Is this sad news? Blockbuster is closing its remaining brick and mortar locations as well as its “Blockbuster by Mail” service. It’ll all be done by January of next year (December of this year for the mail service).
If you’ve visited a Blockbuster in the last year you probably A) saw this coming and B) own a used copy of Lee Daniel’s The Paperboy*. Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot to say. This story comes two days after the announcement that the world famous Scarecrow Video in Seattle may be closing its doors next year as well. That’s sad.
Blockbuster though? They lost me when they changed the terms of their aforementioned mail-in service. They had a sweet deal going where you could return your mailed disc for an in-store rental**. That almost made up for the truly terrible (and rapidly diminishing) collection of older titles available. Almost.
As always, this news is saddest for teenage kids in polo shirts.
*That’s me!
**I have no idea if they brought that service back after that initial discontinuation, I just know I switched to Netflix and never looked back.