r/clevercomebacks • u/Mogar_Pogar • 2d ago
Blockbuster's response to Netflix's not so sharing is caring attitude Magnum Dong
547
u/payattention007 1d ago
Who... who is even running this account anymore?
338
u/zayoyayo 1d ago
maybe the one remaining Blockbuster store in Bend, Oregon
78
u/Cymb_ 1d ago
This makes me love Bend even more
36
u/zayoyayo 1d ago edited 20h ago
i drove through and took a photo of the storefront in 2020! I will post it shortly
Edit, here it is! I drove by at 10 at night https://i.redd.it/igc5jl911g2b1.jpg
16
2
u/brotherpigstory 1d ago
Sucks if you have to work there. Nice if you have money and can afford to visit.
19
u/tuple09 1d ago
As a Blockbuster employee in the early aught’s I remember when the leadership was commenting in the corporate magazine how Netflix’s DVD by mail service was a fad.
→ More replies6
u/Citadel_KenGriffin 1d ago
No, that store is licensing the brand from the trademark owner who is running this Twitter account.
→ More replies→ More replies17
u/GothicGolem29 1d ago
Blockbuster has a store left?
→ More replies8
u/Quackels_The_Duck 1d ago
It's a store unaffiliated with the actual Blockbuster, from what I remember. But it is ran out of a former Blockbuster store.
3
u/GothicGolem29 1d ago
Ok thanks. I think from what I saw it’s the last remaining franchise of blockbuster?
11
11
u/Citadel_KenGriffin 1d ago
That account is run by the trademark owner Dish Network. Not to be confused with the one last remaining Blockbuster store who is licensing the brand from Dish.
In an emailed statement, the company said only: "Today, we license the Blockbuster brand to various apparel and games manufacturers, as well as to the store in Bend, OR. In addition, we are actively exploring additional licensing opportunities." https://www.retaildive.com/news/blockbuster-is-trapped-in-brand-limbo-will-it-ever-get-out/609054/
→ More replies25
u/sunshinecygnet 1d ago
Someone who doesn’t know how to write a complete sentence.
26
→ More replies18
u/xRoyalewithCheese 1d ago
The period is meant as a pause for effect. It’s not an essay.
→ More replies
1.4k
u/__Hello_my_name_is__ 2d ago
They would have absolutely prevented people from sharing borrowed VHS tapes if they had a way to do it.
490
u/JeffieSandBags 1d ago
Those late fees were killer! Blockbuster is pulling a quickie if they wanna pretend they didn't do us dirty.
148
u/elpajaroquemamais 1d ago
They removed the late fees which ironically is what killed them.
130
u/sonofaresiii 1d ago
No they didn't, they just changed the name.
I remember that's when I was officially, finally done with blockbuster. I brought one of my movies back and they're like "Okay and so there's a four dollar charge on that since you took so long to bring it back"
"What? You have a big sign up saying there's no more late fees."
"Yeah. This is a restocking fee."
Canceled right there.
50
u/CanterburyTerrier 1d ago edited 1d ago
Also, late fees were figured into their profits. That was what killed them. Netflix was able to kill blockbuster specifically because late fees had become part of their business model. They depended on the revenue in their business plans. You know how revenue growth is set at some arbitrary number year over year. Late fees were part of that revenue growth expectancy. They didn't want you to bring videos back on time.
Any industry that becomes dependent on penalties is ripe for disruption. Internet providers have admitted overage fees due to excess throughput are unnecessary. They still have them in place. There is just no competition in some places. Any place there is competition they don't exist.
22
u/OkCutIt 1d ago
Honestly it's hilarious but also pretty gross for them to make this joke and especially include the reference to late fees.
Blockbuster was absolutely a predatory business that made a significant portion of their income renting stuff at not-profitable prices then charging insane late fees to people who couldn't get it back by 4pm the next afternoon or whatever.
And it's what killed them, no question. Nobody hesitated to rent a movie for a couple bucks, everybody thought twice about going to blockbuster because of those late fees.
People talk a lot about netflix killing blockbuster, but tbh I remember them all going completely to shit when the local grocery store video rentals knocked their shit to like $1 a day and no extra for being late because they just wanted to get people into the store and weren't trying to make a bunch of money off fees.
13
u/moonsun1987 1d ago
Netflix was awesome because you can keep the disk forever as long as you pay the eight dollars a month or whatever.
Actually iirc this was pure profit for Netflix as the disks are so inexpensive...
