There is now only one blockbuster video left open in the US. - Sensationalist Headlines

https://gizmodo.com/there-is-now-just-one-blockbuster-left-in-the-us-1827563382 Gone are the days of getting out of elementary school on friday and getting a game to rent for the weekend.

Didn't netflix started out as a movie rental company as well?

It started off as a splinter from blockbuster, and there was even a point before Netflix became huge where it was trying to sell itself back to Blockbuster, but they refused. Irony.

You can still subscribe to their DVD mailing service --- I found a blockbuster randomly a few years ago while stopping for a bite to eat in Maryland. It was actually pretty cool they had a lot of merchandise from TV shows, videogames, and anime.

Yep, mail video rental service. People prioritized that over blockbuster because it was more convenient. Blockbuster should have competed with its own mail in rental service but they didnt. Then netflix offered streaming and individual plans for streaming and mail in rentals. Blockbuster should have competed but they didnt. Instead of blockbuster being competitive to the changing market, they just rolled over and died. They made no real efforts to change with the changing ecosystem for movie rentals. Their death should be applauded, nout mourned. Dont mourn bad business tactics that put people out of work.

BB actually did try it's own mail video rental and even had a thing were you could turn the movie into a store to get the next movie on your queue there. It just didn't catch on because people were already use to Netflix for that instead and didn't want to double dip in movie renting services.

I still say Netflix's move to streaming is the greatest business move of the 21st century.

On the topic of early Netflix, who here remembers ordering Netflix CDs and getting a completely different movie than what you ordered/an irredeemably damaged disk/absolutely nothing in the sleeve at all? The game rentals made up for it, though.

Store Wars: The Last Blockbuster

Yes, but they started the venture long after Netflix was entrenched in the market. Then Blockbuster tried a streaming service, long after Netflix was entrenched in that market too. Blockbuster refused to conform and adapt until their hand was forced. They assumed that a more convenient and sometimes cheaper mail service over the internet was not going to last, despite it being clear that it was going to last. Same thing for streaming. They also tried to compete with redbox long after redbox was entrenched in the market. Blockbuster was CONSTANTLY 2 steps behind their competition because they refused to do anything beyond brick and mortar storefronts. Bottom line is that while we all have fond memories of Blockbuster and Hollywood video, they sucked and refused to adapt to the ever changing market.

Tbh at the time buying netflix wouldn't have gotten blockbuster into streaming. We'd probably just be talking about two dead companies instead of one. Or, even worse, things wouldn't have turned out as well as they did industry-wise since getting streaming to work the way it did for Netflix required a lot of capital.

Man, Randy Marsh really won't let it go.

Our small town video store just closed down too, it was a Family Video. Kinda sad, but it was to be expected. You just can't keep a business like that alive anymore in this day and age. They did give away the racks they put their DVDs on for free, so I at least have something to remember them by.

I thought all the dinosaurs went extinct years ago

Honestly it feels weird seeing them go. I remember how I'd always go fishing, and then afterwards my dad and I would go pickup the latest NHL or NASCAR game and play it.

John Oliver couldn't save it

I bought Sarge's Heroes for the Nintendo 64 and the Halo 2 Collector's Edition from them. Thanks Blockbuster

I remember having discussions with people about what would come after Blue-ray. Would you go to the store and get a flash drive with the movie on it? I never thought people would just stream movies.

If I want to rent a movie or game, I leave my house, visit any Walgreens, Kum&Go, Wal-Mart, Dollar General, etc., and interact with the Redbox vending machine. Blockbuster finally tried to save themselves by copying this format that basically does what they did except without employee interaction and the inconvenience of going out of my way to a specific store, but nobody actually cares because Redbox is already so embedded that being a straight copy of it isn't going to succeed. And that's assuming I want a physical copy. Google pays me in Google Play credit for information on the shit I do when I leave my house, and I can use that to rent shit directly from Google and watch it on YouTube. Alternatively, my old Blockbuster is a Family Video store. Now, what exactly makes this new video/game rental store more successful than this other video/game rental store? The fact that the same guy owns the pizza place directly next door and even has a window to it inside the video store so you can order while you browse movies. If you order pizza online, you get a free rental. If you rent a movie or game, you get coupons for pizza. Blockbuster is kinda shit by modern convenience standards. Literally every single one of my other options is better.