Blockbusted Part One: The Business of Art

The clerks near us are very aware of the inadequacies of their corporation and will roll their eyes and mock Blockbuster HO when I go looking for anything interesting to rent/buy. I think the last one was The Extras box set. ~Ya, real cutting edge stuff, I know~ "Naw," he says, "we are not nearly cool enough to have that. I wouldn't expect to ever see it here."

You nailed this article my friend. Summed up everything I thought about Blockbuster. One time after coming back from San Francisco I wanted to rent Bullit. When I asked the kid at the counter if they had it he had never heard of Bullit before (and they didn't have it, although he did try to rent me Bulletproof Monk), he also enlightened me that he doesn't watch movies. Great, thanks.

Ah yes, as much as I don't like Blockbuster, I found your article leaning a bit against the pretentious wall.

Blockbuster should just make like other rental businesses and do it simply for the love of film!

...Right. And what universe do you live in? Film is fast food! Music is fast food! I love film and music just as much as anybody but I realize that the consumer demand for instant gratification is limitless. Nothing is indisposable today. If you can't get it the first time, wait a week, you can get it, and at a cheaper price. That's the market. You're in denial if you think the economy is supported by independent small business.

If you want to have your cake and eat it too as a consumer, you have to go out and pay more money for it like at your indie rental shop or else BUY THE FUCKING DVD. Don't expect to pay 3 bucks for it and get wonderful service. Blockbuster tries to sell as many movies as possible while saving on costs of operation. It's a business model that many companies use. It's just the world we live in. If it weren't Blockbuster, it would be another corporation run by different people trying to do all the same things to make money. That's life. Hopefully it changes sometime in the future. But in the meantime, Blockbuster has a few movies that I would love to rent for cheap. All my art house faves aren't there, but that's not why I go. I go because it's fucking cheap.

Hmm sounds like the ones that we have in Ontario! Although most of them are not into up selling the candy and I must admit that the ones that we have in North Bay Ontario are very good. The staff there are actually honest aboutthan whether the movie was a good one or just hyped up. Many times have gone in there not actually knowing what to rent and came out with a great pick- thanks to the staff at Blockbuster!
So guys - maybe living in a little as we have been called "hole in the wall up north" is not that bad, we may get colder freezing tempsand lots of snow in the winter and lots of bugs in the summer but at least we know that our heroes at BB have a movie for us to during these tough times! Now ok would you like popcorn with that?

It's really easy for someone who has the money to say they don't prefer a megastore like Blockbuster. Alot of people can't afford to pay more. Besides, film buffs like you aren't their fucking market anyway. Average joe blows who want to rent the latest box office smash are. People like you are a minority.

It's easy for someone who has the money to say they don't like going to the megastore. Many people can't afford to pay inflated prices for movies. You aren't their fucking market anyway. Joe blow who wants to see the latest box office smash is. You're in the minority.

i need to no if this is only canadian or only usa or both in terms of the possible close out
tkx

I agree with pretty much everything the article states and would add that in Canada they have dissolved the "Horror" section in favour of action/thriller and have pretty much gotten rid of every "older" movie worth watching! The entire store is packed with brand new releases I get that some people want to watch the newest movies but what about the rest of us?

There are a million reasons to hate Blockbuster, but not having foreign films (which actually, they do) isn't one of them. It's called BLOCKBUSTER. The name itself suggests they rent movies that make money; you know, the ones people actually want to see.

Jaime, you need to relax and not take the article so personally. You're right: Blockbuster is targetting the widest audience possible and it is following a tried & true business model. But everything the article says is true as well. Unfortunately for Blockbuster, it is a perfect representation of excess consumerism having gone too far. For decades companies like Blockbuster, Starbucks, and many others followed the same philosophy. I work at the executive level of a company that falls into this category so I can assure you "cookie cutter marketing" is the norm. We know the costs, apply a predetermined formula, and exhaust as much as we can until it's no longer viable. Then we move on to the next. Sure it's makes our economic world go round but this kind of mindless corporate & consumer gluttony isn't good for the long term. Who's to blame? All of us. The corporations for their souless greed, and consumers for the inability to look beyond their own narrow desire for instant gratification. I think people are starting to wake up to this (hence an interest in "Fair Trade" goods, increased concern for the environment) and what's happening with Blockbuster (and Starbucs) is the natural resulting backlash.

Um, clearly this isn't the case where Jaime lives but my indie video store is MUCH cheaper than Blockbuster which charges $5 and change for a new release. Blockbuster is the reason that film has become fast food.....it's not a good thing and anyone who claims to love (or even just like) film should be doing all they can to fight against it.

I live in a rural area. Nothing but Blockbuster and independent renters (indendent but not "indie").

Blockbuster told me that Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" had not been released on DVD.

One of the independent places told me that "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was not available as it was banned in Canada.
Ummm - yeah ...

I tried zip but things I wanted were never available (I can only assume that zip is populated by customers who don't want mainstream).
I haven't yet downloaded, but the day is close.

I worked at Blockbuster around 4 years ago. Same MO, same contract, although we were given ugly polos.