Rest in peace, Netflix
→ More replies2
u/DigitalDefenestrator 1d ago
Sometimes even when you did get it back on time, it'd somehow take an extra day to register and get a fine anyways. Especially if you used the after-hours dropoff slot. Learned pretty fast to drop it off at the counter and insist on getting the printed return receipt.
2
u/Darkmatter_Cascade 1d ago
The "supreme" court ruled that Internet competition is illegal. (OK, only cable internet competition, but where I live in the US (a major, major metropolitan area) cable is the least bad of only two very, very, very bad options.)
11
u/Ok-Situation-4275 1d ago
Surely they have to "restock" it anyway?
Everybody has to have the video restocked.
If a restocking fee is only charged when it is "late", then it is a late fee, not a restocking fee.→ More replies4
u/acemccrank 1d ago
They could have just called it an extended rental fee, so it wasn't that it was late but instead you just pay the extra day(s).
78
u/Hushpuppyy 1d ago
I mean, they died because they remained a company that rented out physical media when digital media took over. No amount of good or bad business decisions are going to keep people renting DVDs when you can just download the same movie from your couch.
14
u/FakeOrcaRape 1d ago
They had better/cheaper netflix for a while. Netflix was also about hard media for a while. Our package was 3 at a time, and while you were waiting, you could choose to watch a streamed version of select titles you were waiting for.
Blockbuster had an insanely good package as its last hoorah. Like Netflix ,you could browse their online catalogue and have 3 DVDs shipped. Once you watched / finished them, you could mail them back OR bring them into a store. If you chose the latter, you could get 3 more DVDs from the store while you were waiting for other 3 from your online to be sent. All for a very cheap monthly price.
Yes, it still was about hard media, but like, it was insane how much shit I Got from blockbuster lol
4
16
u/bottomdasher 1d ago
Redbox?
→ More replies37
u/Jordaneer 1d ago
Well, Redbox doesn't have multi-thousand sq ft locations to pay for.
15
u/bottomdasher 1d ago
No amount of good or bad business decisions are going to keep people renting DVDs when you can just download the same movie from your couch.
So then a GOOD BUSINESS DECISION kept people renting DVD's? Lol.
→ More replies8
u/UrNotThatFunny 1d ago
Redbox is 100 times smaller than Blockbuster ever was and it’s getting sold frequently because it’s a money pit lol.
Blockbuster was worth $6 billion at its peak. Redbox was just sold last year for $375 million. Jesus you guys are going to bat for physical rentals?
12
u/rickjamesbich 1d ago
I go to bat for Blockbuster because they had pokemon snap kiosks where I could print out the pictures I took in game. Cartridge to paper. I was mindblown as a kid.
→ More replies4
→ More replies5
u/PM_ME_CUTE_FEMBOYS 1d ago
Redbox probably takes up more square footage now than blockbuster did at its prime.
Just in smaller bites.
3
u/Jordaneer 1d ago
I think with most small kiosks like that, they do a split revenue so Redbox gives some of their revenue that kiosk generates to the business that it's at, I don't think they pay rent to the actual business
3
u/CankerLord 1d ago
Yeah, it's like Howard Dean. That scream didn't kill his campaign, it was just part of the death rattle.
2
u/FormerGameDev 1d ago
Blockbuster died before that was even really a popular thing.
The last dedicated video rental places around me just went under last year. Blockbuster definitely had other things going on that caused their failure much, much faster.
→ More replies2
u/Ok-Situation-4275 1d ago
Didn't some company (netflix?) actually mail DVD's to you for some time first, and you mail them back. Bizarre but it was very successful as I remember.
If Blockbuster had been using their brains, they could have switched over and copied that model as a transition, instead of clinging on harder to a log that is clearly heading towards a waterfall.
2
u/Blackfang321 1d ago
They did! I worked at Blockbuster right during the downfall. The Movie Pass was a monthly plan that let you rent infinite movies (1, 2, or 3 at a time if I recall). You didn't even have to mail it and wait for the new one...take it back to the store and swap for another freebie right there.
They just didn't advertise it well. Mostly it was just people copying and burning DVD using it.
→ More replies2
u/Murgatroyd314 1d ago
It was successful enough that my local post office had a dedicated mail slot just for Netflix returns.
→ More replies30
u/jas75249 1d ago
They had a hard time getting the rentals back, wonder why.
12
u/AdSpeci 1d ago
Didn’t they switch to a monthly subscription model when they eliminated late fees?
Like sure, you could keep that VHS for as long as you want, but they’re going to bill you $9.99 a month for a tape that you could buy for $5.
