[ssmark]

Today was not a good day as I just now learnt that they are closing a Blockbuster that is about 3.5 miles away. The next one is 5 miles away.

But the bummer is they are not exchanging my DVDs in the store more than once. I received one thru mail, exchanged it at the store. But when I took it back to get one more from the store, they did not exchange it. I had to return empty handed and wait for the next one in the queue to be released.

Ah, they should give unlimited exchanges instead of alternate ones.

 

[CeeWoo]

My local BB (about a mile away) is also closing...next closest is about 35 miles away

 

[[email protected]]

Today was not a good day as I just now learnt that they are closing a Blockbuster that is about 3.5 miles away. The next one is 5 miles away.

But the bummer is they are not exchanging my DVDs in the store more than once. I received one thru mail, exchanged it at the store. But when I took it back to get one more from the store, they did not exchange it. I had to return empty handed and wait for the next one in the queue to be released.

Ah, they should give unlimited exchanges instead of alternate ones.

This is how the program works. It is a mail program so it will default back to the mail option after every in store exchange. You can take a mail disc to a store to exchange but when that in store disc is returned to the store, the next movie in your online queue is shipped and you can exchange that in the store again. I am sorry if this was unclear.

 

[FTA Michael]

Hey, Mary B et al,

My local Blockbuster is also closing. And when I type Blockbuster into Google News, I see plenty of reports of other Blockbusters about to close. Has Dish decided to close all brick and mortar Blockbusters? If not, how many are closing and how many are going to stay?

 

[722921]

My local BBs closed years ago...

 

[phrelin]

The fact is that many Blockbuster stores were to be closed as a result of the bankruptcy. When Dish bought the assets, the store closure plan was still in place. No clear indication was given regarding any changes in that plan, if any. The nearest Blockbuster store is in nearby Ukiah, about a half hour drive. It was to be closed, but still is open.

On the other hand, just to confuse me (what other reason could there be???), in November a Blockbuster Express Kiosk appeared inside near one of the entries at our local Willits, California, Safeway. Blockbuster Express is owned and operated by NCR!!!

The Safeway web site offers this:

IMHO current BB policies distinguish between the online rental of physical disks vs the local stores. The regular Blockbuster web site clearly states:

BLOCKBUSTER Online Rentals should not be placed in the drop box of a BLOCKBUSTER store.

How that will ultimately be resolved isn't clear. But streaming and/or downloading is rapidly becoming the preferred business model choice for "rental" personal viewing.

In the end it will relate to just how habituated the under-30 generation has become to personal devices and how willing they are to watch "Lawrence of Arabia" on a wristwatch-sized iPod Nano ... or even an HD TV show on a smart phone or tablet.

My feeling is that if you have a decently operated store and you prefer the physical disk, do everything you can to make that store seem profitable for Dish. But be ready to accept streaming or downloading options within the next five years.

 

[tampa8]

I am surprised to hear a Blockbuster Express operated by NCR has surfaced. Dish went to court when NCR claimed their service that was agreed to with the old Blockbuster owners was not part of the sale to Dish. Dish of course said it was, and I thought the bankruptcy judge agreed with Dish.

Edit - Dish did win, then I found this;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...dvd-rental-prices-follows-redbox-netflix.html

"NCR licenses the Blockbuster name from Dish Network Corp. (DISH)'s Blockbuster movie rental stores."

Apparently NCR came to an agreement with Dish after the court case.

 

[ssmark]

So, can BBMP users exchange discs at the Rental express? I have one that is quite close to my home.

 

[Herdfan]

My feeling is that if you have a decently operated store and you prefer the physical disk, do everything you can to make that store seem profitable for Dish. But be ready to accept streaming or downloading options within the next five years.

Went to my local store (corporate owned training store) last week. It was sad as it looked like about 1/3 of the shelves with movies were gone. I stopped going as much after they switched to the Redbox model of "daily" rentals. That plus they moved all the BR movies from their own section and into the general population. It was so much easier to just look at a couple of shelves to see if there was anything I wanted.

The interesting thing is that a mom & pop video store in my parent's town (about 10 miles away) is still going strong. It has been in business since the days of Beta and VHS and now the original owner's kids (went to school with the older one) are running it. If they can do it, why can't BB?

So as we have done in the past, we will usually just wait until it comes to the movie channels and record it then and watch it on our own schedule.

 

[david_jr]

All of the chain rental stores in our area have closed. The only thing for rental around here is Red Box. All the mom and pops are gone too. The closest rentals (including 1 BB) is in the big city about 40 miles away. At today's gas prices not worth the drive. BBMP through the mail with my platinium is working just fine for us as we don't really have the time to watch more than one or two movies a week anyway. Sometimes it sits for a week before we can get to it.

 

[[email protected]]

So, can BBMP users exchange discs at the Rental express? I have one that is quite close to my home.

No, The Rental Express Boxes are not owned by BlockBuster and are not a part of the Blockbuster Movie Pass promotion.

 

[tampa8]

They are licensed by Dish to NCR, but as correctly stated not part of Blockbuster.

 

[Zero327]

Hey, Mary B et al,

My local Blockbuster is also closing. And when I type Blockbuster into Google News, I see plenty of reports of other Blockbusters about to close. Has Dish decided to close all brick and mortar Blockbusters? If not, how many are closing and how many are going to stay?

A large number of stores will remain open but there will continue to be some additional store closings as inventory is rearranged. The number of stores impacted and their locations have not been released publicly.

While BB is a subsidiary of DISH now, remember that it is still a separate company and integrating the two takes time. As a result, DIRT may not be able to answer questioning concerning BB strategies and changes until they are publicly announced.

The issue of BBMP and a desire to return discs directly to store locations is known.

 

[DoyleS]

I have a BB store about 2 miles away. The shelves are full with movies and games and lots of Blu-Ray. The store is pretty well packed with a line at checkout on weekends with people with several disks in hand and from what I can tell, not many of the customers are Dish patrons returning a mailed disk. That bodes well for this being a good store. The other store is about 5 miles away through a busy section of town so I hope the Sunnyvale store remains open. I kind of like the mail one and exchange one policy.

 

[P Smith]

I have a BB store about 2 miles away. The shelves are full with movies and games and lots of Blu-Ray. The store is pretty well packed with a line at checkout on weekends with people with several disks in hand and from what I can tell, not many of the customers are Dish patrons returning a mailed disk. That bodes well for this being a good store. The other store is about 5 miles away through a busy section of town so I hope the Sunnyvale store remains open. I kind of like the mail one and exchange one policy.

Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose (2) and Mountain View - all of them open and doing well.

 

[hiloyo63]

wow it happened to me too.my local bb was literally 300 yards from my house and is closing jan.31 saw the sign today .the closest store now is over 7 miles...

 

[BillJ]

My nearby store closed too. I wasn't surprised. Never saw many cars there. More amazing is that a video store a few blocks from me closed two years ago after 20 years in business. Now a Family Movie store has opened there. Wonder how long they will last?

 

[timmy1376]

My Blockbuster is now a liquor store. Much better!

 

[Kevin Brown]

Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose (2) and Mountain View - all of them open and doing well.

No. The store at Bowers and El Camino is closing. We've been going to the Hollenbeck store for the last few weeks.