https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/7/19/17588856/blockbuster-alaska-rental-netflix-soldotna-anchorage

Better hurry up and start rewinding those overdue rentals.

Well that was depressing.

I loved going to Blockbuster or Hastings. I'd stop by and check out the new releases at the beginning of the alphabet (as in Chainsaw or Cheerleader) or at the very end (for Zombie). Redbox is good, but it's not a group experience. It's more like using an ATM.

Soldotna, Alaska. A stop on the way down the Kenai. Heaven on Earth.

I remember the days of busting ass to the Blockbuster as early as possible on a Friday trying to rent Armageddon and they had like 10,000 empty boxes but not a single copy left to rent, you never wanted to go home empty handed so you rented ****ing Patch Adams instead.

I interviewed for an accounting job at Blockbuster's HQ in 2001 or 2002. At the time, they were partnering with DirecTV on a PPV service, and in the interview, I remember complimenting them on the strategy because the box store video rental days were numbered. I don't think they liked that honest assessment much, but hey, I'd say I ended up being pretty dang accurate. Didn't take me long to figure I didn't want the job, but not surprisingly, an offer never came anyway.

Hey Nav said:

---

Soldotna, Alaska. A stop on the way down the Kenai. Heaven on Earth.

---

Yep, stayed in a B&B there once. Even drove right by that Blockbuster!

dlance said:

---

I wonder how long the Bend, Oregon store will remain.

---

Whoa, I saw that store when I drove up to Madras to see the solar eclipse last August. Never would have thought that a total eclipse would be the second rarest thing I saw that day.

Like most people, I had a love/hate relationship with Blockbuster. I loved going to rent movies. Even though you have the movies at your fingertips, renting movies online just isn't the same. That said, I f'in hate Blockbuster. They can burn as far as I'm concerned.

A side note, one of my best friends worked in the local mom and pop video store. He used to put soft core porn on the TVs. I'm not sure how he didn't get fired. I think only a few people even complained.

Funny. I was just there last month in Soldatna and sent my wife a pic of the store and sign. Didn't know it was one of the last ones.

I used to work at a Blockbuster in the early 90's.

You wouldn't believe how fairly common it was for people put in their personal videos instead of the movie back into the 'amray' by mistake.

Always fun to see some guy in a panic running back to the store to exchange it.

DannyDuberstein said:

---

I interviewed for an accounting job at Blockbuster's HQ in 2001 or 2002. At the time, they were partnering with DirecTV on a PPV service, and in the interview, I remember complimenting them on the strategy because the box store video rental days were numbered. I don't think they liked that honest assessment much, but hey, I'd say I ended up being pretty dang accurate. Didn't take me long to figure I didn't want the job, but not surprisingly, an offer never came anyway.

---

I used to work for Blockbuster (Video, then Music) in the 90's and we talked about streaming video in management meetings back then. We knew it was coming eventually.

How has the whole entertainment board been to Soldatna?

Junkhead said:

---

DannyDuberstein said:

---

I interviewed for an accounting job at Blockbuster's HQ in 2001 or 2002. At the time, they were partnering with DirecTV on a PPV service, and in the interview, I remember complimenting them on the strategy because the box store video rental days were numbered. I don't think they liked that honest assessment much, but hey, I'd say I ended up being pretty dang accurate. Didn't take me long to figure I didn't want the job, but not surprisingly, an offer never came anyway.

---

I used to work for Blockbuster (Video, then Music) in the 90's and we talked about streaming video in management meetings back then. We knew it was coming eventually.

---

Yeah, they talked about that a lot. They could see it, but they had no clue how to do it. They could have been Netflix, now they are gone.

Ulrich said:

---

How has the whole entertainment board been to Soldatna?

---

Redstone was there first.

Long but very interesting read OP, thanks for posting.

aggiedata said:

---

Junkhead said:

---

DannyDuberstein said:

---

I interviewed for an accounting job at Blockbuster's HQ in 2001 or 2002. At the time, they were partnering with DirecTV on a PPV service, and in the interview, I remember complimenting them on the strategy because the box store video rental days were numbered. I don't think they liked that honest assessment much, but hey, I'd say I ended up being pretty dang accurate. Didn't take me long to figure I didn't want the job, but not surprisingly, an offer never came anyway.

---

I used to work for Blockbuster (Video, then Music) in the 90's and we talked about streaming video in management meetings back then. We knew it was coming eventually.