24
u/sweetalkersweetalker 1d ago
For $5
Did you ever buy a new movie on tape back then? You're thinking of old movies in a Walmart bin. Before streaming really got going, buying DVDs and VHS of popular films wasn't cheap.
8
u/vindictivemonarch 1d ago edited 1d ago
also, there are more durable versions of video tapes and dvds that are for rental purposes. i worked in a library when i was a teenager. some of the tapes you got from the library cost $100 because they were designed to be viewed more often without breaking/degrading.
4
u/Dorf_On 1d ago
they charged like $80 or $90 for a lost tape.
Those are 1993 dollars. Thats like a 1/3 of a house.
→ More replies→ More replies2
u/BostonDodgeGuy 1d ago
VHS and DVDS back then were easily over $20 for the retail versions. If you wanted the industrial strength tape that was found in the rentable VHS you could expect to pay $100 or more.
5
u/ultratiem 1d ago
They’re late fees were absolutely some of the worst in the business. I remember fighting so many times with my local blockbuster about the fees and just ended using a small mom and pop shop as they didn’t care nearly as much if you brought it back an hour late.
Moreover, I do recall BB changing the fees after enough complaints to the $1 a day thing because it was insane before with fees working out to be much higher than the rental themselves.
Waiting on a murdered by words reply to BB
→ More replies2
u/1010101100111 1d ago
Honestly, late fees are the only thing that allowed me to watch the movies I was interested in. The number of weeks I tried to watch The Demolition Man after school, only to be told that someone didn't return it. I was really pissed. It was only when someone complained that nothing was done about late returns did they bother to put up huge signs about late fees. After that, it was pretty easy to watch movies.
11
u/auto_eliminated 1d ago
I remember there being a big FBI warning at the beginning of every VHS tape about unauthorized screening
8
5
→ More replies7
1d ago
[deleted]
9
u/dzlockhead01 1d ago
It literally says in the article you mentioned Blockbuster refused to carry the DIVX format.
→ More replies5
1.5k
u/acidicbreeze 2d ago
You should have bought Netflix when you had a chance and maybe we would be complaining about Blockbuster doing this account sharing bullshit.
327
u/trustworthy_widget 1d ago
Too bad for blockbuster
255
u/CheatMageLVL99 1d ago
Blockbuster was awful with charging fees by their end so I don’t feel bad at all.
173
u/powertripp82 1d ago
Yeah. People forget how shitty they got at the end. I’m extremely nostalgic for those Friday nights where I was allowed to get a video after school. But let’s be honest, they weren’t a good company
Also, if they had bought Netflix, Netflix wouldn’t exist as it does today. That’s a different timeline and we’ll never know how it would of gone
56
u/BrownShadow 1d ago
As bad as Blockbuster could be, I have fond memories. Me and my GF on a Friday picking out movies for the weekend. Then all the candy . So much candy. So much candy. Was a simpler time, the most stressful thing was writing a college paper last minute.
45
u/testreker 1d ago
I use to work there.
There's a real strong sense of nostalgia seeing a family come in every Friday, the parents walk the new release wall for the latest romcom (which probably had Jude law in it. At one point he had like 8 movies out in one year), kids run to the kids section and get the same movie they get every week.
When we were selling the popcorn we'd pop a box in the back room and the smell would sell em like hot cakes. Lol
7
u/ZlohV 1d ago
I remember renting the same 4 movies on a rotation. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Tommy Boy, and Black Sheep.
Eventually my mom said, "you know there's another movies you can rent right?" I stared at her with a blank expression and she goes, "alright, your call".
→ More replies→ More replies13
15
u/Distinct-Towel-386 1d ago
Blockbuster and chill.
14
6
u/ObiWanHelloThere_wav 1d ago
I've started going to my local library and checking out DVDs. It's free, and you have a lot of choices since there aren't many people watching DVDs anymore.
Granted, it's not the same exact vibe as going to Blockbuster, but there's something to be said about physically going somewhere and selecting a movie to watch together.
In fact, I actually canceled Netflix because of this password sharing thing, and I already don't miss it.
2
2
u/poorly-worded 1d ago
let's not underestimate how stressful it is writing a college paper last minute...
→ More replies2
24
u/miscdebris1123 1d ago
I'd be willing to sacrifice Netflix to have a shot at a better timeline than this...
