BLOCKBUSTER..

[dmx10101]

Report: Dish Network to assume 500+ Blockbuster leases

New York City -- A report Monday by the Wall Street Journal said that Dish Network Corp. will assume leases on more than 500 Blockbuster stores after it completes its acquisition of the video-rental chain.

The lease takeovers will assure that Blockbuster will maintain some physical presence.

In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Blockbuster also listed hundreds of locations where it plans to reject leases, as its number of open stores continues to dwindle.

While there is no concrete information being released yet about how many Blockbuster stores will remain open, the court papers suggest that the latest round of closings will bring the number to around 1,000 open. As of early April, Blockbuster had either closed or initiated closings on nearly half of its stores and now has just over 1,700 locations.

Dish won a bankruptcy court auction this month for Blockbuster with a final bid of $320.6 million. The satellite-TV company hopes to close the deal by April 25, although the purchase agreement gives the company until May 5.

Dish has said it plans to keep some Blockbuster stores open.

[david121]

Almost all of them closed here in VA...haven't checked DC, and MD I really don't care about or have paid attention.

I was serious with a girl for a month or so... almost two years ago, and although quite weird - another story for another time, but she spent most of her adult life working at Blockbuster. No joke. Nothing wrong with that, but she went insane over it and is now living in the Netherlands. Wow.

[jmcnamara96]

Almost all of them closed here in VA...haven't checked DC, and MD I really don't care about or have paid attention.

I was serious with a girl for a month or so... almost two years ago, and although quite weird - another story for another time, but she spent most of her adult life working at Blockbuster. No joke. Nothing wrong with that, but she went insane over it and is now living in the Netherlands. Wow.

haha this sounds like a good story

[Kmart4life]

All of ours are closed and I was able to get the last Blockbuster vinyl sign today as the sign guys had taken it down and threw it in the dumpster. I will use it for a tarp.


\Pictures\Blockbuster Video Sign.jpg

[retailisking]

You have to wonder what Dish sees in Blockbuster.  Right now they're giving away one month Total Access memberships with new Dish signups.  I kind of doubt that's much of an incentive.  How will this turn out any differently than The Wiz did for Cablevision?

[Pikapower]

The Blockbuster by my house closed down last year and also the Blockebuster on Transit road near Maple road closed as well as the one on Maint Street near Kensington Ave closed down recently

[beachgal26]

All of our stores closed earlier this year and most of them sit empty adding to the rest of the empty space we have from Linens & Things, KMart and many of the other chains that have all closed.  And yet, we still keep building more strip malls..... 

[CTAmeshopper]

The Blockbuster here at East Main Street has recently became a Quest Diagnostics.

[captjack]

Our Blockbuster closed last fall and was remodeled into a Marices' young women's clothing stores for high school girls and college age women. Funny did the fire inspection for both over 6 years. Sad but they failedmto see the promise of Red Box. I always thought they should have jumped on the band wagon with blue boxes...many associate blue with blockbuster.

[jason83080]

The remaining Blockbuster stores in Northeast Ohio, it seems, are closing down now. Here's a small blurb about the one here in Avon Lake, OH, and some commentary about the depleting tenancy of the Avon Lake Towne Center plaza:

http://avonlake.patch.com/articles/blockbuster-closing-in-avon-lake

(I'm not sure which "two other stores" were in Learwood Square. The only one I knew of was a VERY SMALL Movie Gallery, which went out when the chain folded.)

[TRU7536]

The former Blockbuster video on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington is going to become a Verizon Wireless store.

[ynkeesfn82]

The former Blockbuster video on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington is going to become a Verizon Wireless store.

I would assume it would only take over part of the store like in Plainville.

[jason83080]

I'm going to head up to the local Blockbuster tomorrow to check things out for myself, but they have a giant "STORE MOVING" banner hanging by the signage up above the entrance. Weird, since one article says it's flat-out closing, but the signs all say moving. Is "moving" a fancy word for "closing," like when shows go on hiatus, but are really cancelled?

[JoshAustin610]

If you look closely at the "Store Moving" signs, it says "visit us at our new address, www.blockbuster.com".  Apparently it's Blockbuster's attempt to convince customers that they aren't completely going out of business, although the liquidation companies still have their own yellow "store closing" signs all over the store that they can't do anything about.

[ynkeesfn82]

Meriden and Southington Connecticut stores are closing.

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/business/meriden/article_53689fd4-405c-11e1-907b-001871e3ce6c.html

[jason83080]

I went up to Blockbuster at about 6:30 this evening, to find that, aside from the two employees working there, NOBODY was in the store. The deals, for what they're worth, aren't the greatest. Everything's at 10-30% off now, and nearly every movie in the store that, at some point, was a rental is now for sale at $9.99 each (30% off of $14.99, according to the signs). The fixtures are all for sale as well. The game selection was pretty weak.

