Blockbuster to close Dallas Distribution Center

Is that their main distribution center? Because I think every time I get a movie/game rental from them the return address is Dallas, Texas.
 
I know exactly where that is as we lived not too far from it. That is their main distribution center. Good job DISH! :rolleyes:
 
I'm telling ya'll Blockbuster is going to go out of the business of physical stores and shipping dvds. I'm predicting by next year it will be a streaming service for DISH subs only and the movies will be what you already have from the platinum channels. DISH should of never bought Blockbuster and they are now rectifying it by closing down each store that has their leases come up for renewal. Now the physical warehouse dvd shipping/returning hubs are being closed. Streaming only is the future and dvds and blu-rays only have about 5 years left if that, before they will be phased out. Streaming will become the norm. I don't know when was the last time I bought a blu-ray. They were too expensive when they came out with them and they haven't got any cheaper. $24.99 - $34.99 is too high for a blu-ray. Especially when you can get a dvd for $5.00 - $10.00 a Walmart. There isn't that much difference if you upconvert the dvd to high def output. Blockbuster was the wrong business to buy a the wrong economic and technical time.
 
Mike, it seems like you are comparing new, first week prices on BluRays with the closeout bargain bin for the DVDs. What I see is more like a $5 premium for new BlueRays ($20 vs $25) and a $2 premium for closeouts/specials ($5 vs $7)
 
On my way to CES this year I sat next to Blockbuster CEO Michael Kelly and me and him talked about Blockbuster and the big mess he was hired to clean up.

I am not going to go in everything I talked about with him, but lets just say that the previous management loved to spend... if they wanted to be in a town they would move in and pay rent no matter what it cost, paying much more for rent then they could get in other places nearby. This kind of spending almost killed the company.

So now it is Mr. Kelly's job to try to correct what the previous management and owners did and try to turn the company around and make it a viable company again. Its no easy job and I don't envy him in the least. And the worst part is I think he personally feels bad when he needs to make cuts which causes people to lose their jobs. These are moves he does not want to do, but has to do.

I learned a lot from Mr. Kelly on that flight and it gave me a totally different outlook on the company, one that I now respect.
 
On average the difference between new releases of blu-ray vs DVD is usually more than $5-$7. However I agree that the price of DVD's and especially blu-rays is way too high. Now they like to combine the two in one package which seems kind of dumb. When blu-ray beat out HD DVD this is exactly what was predicted even though the powers that be kept saying that blu-ray prices would drop dramatically after the cost of blu-ray manufacturing start up was recouped.
 
I went and looked at the top 10 for the week at Amazon and compared BluRay and DVD prices. Note that the difference is greater on multi-movie sets as you would expect, and also there is an additional surcharge on 3D titles.

Title/BluRay Price/DVD Price
1. Game of Thrones 41.99/31.99 (entire season)
2. Descendants 19.99/14.99
3/4. Tin-Tin 21.99/15.49 (note I excluded the higher priced 3D version from comparison)
5. Girl with Dragon Tatoo 24.99/19.99
6. MI: Ghost Protocol 21.99/15.49
7. Hugo 29.99/16.99 (note: BluRay is 3D)
8. Indiana Jones Collection 69.99/43.10 (4 movies)
9. Immortals 22.99/16.99
10. Phantom of Opera - Royal Hall 21.99/16.99

The $5 premium seems to hold up pretty well to me. I'm sure we can pick other stores, individual promotions or other titles where it is different, but Amazon blockbusters seems a reasonable choice.
 
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I know exactly where that is as we lived not too far from it. That is their main distribution center. Good job DISH! :rolleyes:

Well you are right, but not how you mean it. It probably IS a good job by Dish. Did you forget, BB was bankrupt --- going out of business. Did you expect Dish to just continue to lose tons of money like they did?

As to posts about the end of discs, I don't know the future, for some streaming seems to be what that future is, but if you lived with no high speed internet available, other than relatively expensive Satellite, you would not say that. And I have several friends who like the Bluray versions as I do,with extras, and the superb picture especially on a very large screen TV. Streaming is still a step down from that, though less expensive at this time of course, but you don't own anything either. I'm not saying discs are going to die out, I just don't know when, or if streaming is actually going to take their place.
And there is a new trend, with the cost of the internet going up, some are just using their cell phone or Pad device for most browsing, especially where Wifi is available and not paying for internet at home anymore. This is mostly younger people not living at home and have a busy life, but they won't get much out of streaming, but they do own DVD or Bluray players. I don't think it is a straight forward as streaming is about to end discs. It is hard to see where BB will be in the future, will they maintain discs? That we can agree on.
 