---

They could have been Netflix, now they are gone.

---

Literally. They turned down a chance to buy netflix for $50million in 2000.

Also.. this:

Quote:

---

In 1998, when DVDs were emerging as the new video medium, Warner Bros. offered Antioco (CEO) an exclusive rental deal. Blockbuster would have rights to rent new DVD releases for a period of time before they went on sale to the general public. The studio would receive 40% of rental revenues in return, which was the same deal already in place for VHS rentals. Blockbuster turned the offer down, and the studio responded by lowering their DVD wholesale price in order to compete with the rental industry. Walmart seized the opportunity and in a few years surpassed Blockbuster as the studios' single largest source of revenue. Other mass retailers soon followed suit. Many began selling DVDs below wholesale price in hopes of selling more items with better profit margins as a result of the additional foot traffic in their stores. Unable to match prices, Blockbuster's business model was severely impacted.

---

I'd say those were the 2 biggest mistakes that Antioco guy made.

aggiedata said:

---

I used to work at a Blockbuster in the early 90's.

You wouldn't believe how fairly common it was for people put in their personal videos instead of the movie back into the 'amray' by mistake.

Always fun to see some guy in a panic running back to the store to exchange it.

---

r/thathappened

It's odd to me that Netflix killed Blockbuster but you can't stream any halfway decent movies on Netflix.

What percentage of movies do you think you guys rent compared to the Blockbuster days?

I never find myself having much interest in renting a movie at RedBox or on demand. Just too many other options.

If it's a movie I wanted to see but didn't make it out for, I'll typically pop for the $14 early rental/purchase option and justify it by saying it was the cost of a single movie ticket these days. Sometimes you hit (Baby Driver), sometimes you strike out (Murder on the Orient Express). I'll only rent when Google runs their $1 rental deals.

Diggity said:

---

It's odd to me that Netflix killed Blockbuster but you can't stream any halfway decent movies on Netflix.

What percentage of movies do you think you guys rent compared to the Blockbuster days?

I never find myself having much interest in renting a movie at RedBox or on demand. Just too many other options.

---

Netflix by mail has all those movies that aren't on streaming though.
my parents still have the mail option.

I wonder that percentage of their business is mail out? I didn't even know it still existed.

I liked Blockbuster fine when I was younger, single, or newly married.

Once we had kids.....walking around Blockbuster with two little kids trying to decide what they want to see was literally worse than shoe shopping.

Belton Ag said:

---

I remember the days of busting ass to the Blockbuster as early as possible on a Friday trying to rent Armageddon and they had like 10,000 empty boxes but not a single copy left to rent, you never wanted to go home empty handed so you rented ****ing Patch Adams instead.

---

Remember when everyone would stand around waiting for someone to return the top movie, and the feeling of winning the lottery when you were next in line, the employee reached down after you heard the return flap close, and hold it up... your movie!!!

Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

I think it would have been hard if you were leading that company (with 1000 retail stores famous for no membership fee) to be able to foresee a complete shift to subscription based streaming. And even if you knew it was coming, how do you manage to push through a plan that closes hundreds of stores?

I just don't think it was hard to forsee streaming taking over. But I do agree that it's a tough business call to make a move that essentially cannibalizes your existing business. But a basic rule of business is that if you don't do it, someone else will. I work for a CPG company where the sales volume of every new product we launch is only about 10% incemental, while 90% is cannibalizing the volume of our existing products. But we keep doing it because that is what it takes to stay relevant and alive.

Yeah, that might have kept them alive but they would still be seen as being in a death spiral, just a slower one. To your point, though, alive but hurtin is better than dead since 2003 (or whenever that article said the bankruptcy was).

They had built a fantastic brand. If they could have been remotely nimble, I think they could have successfully transitioned to a Netflix type model and dominated, just like they did with box stores. But they let the box stores remain as too big on an anchor and weren't adept enough to make the change

Muy said:

---

Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

The blockbuster service also let you rent video games with the same monthly fee. Unfortunately, they were already a dying business by the time they launched it.

There is actually a movie rental chain that is doing well up in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. It's called family video and they have two stores in the town I live in.

All the video stores closed and it opened up an opportunity for them. There really is a gap in the market with the limited availability of redbox and the high cost of on demand rentals. It probably won't last for long though.