Entertainment
last movie rented at blockbuster Was ‘This Is The End’
last movie rented at blockbuster Was ‘This Is The End’
The party’s over for Blockbuster, the company that once owned hundreds of stores nationwide, specializing in the rental of videos and DVDs for private home entertainment.
The company, which filed for bankruptcy, announced on Twitter that a customer who rented the film “This is the End” at one of their remaining store locations in Hawaii, represented the final movie rental for the once thriving chain. Dish Network, which took over the struggling video rental enterprise, previously reported that all of the remaining 300 stores and distribution centers would be shuttered by early 2014.
According to the Dish Network CEO, the Blockbuster business model was strangled by the public’s growing demand for digital video entertainment directly from their home computers and other electronic devices which preclude having the customer travel to a physical store such as Blockbuster to pore over thousands of titles standing on the shelves. Sources at Dish, however, say that they are planning to continue the Blockbuster brand in some digital format even though its physical retail stores are going the way of the dinosaur.
The last movie to ever be rented at a Blockbuster video location is actually quite fitting. It really does signify the end of an era. On November 9th at 11:00 p.m. in Hawaii, the final rental to ever pass through the doors of Blockbuster Video was…This is the End.
The last BLOCKBUSTER rental 11/9 Hawaii 11PM @ThisIsTheEnd #BlockbusterMemories @Sethrogen @JamesFrancoTV @JonahHill http://t.co/RsXABlqfzL
— Blockbuster (@blockbuster) November 11, 2013
Customers will still be able to patronize Blockbuster by using its two main digital entertainment products online, Blockbuster On Demand and Blockbuster@Home Digital Package.
A Familiar Trend
In 2012, Rogers announced it was closing their remaning rental locations.
Revenues from Rogers’ video rental and retail business fell 43 per cent to $82 million in 2011.
At the time, Leigh-Ann Popek, a spokeswoman Rogers said the company is was liquidating stock at hundreds of Rogers Video locations across the country.
“We wound up our rental business at the end of last week. We are now in the process of liquidating all of the videos and DVDs,” she said. “All of the locations will stay open but will be repurposed to showcase our wireless sales and service as well as our wireline offerings such as cable, home phone and Internet.”
Are you sad to see video rental store disappear?
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last movie rented at blockbuster Was ‘This Is The End’
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