Why did stores like Blockbuster have to die?

Why did stores like Blockbuster have to die?

Because

Hard to compete with the internet and the $1 DVD rental machine.

Where is that op?

F

Supply and demand. It's called business lad, nuthin personel

>unironically wanting an iconic staple of the strip mall, the single greatest blight on the history of human civilization, to survive...

The market forces decided that they wouldn't survive against cheaper and lower margin competition. RedBox and Netflix destroyed Blockbuster because Blockbuster failed to adapt and differentiate itself.

The cyber Jew

They could have bought out Netflix in their early years but they were stupid and didn't so they deserved to go out of business.

content police here, this couldn't be less Sup Forums related. Move along.

internet and lack of variety. Blockbuster was great to rent the last big movie because they had 10k copies of each. Once people started to download shit from the internet they went bust because the last big movie is what the internet tends to supply

Killed by the internet and the ease of piracy.

Because you didn't rewind the tape.

It's not like they didn't warn you.

It's a perfectly valid political question in fact. In countries with a command economy and trade protectionism, the public sector could have stepped in and rescued an employer that was no longer financially viable.

a bad format.
''renting'' is so jewy that i hope i wont need to explain why

weren't selling enough jew propaganda movies

They could have just started their own internet based subscription model, keeping their brand name but slowly phasing out the non profitable physical stores.

Anything can seem political with enough mental gymnastics.
>White bread or brown bread? which is more redpilled?
>can i enjoy bagels or is it part of a jewish plot to sell us incomplete baked goods with holes in them?

But my explanation requires precisely zero mental gymnastics.

Outdated tech

cause they didn't want to buy netflix when it was worth 50 dollas

blockblister ran them outta town

progress

OP didn't frame his post in a remotely political way - you did. Either way, some protectionism is good but it's no excuse for big goverment propping up a fundamentally antiquated product and business model.

by the end they were charging $10 to rent a movie for 2 days when you could buy the movie from walmart for $10-$20

OP framed it in a political way by posting it on the politics board.

Anyway - I agree. Nobody would look favourably on the government bailing out an obsolete sector, except for the individual employees within that industry or enterprise.

Redbox and streaming services (lel people actually PAY to stream)

To be honest I wouldn't mind paying a few dollarbux on demand for the odd thing that's only on TV or the odd article that's behind a paywall. Less trouble than keeping up with all the latest workarounds, and then I'm not getting whacked with subscription fees for shit I barely use.

I've never understood why blockbuster didn't get into the online market. They had a good image with the population and the funds to do so easilly yet they just sat on their hands and went out of business.

Because of its lacking adult selection

They did that and it failed because Netflix became the new Blockbuster.

Because they were too myopic. They couldn't see the way that the industry was changing (cheaper DVDs in the face of emerging Blu Ray + online streaming) and therefore were unable to compete in due time. They thought that their market was secure and that ultimately undid them

F

they literally had the chance to buy netflix but didn't
they deserved their death

is that etobicoke?

Internet stealing then netflix.

They actually tried that for a few years. Worked exactly like Netflix, but there was a cool thing where if you returned your movie directly to a Blockbuster store instead of mailing it, you'd get a free 2-day rental. Unfortunately this became TOO successful, and it was losing so much money that Blockbuster had to reduce it to like 2 or 4 per month. And right around then Netflix introduced streaming, and started putting it on devices like Xbox 360 and some new Blu-ray players, and so Blockbuster was toast.

Just like video killed the radio star

Internet killed the video store

Wasn't just blockbuster, nearly all video rental chains are now dead. Live next to a small city of 100K+, not a single video rental store, just Redbox locations.

I think most people know Sears is on a downward spiral. Store is a mess for a variety of reasons.

I think Toys R Us is going down. Their advertising presence is gone, their locations are rarer, and their long term goal is international expansion via online business. Like their is any chance of them besting Amazon for toy sales.

Really more of a /biz/ thread here though...

>tfw no more FAO Schwartz in the city
That was super fun to visit, but I always felt bad that there wasn't usually anything there I'd want to actually buy.

There are still some things you really want to see and touch in person though. I'm hoping the model of being able to go fondle things in a showroom but then having it drop shipped to you when you find what you want sees future viability.

The government took too much of their money in taxes so they couldn't research and expand their business to keep up with the changing world. They could have been the original Netflix but they couldn't afford to take risks.

They had a chance to buy Netflix
>Nah senpai, we're gonna continute to rent out DVD's for $5 a night.

Disintermediation. There's been a wave of it since the early 90s, and it's still going - robot cars and AI are part of that same wave

>Nah senpai, we're gonna continute to rent out DVD's for $5 a night.

As if people don't do rent them for $6/night from their couch and have zero way to keep them for an extra 2 weeks and just talk themselves out of a late fee in their community.

It had nothing to do with price and everything to do with delivery. That's where blockbuster fucked up with Netflix. Not price.

TL;DR: People would rather sit on their fat asses on their warm couch then get up and go to a store.

they still have one in Alaska

I'll let you in on an open secret about Blockbuster

The entire executive corporate team were homosexuals

Look into it

They died because their Netflix clone was shit, and their business model was built in raping their customers wallets

No you don't remember how bad it was.

A new movie wouldn't have enough copies in stock. Friday night they're be lives around the store. New movie out of stock by 7pm

Then we'd sell you bs rewards programs that really ripped you off

The selection with the Blockbuster service was terrible compared to Netflix

I miss going into crazy mike's on tuesdays and getting a 88cent rental.

tfw you ransacked your local blockbuster for gamecube games when they were shutting down
a decade ago

Nah that's just business. It's not like Netflix are saints here either. They're a young company. Let's all wait to pass judgement for at least another 20 years.

Side note:

>Blockbuster founded 1985. Open first store.
>Hit peak in 2004 of 60,000 employees and 8,000 stores, not to mention other investments.
>Bankrupt by 2010.

A 25 year span.

Business is poetry.

People did not like being fuvked over with (((late fees))) and when an option like Netflix came where you didn't even have to leave your house it's a no brainer

I worked at Blockbuster in like 00 or 01, maybe 02. But it was right around the time Netflix was getting on the scene. The issue with blockbuster is they built their entire revenue around late fees. So in turn they were cocksuckers to the CSRs forcing them to collect fees. People got tired of spending 10-20$ to rent a film and got over it. Blockbuster could never recover because they had to have the fees. And they could not get their customers back again, because they would not step off their late fees.

For the same reason Gamestop must die.

Renting games was dank back in the day. Get your friends over for a sleepover party, pick up a game or two for the weekend, and then that would be the source of dank memes and you didn't have to actually buy a game you didn't really want long term.

Obsolescence

>internet killed the video store...

can't compete with the mom and pop backroom porn stash

Interesting -- but fuck yourself kid

You weren't there. It was dying in 2002. Corporate list their minds and started pillaging. Netflix was making them very nervous and they shifted to short term profit maximization instead of maintaining customer base in the long term. Bloodbath was in full effect by the end of 03

Netflix got a foot-hold because blockbuster selection fucking SUCKED.
They had tons of empty space with just no movies, only like the top 40movies of the last decade would be stocked. Good luck trying to find anything even remotely non-mainstream, not even like Clockwork Orange

Easy tiger, I didn't call your mother a whore or anything. Relax. I'm an old fag, too. I didn't say you were COMPLETELY wrong. All I said was their biggest problem, their ultimate, fundamental problem, was content delivery rather than price. Netflix figured that out. Blockbuster didn't. Probably due to all their corporate infighting 'cause they were a bunch of fags who operated on feelings rather than logic.