15
7
3
u/kdjfsk 1d ago
Valve might have been the replacement. they ventured with digital distribution of music and movies. Steam could handle the backend for that flawlessly. it just never took off.
gamers largely prefer to play games over watching movies, shocker. they never really tried marketing outside their existing audience. if they had so much as ran a few commercials, it might have taken off.
→ More replies7
u/GothProletariat 1d ago
They ruined so many peoples credit score. Blockbuster was ruthless and not a company you would have wanted leading the streaming revolution.
→ More replies8
u/kdjfsk 1d ago
fuck, imagine not being able to buy your starter dream house at 26 because mom packed the 'Forrest Gump' VHS into your dorm footlocker when you were 18 and went to college out of state.
→ More replies6
15
u/s00pafly 1d ago
*would have
no need to spread this awful habit any further
→ More replies4
u/horriblemonkey 1d ago
Learn to spell, people. What have you got to loose?
3
u/MSPsubie07 1d ago
I'm genuinely curious why a lot of people misspell "Lose"......I'm also genuinely curious how the actual spell the word "Loose" then
→ More replies→ More replies3
u/Dont_Get_Me_Wet 1d ago
It would have been better for a few years. The name alone would have brought more companies to sign their license to stream their movies. Old Netflix that had a shitton of GOOD movies from a bunch of companies and absolutely no original content would have been even better...until companies started pulling out, limiting the selection of movies and tv shows until Netflix became a barren wasteland, and with Blockbuster refusing to produce original content:
But then it would have become 24 hr digital rentals where they charge you for not returning your digital rentals.
3
u/PM_ME_CUTE_FEMBOYS 1d ago
blockbuster also killed a lot of smaller neighborhood rental shops that were pretty much superior in every way to blockbuster.
→ More replies→ More replies4
u/WonderfulCattle6234 1d ago
And having their return cut off be noon or whatever was terrible as well. The town I grew up in didn't have a blockbuster and depending on the place our local rental places gave you until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.
→ More replies4
u/TheMoneyOfArt 1d ago
It was store opening iirc, but they had a night Dropbox. I don't remember it being a major problem.
→ More replies→ More replies6
60
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
19
u/princessParking 1d ago
Did you work for a family-owned video store or Family Video, the large chain of money-laundering-looking stores that somehow stayed alive for 10+ years into the streaming era?
5
u/rushmid 1d ago
I used to work for family videos off shoot conpany fiber isp. Funny thing is their mansion in Chicago is modeled after the playboy mansion.
→ More replies8
u/TheMoneyOfArt 1d ago
I would bet those family videos hung around in areas that didn't have a density of high speed internet users, or people with smart tvs.
Not every business dependent on people unlike you is doing something criminal.
7
u/MagnificentJake 1d ago
Despite having kind of dumb branding and every location coming off shady af, Family Video made some costly up-front but smart long-term decisions that helped them out for a while. One of the big ones is owning their real estate rather than having a collection of long term leases that would have to be re-negotiated.
→ More replies3
u/BiggestBossRickRoss 1d ago
The last one in my area just closed a year ago in a top 20 city in the US. I rarely saw anyone go in there. I think it was propped up by a big business that wanted the stores to stay open for nostalgia , Lowe’s maybe
→ More replies2
u/Fauropitotto 1d ago
blockbuster ran out of town
Unfair business practices or are we talking simple economies of scale here.
→ More replies→ More replies2
u/RepresentativeAny793 1d ago
This is a copy pasted comment from up in the parent comments from a different user.
Do with that info what you will.
45
u/thomascgalvin 1d ago
Nah, Blockbuster would have fucked up Netflix way faster than Netflix fucked up Netflix.
27
u/soft-wear 1d ago
Netflix really didn’t fuck up Netflix, all the content producers did. They all wanted that sweet monthly revenue, and created their own services so we could all have Cable TV version 2.0.
And now, once again, piracy will skyrocket because the suits never learn that if content is easy to access and reasonably priced people will pay for it. And they’ve managed to make it neither.
→ More replies3
u/Val_Hallen 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't get why people don't understand this.
Blockbuster went out of business for a reason. It's wasn't because they didn't buy Netflix. It was a mismanaged company that, like so many others, refused to modernize until it was too late.
Netflix would have ceased to exist. Period.
This "clever comeback" is like Circuit City telling Best Buy they are running their company wrong.
→ More replies2
u/JesterMarcus 1d ago
Right? I'm imagining somebody being buried alive taunting the guy with shovel by saying he's gonna hurt his back moving all that dirt. Like, yeah, maybe, but you're still 6 feet under.