And yes, I am also irritated that they did away with the horror section! I don't want to browse through the whole store to find movies. I want to go to one section when I'm in the mood for something specific and I don't want to pick something off the new release wall since new horror films are bad, and not in a good way.

When I got my first Betamax in 1980, a video cost $3 to rent for 3 days, it was $129 to buy, and they threw it out when it got worn out.

Now they're $19 to buy (85% cheaper) yet $3.99 to rent (25% more), for only 2 days (33% less) and they last nearly forever and they sell off the extra DVDs...

If they can't make money now, they're doing something seriously wrong. They can bite me.

Well where I'm at they are rude and rent anything to anyone even under age kids who wouldn't be able to get into see this movie at a theatre and thefts run rampent in the store as well. we now rent else where!

My favourite video store was Video Wiz, they had tons of horror movies, old and new. When they closed I was stuck going to blockbuster. Then when blockbuster got rid of their horror section, and started charging nearly $7 for a rental, I pretty much stopped going there completley.

hey you should all live in Belleville, Ont

The Jumbo Video there has an awesome selection of older movies and they are only $.99 for 2 nights or $2.99 for a week.
The acctually have a classic section. You know gone with the wind and those types.
Blockbusters idea of a classic is 5 years old.

KWS

Jamie said: "You're in denial if you think the economy is supported by independent small business."

What? Are you an imbecile or just ignorant? What the economy NEEDS is more independent small businesses. The whole reason were in this economic mess is because of large, multi-national corporations.

Jamie also said: "If you want to have your cake and eat it too as a consumer, you have to go out and pay more money for it like at your indie rental shop or else BUY THE FUCKING DVD"

1) There's no need for foul language. I enjoy swearing as much as the next guy in a heated situation, but c'mon dude. Chill out. Why are you so ardent to defend Blockbuster?
2) Where I live, it is MORE expensive to rent at Blockbuster than at the local indie shop.

ATTENTION JAMIE: Keep your silly, unfounded and ignorant rants to yourself. The internet has enough morons as it is.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT MOVIE SHOP!!!!!!!!!!

I fully agree! Ever since I was told they would not carry " Requium for a Dream", without it being censored, I have not rented a film from Blockbuster.

I'm currently an employee at a Blockbuster in BC, and it's basically as stupid as this article describes. Although I don't have the most refined tastes in movies, and I still love the big, hyped up films, there are A TON of 'indie' movies I have wanted to watch that we don't carry. At this point for me, Blockbuster is simply a job, I loathe going in for my shifts, and am constantly looking for a new job. At least in my store, we are 100% honest about how a movie was (unless of course someone comes in raving about it, and we hated it, ie: You Don't Mess with the Zohan). I work with some of the greatest people I've ever met, since we are all there just to have a simple job right now, but I am also managed by some of the most idiotic people. If there was an indie place near me, if I was unable to work there, I think I'd at least be renting there.

And to Dave Alexander, thanks for not writing off all of the employees, believe me, the majority of us feel the same way as you, and will most likely "Haa-haa" when we aren't there anymore, and Blockbuster is no more.

I too have no sympathy for the company (too bad people re losing jobs but like you said "Ha Ha!")
I stopped going there a number of years ago. I would return a movie or a game and a few days later getting a call from them reminding me to return the movie rental. I would tell them that I did return it but they would have none of it. Then I would go to the store to talk to a manager. Upon farther discussions the manager and I walked over to the shelf where the movie belongs and there it was sitting on the shelf. This same scenerio happened three more times! By the third time when they called me I just told them to check the shelf. That's where you'll find it. After the fourth time I handed them my membership card and told them to destroy it. I then started to rent movies from VIDEO KING, which I believe are gone now. A few years later by chance I met someone who worked at that location at that time and they explained to me what probably happened. I almost always used the drop box whenever I returned a rental. Apparantly most of the employees, when going through the drop box, would take a movie that they wanted to watch home with them. Then when they returned it the next day or whenever they would put it on the shelf without it actually being officially returned in the system. NICE!

Although Blockbuster going bankrupt would probably benefit the "indies" it probably would not benefit the customers. As people move towards the independants the independants, in turn, would have to stock movies that the customer wanted. Those that did not would not attract the average Blockbuster customer so would not really see any net benefit. As the stock of "blockbuster" movies increased the space for the more obscure would decrease so there could be less of the selection that most of you are talking about. In addition Blockbuster rents a large number of games for the various systems out there and, as a parent, it is a lot cheaper to rent a game for $10 and find out your child does not like it than spend $60 to buy it and have it gather dust. So the independants, to get my business, would also have to increase their stock of games.

I do have problems with Blockbuster and was also ready to stop renting there until they dropped their late charges. Nothing like returning a movie on time to find that you "owe" a late fee. Of course if what Doug said is true we have the employees to thank, not the company.

They're just movies you idiots, blockbuster makes the BETTER films widely open to the majority of the public. No one cares about indie films for a reason, dying breed, go die with them.

I like how he rants about film culture, yet then seems thrilled about buying a rocky movie. Seriously? And the blockbuster I go to has a foreign film section, so maybe you should just take a look around next time you go trolling the selection of garbage they usually stock in those bins.