On my way to CES this year I sat next to Blockbuster CEO Michael Kelly and me and him talked about Blockbuster and the big mess he was hired to clean up.

I am not going to go in everything I talked about with him, but lets just say that the previous management loved to spend... if they wanted to be in a town they would move in and pay rent no matter what it cost, paying much more for rent then they could get in other places nearby. This kind of spending almost killed the company.

So now it is Mr. Kelly's job to try to correct what the previous management and owners did and try to turn the company around and make it a viable company again. Its no easy job and I don't envy him in the least. And the worst part is I think he personally feels bad when he needs to make cuts which causes people to lose their jobs. These are moves he does not want to do, but has to do.

I learned a lot from Mr. Kelly on that flight and it gave me a totally different outlook on the company, one that I now respect.


C'mon now.....if it were just the rent, they could relocate instead of shutting everything down.

They are gutting, cleaning, and mounting the head on the wall.
 
C'mon now.....if it were just the rent, they could relocate instead of shutting everything down.

They are gutting, cleaning, and mounting the head on the wall.
No money to move them to a different location.

I do believe that in a few years you will see some new stores pop up.
 
I think streaming is going to come slower than many expect. Keep in mind the ISPs are trying to put in caps/FAPs, whatever you want to call them, more than ever.

When BDs first come out, they're premium priced. But if you wait a few months, prices really come down. Last one I bought was $8. It's rare I buy one for over $20.

Optical media- you OWN it, it's readily available without internet, highest quality, extras, no commercials and you can loan/borrow it.
 
Only 10% (BB) - 20% (NF) of the DVD rental titles are available on streaming, and given the propensity of the content providers to raise their prices each year, I don't see those numbers changing. The price paid for streaming content, in other words, is market-driven, not technology-driven. And as long as 90% of BB's titles are only available as DVD rentals, DVD's will still be around -- how else are we going to see the stuff?
 
No money to move them to a different location.

I do believe that in a few years you will see some new stores pop up.

They just closed the location near me.

There were always customer cars in the parking lot and weekends were crazy. Honestly, if that location was not profitable, I don't think the brick and mortar stores have a future.

You never know how dumb some leasing companies are, but I really doubt rent would have been an issue. It was an outparcel in a shopping center, built as a Blockbuster store 15+ years ago when a Walmart was the strip anchor. Walmart has moved, some smaller players serve as anchors now, but space in the main strip is very reasonable and not fully rented. The BB building will sit idle for a very long time.
 
Both of our local BB stores are now long gone and empty. B&M video rental overall is almost non-existent in our area. I can see where Dish had to stop the bleeding and close-down a lot of the existing B&M BBs to focus on streaming. Caps might slow how fast that technology replaces the optical disk options, but I do believe eventual replacement is inevitable. Perhaps titles will start to appear in other non-moving media, like maybe SDs or thumb drives or similar. There could be a resurgence of B&M outlets for optical media (walk-in or distribution centers) if the other options are slow to take over.

I bought first a bunch of DVDs, then HD DVDs, and now BDs. It's rare I paid anywhere near the "full", first release price on any of them. Now when I get an urge I spend $8 - $15 for a BD at Amazon. I'm not yet equipped for streaming in real-time, so I have only watched a few titles via the 'Net. (WiFi to my iPad, then HD-coupled to my system with the component connection.) I prefer the video/audio quality of BD and even HD DVD anyday vs. a down-loaded title...and as navy said - OWNING them is great for several reasons...until your house burns down... (KoW !!!)
 
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I make no guarantee that this is true but here is what I posted a few weeks ago over in the BB sub-forum that may not have been seen by a lot of folks since that section of the board has slowed down a lot with all the Hopper excitement lately:
Well, this is interesting IF true, and I have no reason to believe it isn't. I was just at my local Blockbuster to do an in-store exchange. We commented on how busy the store has been the last few months and the fact they had a "Now Hiring" sign up. The manager told us the last three months or so had seen their business explode (at least triple) and that Blockbuster just renewed their lease another two years in that location.

Just the facts, ma'am. (If indeed it is a fact.) :p