Just passed by Blockbuster on Mt. Diablo Boulevard, our family's local store for renting DVDs, and saw that the store in closing. Soccer Son saw that there were 50-percent-off sales, and strongly urged us to stop by and grab up a bunch of movies.
Actually, we haven't been renting as many DVDs as we used to, even from Blockbuster's Netflix-like DVD-by-mail service. My son has World of Warcraft on computer or books to keep him occupied. He starts school this week, so will be occupied with some homework each weeknight. Meanwhile, I blog, read newspapers, magazines, and--when I'm good--books. Or I search search for interesting stories on the Internet. Bottom line, I don't have much time for TV or movie viewing. (I used to be a big TV viewer). The only shows I'm watching right now are Mad Mad and Breaking Bad--which I obtained via I-tunes, but the price of each season of those shows ($19.99) was no more than what I might spend on a book. And these are shows, in my suburban studies mode, that I might turn to occasionally for reference...
Actually, the closure of Blockbuster shouldn't come as too much of a shock. The Los Angeles Times says the chain's revenue fell 22 percent in the second quarter, and same-store rental fell 13 percent--"because of a pullback at the company to pay off debt and because of declining consumer interest."
The Times says, "the company also blamed the rental decline on 'the challenging macroeconomic environment and the increasingly competitive landscape.' Redbox and Netflix saw their revenue last quarter grow 110 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
4 comments:
psst - MadMen is on Comcast On Demand if you are a Comcast customer. Sheer bliss of the guilty indulgence variety.
Thanks for the tip!!!! I'm going to check it out in a few minutes!
I'm there, thanks for the heads up. I noticed the athletic equipment store next door (Busy Body?) is closed as well with a sign up that says, "Closed until further notice." Add two more empty store fronts to the list.
Soccer Son and I went there last night, and scooped up some DVDs. A lot of bare shelves already.
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