Hmm, never used these people... (mainly because I dont really watch alot of movies, well other than on TV ever once in a while.)

I also like my Netflix. They have a good selection of some of the old stuff that I mostly want.

Have not been to a BB in years and frankly won't miss it.

For what they charged, the service provided was not worth it. I hope other businesses are paying attention.

Blockbuster is still going here in Australia (it's independent of the US) but it is in decline, like many of the other rental chains. I use an independent DVD rental place when I want to get a movie. Better service, better price and no ripping you off!

This is a bad thing. I've already felt the effects. Although I use Netflix, I do enjoy the spontaneous pop-into-Hollywood video to get a classic film, usually after a vibrant discussion about it with friends. Well, a couple weeks ago, my daughter and I were talking about films and she has never seen Eye of the Needle. I said, "Cool! Let's drop by Hollywood and grab it." Instant gratification denied, Hollywood is gone. Went by BB and they only have recent releases now...

... and now they are gone. Sucks.

Not quite. They're under Chapter 11 bankruptcy which means they'll still operate while they restructure. That's the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy - chapter 7 is gone, liquidate everything, its no longer a going concern. 11 means "hey we screwed up and we can't pay everyone, but let us figure some things out and we'll at least get some money to some of you all and then we'll restart good as new later."

That's basically what I heard as well. It's a move to protect the company from going completely under so they can try to restructure and reorganize.

Unfortunately though, I think they got on the digital/internet bandwagon too late, and alienated too many customers over the years to make a big comeback. But it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

And I wish I could've used our local video stores for instant gratification... in years and years of membership at various places I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I walked in and got what I came for. Instant gratification for me now would be streaming something from Netflix - can't beam it to my TV, but I wouldn't mind watching on the PC monitor if I was that determined to see something right away.

It probably helps if one lives in an area where businesses like video stores have to cater to a larger and more diverse population. But around there, the selection sucked in terms of things I was actually willing to drive to the store to get.

well there is no doubt Blockbuster Video will always be something special to someone.

In my life growing up we have only rented movies from a couple of places... blockbuster and a little mom and pop video store.

Blockbuster had its high times in the late 80s and early 90s when movie and video game rentals were running high.

i remember every friday or saturday night being about 11 or 12 years old having a couple of friends over to stay the night and we would pester the crap out of my parents to drive us to blockbuster to grab a few movies and rent a game for the sega or NES / SNES.

it was like christmas time every weekend.

but as technology changed... so should have their business practices. The kiosks were too little too late.

Hopefully, they can restructure into a more up to date and with the times business model and stay around a bit longer.

they need to get into direct to Wii rentals, directo Ipad/pod rentals and direct to mailbox rentals etc. and they need to do such things aggressively and quickly lest they become dinosaurs of the industry.

Never rented a movie. Just not a big fan of TV, Movies, and Hollywierd.