→ More replies2
u/IronSeagull 1d ago
Blockbuster had a better version of Netflix than Netflix did (pre-streaming) if you watched a lot of movies. You could return your discs to the store and get a free in-store rental while they immediately mailed out the next disc in your queue.
7
u/Larimus89 1d ago
Typical big old corp to shitty to change and move with the times.. Once they get that big typically all the really intelligent and creative smart people leave due to idiot top levels and your left with people who haven’t got a clue.
It’s always a new company that comes through and creates the good new good shit.
5
u/CaptainBayouBilly 1d ago
There's a lifecycle to an innovative company. The latter stages where profits are prioritized above all else becomes the downward slide towards eventual failure.
→ More replies6
u/mmavcanuck 1d ago
Blockbuster was owned by Viacom. Viacom has paramount+
Essentially, Paramount+ is blockbuster streaming.
→ More replies6
u/lastdarknight 1d ago
hindsight is 20/20 at the time Netflix just wasn't a good investment, High speed internet really wasn't that common, and Blockbuster already had the rental market tied up
4
u/Forsaken-Society3524 1d ago
High speed Internet had nothing to do with it. Blockbuster turned down the Netflix purchase in 2000, long before they ever began streaming movies online.
→ More replies6
u/JustaRandomOldGuy 1d ago
If Blockbuster owned Netflix, there would be a rewind fee every time you streamed a movie.
3
u/MegalomaniacHack 1d ago
Blockbuster was too busy waiting on Enron--yes, that Enron--to develop a streaming business for them.
9
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/ErraticDragon 1d ago edited 1d ago
u/Correct_Impress_9788 is a karma-farming bоt.
In this case the bоt took the parent comment and ran it through an automated process to create a shorter, remixed version, in the hope that it would seem funny or poignant.
Parent:
You should have bought Netflix when you had a chance and maybe we would be complaining about Blockbuster doing this account sharing bullshit.
Modified:
You should have bought Netflix and maybe we'll complain about Blockbuster sharing this account
This fact, combined with the account's history, strongly points to bоt-hood. (The account is ~1mo old, but this is its only comment. No other history seems to have been deleted, since the account karma total matches this comment's karma.)
This type of bоt tries to gain karma to look legitimate and allow posting with fewer restrictions. Eventually they tend to edit scam/spam links into well-positioned comments.
If you'd like to report this kind of comment, click:
Report > Spam > Harmful bоts
→ More replies→ More replies2
u/JaySayMayday 1d ago
Isn't Blockbuster just like one shop run by chill dudes at this point? I don't think they were in on deciding to buy out Netflix.
→ More replies
291
u/Hotchi_Motchi 2d ago
I'll take "Where Are They Now" for 100, Alex
→ More replies126
u/Adept_Cranberry_4550 2d ago
Bend, Oregon. We've got the last one! I got to meet Kevin Smith when he was here doing his documentary for Netflix, lol.
14
u/spudsmuggler 1d ago
Hello fellow Bendite!
11
u/Adept_Cranberry_4550 1d ago
Doxed myself didn't I? Oh, well...
Howdy, Bendian!
→ More replies12
3
2
3
u/WhiteTrashNightmare 1d ago
In the early 2000s my ex and I were walking into a Blockbuster in Gresham when this dude comes barrelling out of the door and almost took us out.
They'd just been robbed.
3
u/Adept_Cranberry_4550 1d ago
Of what? Stale popcorn, pogs, and late fees?! I guess they are a 'soft target' but, c'mon!
2
2
u/tacotacosloth 1d ago edited 1d ago
One of our regulars came in on his motorcycle and had his face cover still on (we lived in the mountains), but I hadn't heard his bike or immediately recognize him and he thought it would be funny to throw out a "give me your money" at my counter as he walked in. Customers around me ducked down and I turned to go through the process they gave us as he just continued walking, laughing pulling his face covering down. He was so oblivious about what he had done that he never even paused as he went to stroll down the middle aisle. I had to go sit in the backroom for twenty minutes to calm down.
→ More replies2
2
116
u/Supersnazz 1d ago
They absolutely would have charged per viewer if they could have.
→ More replies19
55
u/No-Marzipan-2423 1d ago
but if you returned the video late they would put it on your CREDIT REPORT fuck blockbuster.
5
u/Friscogonewild 1d ago
Are you disputing their business model? It must have been best practice to charge heinous late fees and allow video sharing, otherwise they wouldn't be the billion dollar company they are today. /s
6
u/Joe_mommah_ 1d ago
Still.... idc what anyone says.
