter to survive the summer. Parking lot sucks - very disorderly. The inconvenience caused by parking at this establishment made it more convenient to download movies using dialup or buy the movie off of amazon and wait for the week shipping.
Blockbuster did not have to be the perfect establishment, but they should try.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:36PM (1 child)
You sounds like your 80.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @08:19PM
You sound like you're illiterate.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Monday July 16 2018, @05:16PM
So, who gets Russel Crowe's jockstrap? [thewrap.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Monday July 16 2018, @05:35PM (15 children)
More Blockbuster closings, eh? What are they famous for, again?
Oh yeah, it was refusing to buy Netflix [businessinsider.com], which is worth 170 billion dollars today, and, unlike Blockbuster, is still a going concern--for the bargain price of $50 million.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday July 16 2018, @05:41PM
The funny thing is Netflix's Series A investors were probably really angry at the time about being denied their early exit.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:20PM (2 children)
and famous for being asshats who prey on the poor with outrageous late fees and other megalomaniacal policies. may these sons of bitches rot in an all digital hell.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 16 2018, @06:24PM (1 child)
Yeah. I never had any love for Blockbuster. Here's hoping they get their blocks busted.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Monday July 16 2018, @08:36PM
They were really stupid. Lost me permanently to Netflix after their IT fiasco. Used to get the DVDs in the mail, and enjoy bringing them in to exchange for ones in the store. All changed when they moved to some new backend platform to keep track of customer accounts. Suddenly, I'm being accosted by Blockbuster for some Disney movie I never rented. When I went over my information, they had addresses I never lived at, and Blockbusters I never rented from. Called Corporate and let them know that had massive database corruption and needed to review my account. They refused, and stated the information was correct.
Surprised they are still around at all. Even their streaming service bombed, IIRC.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday July 16 2018, @06:23PM (7 children)
There needs to be a compilation of incredibly stupid short sighted business decisions.
Blockbuster refusing to buy Netflix.
HP not wanting to build the Apple II and instead giving Steve Wozniac a release of all claims and rights so he could build the Apple II on his own time.
Xerox giving the GUI kingdom to Steve Jobs. (Although Apple developed real innovations, auto refreshing windows, dialog boxes, pull down menus, single button moose)
IBM giving Microsoft the right to create and sell versions of MS-DOS for computers other than the IBM PC. IBM thinking that it is okay because there is no profit in the software, the profit is all in the hardware. Of course, it is obvious to everyone.
IBM thinking that PCs were "toy" computers, maybe there was a market for 2 million max.
DEC's Ken Olson: why would anyone want a computer in their home? (geez, let alone in their shoulder bag, their pocket, or their wristwatch)
Cable TV thinking that cord cutting is not a real thing.
RIAA for not realizing that the Internet was an opportunity to make money instead of something that would destroy music! (but earlier, . . . radio will destroy music! . . . phonograph records will destroy music! . . . player pianos will destroy music! . . . printed sheet music will destroy music! . . . etc)
RIAA suing Diamond Rio for making a pocket device that could play MP3 files. Nevermind that it had non-infringing uses. The idea that this suit would somehow put an end to the mp3 menace.
MPAA for not realizing that there was money to be made with internet streaming instead of the internet would destroy movies! (but earlier . . . DVDs will destroy movies! . . . . VCRs will destroy movies! . . . Laserdisc will destroy movies . . . etc)
Studios that thought Netflix streaming model wouldn't take off, so they licensed lots of great movies to Netflix at low prices. Subscribership soared. Then those studios realized the potential and priced themselves right out of the market. Then Netflix response was to start creating their own original content.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Monday July 16 2018, @07:45PM (5 children)
THIS is why I never bought a Mac, the single-button moose.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 16 2018, @07:59PM (1 child)
At the time the Mac came out (1984) and Lisa (1983) the single button moose was a good idea. When presented with multiple buttons, people were confused as to which button they should press.
In the 2nd decade of the 21st century, things are different. Multiple button mooses (meese?) with a scroll wheel are good. And op-tickle.
Some people take the multiple button moose too far. Just take a keyboard, put it on rollers and use the keyboard as a moose.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bibendumsn on Monday July 16 2018, @08:51PM
The single button moose was originally only available in Alaskan and Canadian markets although I think I spotted one while I was on vacation in Montana in the mid '80s.
It should not be mistaken for the single button mousse which was developed by L'Oreal which I was probably wearing at the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @11:13PM
#freehat
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:42AM (1 child)
"sorry folks, computer's closed. mouse outside shoulda told ya."
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 17 2018, @01:38PM
> It's now safe to switch off your computer.
I always liked this one:
Are you sure you want Windows to shut down?
I would change the word down to up.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @10:46PM
To be clear, in hindsight, these were all really dumb. On the other hand:
1) Many of these things looked "stupid" in the front. How many "stupid" things were not done which turned out to be the correct thing (such as this ongoing MoviePass thing, and nobody buying them). Just look at AOL-TimeWarner merger. It's easy to cherry-pick the ones that got away and miss the fact that that was the correct decision to do at the time given the information that was known. Unicorns are unicorns for a reason.
2) It's better than the alternative. Imagine if IBM still kept a death-grip on PC software. Imagine if the RIAA had properly monetized the Internet (DRM everywhere!). Many of these things turned out to be better for consumer in the long run. Dumb for an individual company (I still can't justify Xerox giving out all that GUI stuff) doesn't mean bad for mankind as a whole.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:25PM (1 child)
Oh yeah, it was refusing to buy Netflix [businessinsider.com], which is worth 170 billion dollars today, and, unlike Blockbuster, is still a going concern--for the bargain price of $50 million.
I see this thrown around frequently. The catch is, if Blockbuster had bought Netflix it's quite likely Netflix would not exist today - at least not in form we would recognize. Blockbuster saw DVD mailing and early streaming a niche markets. As they grew (well, streaming more than mailing) they became a bigger threat to Blockbuster. Odds are if BB had purchased them they may have folded the mailing into a part of their business and likely terminated anything to do with streaming as a direct competitor to their core business.
All in all, we're probably better of the way things shook out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:38PM
That's not the definition of a "catch."
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday July 17 2018, @01:16AM
Well, the Google boys were offered $1 million, but wanted 2 - a million each. No deal. The rest is history.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @07:06PM
what a difference!