What s up guys! It s Jason here and welcome back to my YouTube channel, Blockbuster Insight.
Lights! Camera! Action! Such is the exciting entertainment call as individuals and families
gather together during their free time or on the weekend and watch
videos or indulge in binge watching. Today, without leaving the comfort of their home,
many simply watch movies on free TV or stream a variety of videos that are available through a
number of entertainment providers. This explosion of entertainment providers are more than willing
to provide a subscription option or for the customer to be entertained by streaming one video.
Such providers include Netflix, HBO, Showtime, HULU, Prime Video, and many more. I ll bet you
probably have a Netflix membership too. Physically renting a movie, as in days gone by,
through such companies as Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, and a number of local corner video rental
outlets is outdated. Of course, the granddaddy video store of them all was Blockbuster LLC.
You might not know what s happened to our friendly Blockbuster neighbor. In fact,
they re still around today and even still trading as a publicly traded stock.
Is Blockbuster still open in 2022? Today I ll be giving you the update on what s going on with
Blockbuster in 2021 and 2022. I guarantee you ll learn something new that you didn t know before
and bring you down memory lane. Before we begin If you wouldn t mind
just tapping that LIKE button for the YouTube algorithm, I would really appreciate it as this
is a brand new channel I started this year. If you ve ever been to Blockbuster before back in the day
be sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell for new videos each week. Thanks for doing
that and now let us continue on with the Rise and Fall of does Blockbuster still exist?
Blockbuster Company Man Summary Why did Blockbuster go out of business? There
s plenty of Blockbuster LLC history videos so I m not going to reinvite the wheel with Blockbuster
s history. Rather I ll keep it short with what s already been made and then update you what s
going on in the current day and future. Company Man produced a YouTube video on the "Hollywood
set" of Blockbuster riding off into the sunset. He offers a number of reasons for the decline of
Blockbuster. Some of those reasons offered were competition from NetFlix, the rise of streaming
videos, failure of Blockbuster to adapt and their own management issues. Pick your poison.
Blockbuster died, but there was another victim or collateral damage due to the
demise of Blockbuster. It was the added dimension of entertainment or the experience.
In one comment posted on the YouTube channel a viewer talked about a memory being made with
her mother that revolved around Blockbuster. She stated that Saturday night she and her
mom would pick out videos, go home, make popcorn and enjoy. A family and enduring memory was made
because Blockbuster offered a full experience of browsing their video inventory, selecting a movie,
purchasing snacks, etc. [Kev pls read the comments
below] It seems today however as if viewers are content
to experience their entertainment in the comfort of their home rather than physically renting a
movie or even enjoying a movie in a theater. Blockbuster The Horror Movie
So, cutting into the next scene in the movie entitled "What happened to Blockbuster?"
what has become of this video experience offered to its customers since Company
Man shared his thoughts and production. Amazingly, in 1989, it was estimated that a
Blockbuster store was premiering at a rate of one store being opened every 17 hours. At the height
of Blockbuster's success in 2004, there were over 9,000 locations in the United States.
Blockbuster was really crazy back in the day. Back in the 90 s, Blockbuster had
even invested and was planning to take over the children s play chain, Discovery Zone.
If you remember Discovery Zone, be sure to check out my Rise and Fall of Discovery Zone video!
Blockbuster Bought by Dish Network In a word, if one was to place this movie
into a genre, they would certainly classify it as a drama and perhaps even going so far
as to say it is in the horror category. Seven short years later from its peak in popularity,
Blockbuster was filing for bankruptcy and was eventually purchased by Dish Network for a
reported price of $320 million. The plan by the satellite television company was to add an added
entertainment dimension to the already existing videos that were offered through Dish Network.
However, the goal and strategy fell short of being successful even as they tried to
utilize the Netflix business plan in streaming videos. Looking back, it s really incredible
to think that Blockbuster could ve beat Netflix at their own game. Imagine the Netflix logo on
your TV and computer screen being replaced by Blockbuster. That would ve been so cool.
By January 2018 if one was to go to the company's Internet presence,
they would see that there were nine remaining stores in the United States. Specifically,
six of those stores were located in Alaska, two were in Oregon and one was in the state of Texas.
To further kill off the leading man in this movie, by August 2018 there was only one store
remaining in the United States. The location of that store was in Bend, Oregon. As an aside,
there was also one store that was ultimately closed in 2019. That store was located in
the western part of Australia. So, Blockbuster, like many other
lumbering and un-evolving giants, went the way of the dinosaur.