The Catalog of movies at blockbuster were way better than all these streaming services combined
→ More replies3
→ More replies3
u/iloveunoriginaljokes 1d ago
There has never in the history of Blockbuster been a derogatory remark on a credit report for just a movie that was returned late. That's not a thing that exists or ever existed.
It was a business and not a library which necessitates making money so they did charge late fees which you agreed to pay if you rented something. If you didn't pay the fee then then your debt was sold to a collections agency. And the agency would do as their name implies and try and collect the debt... which as a last resort involves filing notice with credit bureaus. I'm not defending debt collectors and the Blockbuster corporation was a shitshow, but the only way to frame the issue like you did requires a state of mind that you were entitled to just steal extra time with a rental and not pay a fee that you agreed to pay by virtue of renting from them. This isn't medical debt... it's a movie rental. There is a reason you had to be an adult and legally responsible to act like one if you had a membership.
→ More replies
182
u/tytymctylerson 1d ago
Why do we keep pretending that Blockbuster was the only video rental chain?
130
u/Shot-Increase-8946 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because it was the most popular national chain. I can't even think of another national video rental chain off the top of my head.
Edit: Okay so there are a couple, but Blockbuster was like the Starbucks of movie rental places.
111
u/Buelldozer Digital Janitor 1d ago
Hollywood Video was national IIRC.
40
u/BluBoi236 1d ago
When Hollywood Video went out of business in my home town they tore down the name signage on the side of the building. The leftover marks looked like "Hillywoo."
Ever since that day, my brother and I always referred to that franchise as Hillywoo.
7
1d ago
[deleted]
4
u/Segat1133 1d ago
Ours stood outside of a Kroger and the building remained unused for like 6 years until they finally just said fuck it and tore it down.
→ More replies2
2
→ More replies2
u/PM_ME_CUTE_FEMBOYS 1d ago
I'm convinced all mattress stores exists as laundering fronts.
You never see anyone go into the fucking things, yet they keep opening more of them.
I walked into one before covid hit and the lone employee there looked shocked that someone entered.
→ More replies4
u/StopReadingMyUser 1d ago
Reminds me of the 4th of July when my brother drove us through McDonalds and the L was missing.
How I know it was July 4th is simply because there were tons of people laid out on the grass outside waiting for fireworks and my brother thought it was funny. "What'd you do for the 4th of July Jim?" "Ahh I took the wife and kids to a special fireworks show. Right outside a fast food place directly in the dirt with nothing but apartments everywhere obscuring the view. Magical."
...so yeah now we call it McDonads
3
u/jondySauce 1d ago
We had a Hollywood Video/Game Crazy combination. Good times.
2
u/Annies_Boobs 1d ago
We had a dude that worked at the Game Crazy local to me everyone called Creepy Chris. Cool guy. Wonder what he’s up to these days.
→ More replies2
u/new_account_wh0_dis 1d ago
Yup gamestop moved into the same center literally next door but game crazy had an amazing used section. Gamestop was shit in comparison imo, didnt even have demos to play.
3
2
u/schmeebasaur 1d ago edited 1d ago
Used to bring all my games and cds to get the scratches buffed at the GameCrazy.
RIP Hollywood Video
→ More replies2
u/Schrutes_Yeet_Farm 1d ago
Family Video only died in my city because of covid. I would regularly rent video games from them up thru 2020
→ More replies9
u/Art-bat 1d ago
I always hated Blockbuster because they absorbed my regional video rental chain that I considered to be far superior to them in a number of ways. RIP Erol’s Home Video!
→ More replies5
1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
3
u/Art-bat 1d ago
Erol’s didn’t have a ton of obscure or artsy films, but they had a very broad selection, where they would carry at least one copy of virtually anything mainstream that was released on professional home video. I remember renting tapes of the old Beany and Cecil cartoon from the 60s, and various old films from the 50s through 70s. They were relatively mainstream films, but not blockbusters necessarily. But stuff like “Used Cars” or “Kentucky Fried Movie” or “Soylent Green.”
A lot of that kind of stuff just wasn’t available anymore once they became Blockbuster. It was all about having 30 copies of Face/Off or Bad Boys or The Bodyguard. The “back catalog” tended to feature mostly really famous old films like the Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur, or Singing in the Rain. And that’s if you were lucky. Often times it mostly just seem to be a bunch of dregs like forgettable late 80s - early 90s movies.
