Area Blockbusters have closed their doors, locking up ahead of their expected ‘Best Used By’ date of Janurary 3rd. A company press release in September indicated that the company may cut up to 960 stores nationwide by the end of next year. A helpful ex-employee, James, informed us that Charlottesville’s three locations, Arlington, Abbey, & Rio Hill have all scuttled the brick and mortar shops as of 11:45AM yesterday (12/22). Nearly insurmountable competition by Netflix seems to be the core culprit, while online streaming and cheaper distribution options were cited as well.
The current plan appears to indicate a ramp up of kiosk locations, in competition with the prevalent Redbox video rental machines owned by parent company Coinstar.
UNCUS reports that other local video stores Sneak Reviews, C’ville Video, Video Etc., and Universal Video all seem to be continuing the good fight, and are hopeful that the closings will keep them in the running a little longer. [Photo Credits]
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Honestly, kinda surprised it took this long.
Soooo I have a movie checked out still. Er… what the hell do I do with it?
keep it. we found a sh*tload of movies in games in their dumpster.