The Last Blockbuster Silver Lining However, like all good movies, there is
a silver lining in this story. Consequently, let us take the movie set to Bend, Oregon.
The uniqueness of the Blockbuster story picks up and is enhanced on the entertaining value
of experience. The Blockbuster in Bend Oregon is a unique and nostalgic experience for those
who choose to visit this retail location. Housed within its Blockbuster d cor that is
unchanged from the 80's and 90's are Russell Crowe film props from some of his movies.
These were donated by John Oliver and were transferred from one of the stores in Alaska.
The last remaining Blockbuster, the unicorn of video stores, had become a tourist attraction.
By paying a licensing fee to Dish Network and the overwhelming support from those within and outside
the community of Bend, 4000 active accounts, the owners are able to maintain this slice of
entertainment pie from a previous generation. Amazingly, the computer system in full operation
at this locale is IBM computers which utilize floppy disks; archaic perhaps,
but as one individual observed these computers would be next to impossible to hack.
In addition, to providing a nostalgic experience, Blockbuster continues to provide videos that the
consumer wants to rent but are unavailable from other resources. Case in point was the
recent demise of one of Hollywood's famed actors. Gene Wilder, when he died in 2016,
created a desire from fans to relive his life through some of the movies that he starred in.
When some of these movies were unavailable through other venues, people turned to this
Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon and were pleased to find out that they could rent the various movies
through this old standby video outlet. Added to the experience of this Blockbuster
located in Bend Oregon are the modifications of this site becoming an Airbnb rental. Like a time
machine movie, the entire experience of the store and a night's stay can transport the time traveler
back to the 90's and experience a reliving and reviving of memories of days gone by.
Rounding out the entrepreneurial innovation of the owners of this Blockbuster is that
they offer many nostalgic items for retail sale. Some of those items include shirts, tote bags,
socks and even Blockbuster facemasks due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
All of these items have the familiar Blockbuster logo emblazoned on them.
Blockbuster is still a publicly traded Stock Today, Blockbuster is modestly active and
operates under the name of BB Liquidating Inc. and trades as penny stock under the ticker B.L.I.A.Q.
However, it no longer has any assets or financial ties to the actual brand of Blockbuster or the
one location that remains operational. As an added bonus, BB Liquidating stock,
in the wake of the recent GameStop short squeeze that happened in January 2021,
were fanned into flame as the dying embers of this former Blockbuster entertainment empire,
soared more than a thousand percent from nearly 0 to 10 cents a share by end January. There doesn't
seem to be any apparent reason or rationale for this robust trading and the increase in
value of the former Blockbuster video stock. Well, then again, there doesn t seem to be
any rationale in AMC and Gamestop either right? However, the bottom line for the wisp of existence
of BB Liquidation, Inc. is that it seems to offer no value for any of the stakeholders.
Will Blockbuster make a comeback in 2022?
In 2020, the Blockbuster twitter account magically posted the msg Just checking In
on Aug 11. This post garnered almost 1 million likes on Twitter! Unfortunately, the next day,
the Blockbuster twitter account responded back saying Ok, we ve seen enough. Checking
out. https://twitter.com/blockbuster And so, unlike the videos that Blockbuster
carried, the Hollywood ending of living happily ever after or romances that always worked out
in the end, does not appear to be the ending scene for the remnants of Blockbuster Video.
With the exception of the one single and solitary remaining location shining in central Oregon.
I guess, after all, Blockbuster, the once enthroned king of video rentals that offered
a full entertainment experience almost matching the movie theatre experience, does have a star
on the walk of fame. However, for now it is located in Bend, Oregon and not Hollywood.
What will 2022 bring for Blockbuster? Will there be a comeback? Blockbuster has an incredible brand
with high name recognition with consumers in the US. Can Netflix buy the Blockbuster Video
brand? There s rumors that the brand might be resurrected as a streaming video service.
Others want it to be an affordable movie theatre chain that plays older movies on the big screen.
Only time will tell, but with the resurrection of companies
like AMC and Gamestop, there seems to be no better time than now.
So with that said, thank you so much for watching my video. There was a significant
amount of movie watching that went into making this video possible. If you haven t seen already,
check out my Hamburger Insight YouTube Series or the Rise and Fall of Kmart.
As always, stay happy and healthy and stay tuned for another episode of Company Insight next
week.