→ More replies5
u/MAR82 1d ago
I remember Erol’s and Hollywood Video being options, all the small mom and pop video rental shops (I know you said chains, but with so many of them it was almost like a mom and pop chain…)
2
u/Shot-Increase-8946 1d ago
This is what I remember. Blockbuster was the chain that everyone knew about because there was like 3 in every town but most of the other ones were mom and pop
3
u/Savings-Spirit-3702 1d ago
We had one called Choices in the uk,
→ More replies2
u/wbgraphic 1d ago
When it went out of business, a gay bar could have opened in that space without changing the signs.
2
u/autographking 1d ago
The top three were blockbuster, Hollywood video, and movie gallery.
Knapp Video was on the level of movie gallery, but mainly stuck with the east coast until movie gallery bought them out, and that pushed movie gallery into the number 2 position behind blockbuster.
2
u/chetlin 1d ago
I remember hating the Movie Gallery logo. It was something like MO>IE Gallery right?
→ More replies→ More replies2
16
u/eetsbeets 1d ago
I know, it's like nobody remembers the 2nd largest video chain in North America, Rose Video. I'll never forget their section dedicated to Sunrise Bay, great show. Rose Video CEO is even married to television's mom, Moira Rose!
13
u/Ambitious5uppository 1d ago
Because it was the worlds largest chain, and the one everyone recognises?
In the US blockbuster was the largest, with the second largest being Hollywood Video...
But Blockbuster was also in, The UK, Australia, Germay, Brazil, Japan, Spain, etc etc etc etc.
Not only that, but it was also the largest chain or one of the largest chains in many of the individual countries it operated in.
It's also the one that collapsed in the most spectacular way.
Most just quietly got smaller and went out of business one by one, whereas Blockbuster went bust and dramatically shuttered almost overnight, with just some franchises carrying on independently for a while.
You could say that Blockbuster, was the McDonald's of video rental.
→ More replies4
3
u/Dangerous_Effort3355 1d ago
We got our rentals from Video World + next to the liquor store.
→ More replies3
u/BonerSoupAndSalad 1d ago
In my town it was the shittiest rental place and I think it only lasted a few years. They had the best selection of newer movies but their fees were brutal.
3
3
→ More replies3
u/robotempire 1d ago
Why do we keep pretending that anyone is pretending Blockbuster was the only video rental chain?
89
u/deleeeeeeeeeted 2d ago
Although I appreciate this clever social media post, Blockbuster, you're like an ex-partner we haven't been around for a long time. We see them and forget all the shit we hated, we get back together, and then poof, right back to why we left in the first place.
You know it, too, Blockbuster. Get out of here. You aren't Wendy's.
34
u/autographking 1d ago
Seriously. As someone who worked in a family video rental store that blockbuster ran out of town, and then worked for a large video rental chain that blockbuster also ran out of business, I couldn't believe the level of nostalgia wanking blockbuster was getting last year.
They seemed to make it a personal goal to destroy anyone in the same business as them, and the ironic part was the blockbusters that put both my stores out of business shuttered less than 6 months after the last place I worked closed down. Had blockbuster never opened I'd bet my shirt the family place I worked for would've had another decade serving the community. They knew they were imploding as a company but still went out of their way to take us down with them.
Fuck blockbuster. Me and all my homies hate them.
11
u/runujhkj 1d ago edited 1d ago
If it makes you feel any better, a good chunk of that nostalgia wanking from last year was coming from a particular subset of stock market gamblers who’ve been left holding the bag for like three years, desperately hoping some company they recognize will reverse a slide into irrelevance so the gamblers can ride the gravy train.
→ More replies→ More replies4
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 1d ago
It’s like watching You’ve Got Mail and realizing Fox Books (stand in for Barnes & Noble) is the underdog now in the online shopping landscape.
But it doesn’t change the fact that they put small bookstores out of business and no amount of nostalgia can change that!
→ More replies3
u/autographking 1d ago
Watching the Blockbuster documentary all I could think was "everything everyone is saying applies to pretty much every mom and pop rental place that existed in the 80s and 90s."
I feel like it wasn't a nostalgia driven documentary about blockbuster, it was a nostalgia driven documentary about renting movies that just happened to use "Blockbuster" as a place holder name for rental places in general.
8
u/HotRodNoob 1d ago
nah man, blockbuster isn’t the ex. They’re the drunk crazy old man at the end of the bar who at one point was a war hero or shark hunter or something but is now just the sorta respected town drunk who’s insults still burn. like the captain guy in jaws or Mike Earmantraut in the better call saul flashbacks
2
u/Doctor_Juris 1d ago
Exactly. And just out of curiosity I went and looked up the old Blockbuster TOS for its DVD by mail service. Leo and behold, the TOS only permit personal use of the rented DVDs.