I didn't really see anything too appealing (that I didn't already own), and, at $10/each for used movies, I can probably do better at the local Buyback$ store. The banners all over the outside do, in fact, feature the blockbuster.com address, but can they compete with Netflix on that front?

However, I did pick up volume 1 of "Lizzie McGuire," "Bring It On: In It To Win It," and the Blu-ray version of "Monte Carlo". Funny thing is that, at checkout, they still made me walk around to the exit door and handed me my movies over the counter.

[retailisking]

And then there were two - Bangor and Yarmouth are the last surviving Blockbuster stores in Maine.
http://www.pressherald.com/business/blockbuster-stores-hang-closing-signs_2012-02-04.html

[ynkeesfn82]

Driving around Bristol, Connecticut yesterday I noticed the "store closing" signs up on the windows of their store in The Annex Plaza. Sad, especially because they had a grand reopening sale a few months back. (I guess they remodeled or something. I remember the commercials on the radio a few months ago "Come by your local Blockbuster at 123 Farmington Avenue in Bristol and see our new look.") They're lease is also probably up too. They've been open close to 20 years over there.

I also believe they cut the store hours too. They used to be open until Midnight, however when I went to Price Chopper in the adjacent Bristol Commons Plaza last night around 10:45PM it looked like Blockbuster had already closed for the night.

[jason83080]

Redbox is purchasing the Blockbuster Express kiosks, according to BBE's General Manager -

Dear Valued Customer,

NCR, which operates your Blockbuster Express kiosks, has entered into an agreement to sell its kiosks and other assets to Redbox. Until the transaction is completed (we anticipate in the third quarter of 2012), you will continue to enjoy the convenience, choice, and value you're used to from BLOCKBUSTER Express. Until the sale is completed, we will continue to run the business as we have been, focused on bringing you the latest New Release movies with most titles only $2 for the first night. You'll also notice that we've increased our In-Stock Guarantee value so you will now enjoy a movie night on us with a value of up to $3 if we don't have the New Release movie you want in stock.

As a reminder, we still have 100s of great movies available at $1 and additional nights of all movies are still only $1, all part of preserving an exceptional value for an affordable night of entertainment.

We'll continue to provide you with information on any changes that result from this recent announcement but for now we just wanted to say thanks for being our customer.

Sincerely,
Justin Hotard
General Manager

The BLOCKBUSTER Express Team
Questions? Concerns? We're happy to help. Email us at service@blockbusterexpress.com or call us at 1-877-300-2128 from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m. EST, 7 days a week.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/redbox-to-acquire-the-assets-of-ncrs-entertainment-line-of-business-nasdaq-cstr-1615655.htm

After this sale goes through, what will be left of Blockbuster besides a few random stores and that Netflix-competing service? Also, Dish Network is promoting in their ads that you get 'unlimited exchanges in-store' with the Blockbuster At Home system. The only problem with that is there aren't any stores left!

[retailisking]

It seems probable that the tenuous (at best) agreement with Blockbuster to use the BBE brand was a factor in NCR's decision to exit the kiosk business
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/blockbuster-express/rip-blockbuster-express-26346

[ynkeesfn82]

I scored a great deal at the store closing sale in Bristol, CT. The DVD I wanted (Final Destination 4) was supposed to be $7.99, but it rang up for $1.99!!!!!!!!! Ca-ching!!!!!!!

[david121]

Here in Northern Virginia, they all closed up VERY fast and were either replaced or are still sitting vacant with in a matter of weeks, this was a year or two ago but it was VERY quick.

[Bdubs]

The Cromwell, CT location is closing.  I couldn't find an exact number of how many BB's are left in CT, but I did a store search on their website, and only 2 popped up.  Cromwell (which is closing) and Meriden.  Not sure if that one is or has closed as well.

[ynkeesfn82]

Meriden is closing too.

[ynkeesfn82]

Blockbuster is now closed and gone in Southington, Bristol, and Meriden Connecticut. In Bristol they already took the sign off the building and the ticket shaped logo that was on the sign in front of The Annex Plaza.

[TRU7536]

are there any open around the Hartford area??

[ynkeesfn82]

are there any open around the Hartford area??

Does Waterbury count as the Hartford area? I think they're still open on Lakewood Road.

[ynkeesfn82]

Took some shots of the former Bristol, CT Blockbuster. All exterior and interior shots were taken from the outside. The store closed the last week of March 2012. Two other photos didn't come out. And I didn't get the other side of the building due to 2 large dumpsters being there. The return slot has been removed as well.

Notice how in the 4th photo the Blockbuster sign is missing from the sign in front of the plaza. It was a sign that had the ticket shaped logo.

[JimSawhill]

The Blockbuster in Temple Terrace is now a Beef O'Brady restaurant and across the street the Hollywood Video is now a Advance Auto.

[Kmart4life]

Our last one in Lakeland closed a little over a week ago and the road sign has already been blacked out where the blockbuster name once was and the the labels taken off of the building. I will get pics on my next trip to that area.