2
u/Successful_Jeweler69 1d ago
Exactly. I know of the owner of a video store chain that named his yacht “Late Fees.”
→ More replies2
u/jooes 1d ago
"I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing."
The zinger doesn't really mean so much when Netflix mopped the absolute fuck out of Blockbuster.
Netflix never chewed me out for forgetting to rewind a tape either, Blockbuster. They never charged me up the ass for late fees. They never made me wait in line to watch a movie.
And it was like 5 bucks to rent a movie too. Oh boy, I can share it with my friends? Who fucking cares, man. Even if you have to pay for multiple Netflix subscriptions, you're still coming out ahead by a long shot. You can watch more than one thing, and that monthly fee lasts you, well, an entire month... Wanna talk about that, Blockbuster? Am I allowed to bring my tape back when I finished it and swap out for a new one? No? Oh, well, how's about you shut the fuck up, then.
→ More replies
29
u/tonezone78 1d ago
Yeah those late fees were borderline criminal
→ More replies2
u/GinsuVictim 1d ago
I was a manager at Hastings Books and Music. Name aside, we had a huge selection of movies and games for rent. We encouraged people to return their movies the next day by having an early return reward. You had five days to return a rental, but if you had it back the next day, you received a dollar credit on your account. Some people would save them up, then when their kids would come to rent, they could just use the credit. It was a great incentive to return the movies the next day and allowed us to have our stock replenish quickly when a new release was popular.
→ More replies
6
u/ElementalSaber 1d ago
Be Kind and Rewind was the only policy. It was an unspoken rule but most customers did this. I'm old enough to remember rewinding a VHS tape.
24
u/primera89 1d ago
“As long as you returned it on time.”
“And even then we didn’t care that much.”
→ More replies17
4
3
u/lionhart280 1d ago
I mean, if blockbuster let you pay a monthly fee for unlimited rentals, but then you started sharing your membership card with like 4 other people so you and 3 different families all strolled into blockbuster to rent a bunch shit for free alevery single month, I 100% bet they also would have cracked down on that and required matching ID to use the membership.
→ More replies
5
u/King_wulfe 1d ago
Email came out and I instantly canceled my subscription with Netflix. It was time anyways, too expensive and the shows really aren’t that great
→ More replies3
u/jyunga 1d ago
I feel like there are too many English alternatives now for Netflix to stay viable. They'll have their exclusive shows like Stranger Things,etc in the future, but too many other companies are starting to dip into online distribution. I only use Netflix for Korea shows now after loving Squid Games. Luckily Korean content is very abundant and Netflix is adding it constantly. I really don't see Netflix holding on in the future though.
→ More replies
12
u/Ok_Calligrapher_8199 1d ago
This is not comparable. Saying they were cool with you copying the tapes and redistributing is closer. They were not okay with that. Brands aren’t your friends and they never were.
3
u/bullsbullsbulls 1d ago
How is that closer? That would be more akin to screen recording a Netflix show and uploading it as a torrent file.
Sharing your password does not increase the number of viewable screens, just like a video tape can only be viewed on one screen at a time. Nobody is sharing their password with complete strangers. Just like a rented video, you are giving it to someone you know.
2
u/TimeRocker 1d ago
Because it cuts into their profits. Instead of those people paying for their own account, one person pays for it and everyone else gets to have it without paying. It's the EXACT same thing.
If someone rents a video, they cannot give it to 10 friends or family to watch simultaneously. One person can have it at a time. If Blockbuster allowed one person to rent a movie for the regular price but then gave out a bunch of other movies to people at no charge because they were there with their friend, they would have gone out of business real quick.
2
u/HugePurpleNipples 1d ago
That’s funny because I remember the FBI rebroadcast warning in the beginning.
→ More replies
13
5
u/ConstructionNo4340 1d ago
And if you returned it even one day late ... you will need to refinance your home to make due
•
u/TheGreatZarquon Complaint Department 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dear Blockbuster:
I rented a copy of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the Nintendo 64 from the Blockbuster store in Hibbing, MN on December 17, 1997. I still have it. If I have done my math correctly, I currently owe approximately
$4,380almost $10,000 at $1/day for late fees. Sorry about that. The next time I happen to be in Bend, Oregon I will return your copy of the game complete with late fees.My apologies for contributing to your eventual downfall.
-TGZ
(Edit: location)