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A look inside the last Blockbuster video store in America
https://www.nola.com/ ^ | 7/14/18

Posted on 07/15/2018 3:40:22 PM PDT by BBell

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To: dinodino
The consensus seems to be “that ship sailed”.
21 posted on 07/15/2018 4:15:12 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: usconservative

There’s not enough of us who care but if you want high quality you still need DVD’s (blu Ray). Streaming is heavily compressed and the Audio Quality is much lower. If you want a true 4K picture you cannot do it with a stream it will be compressed. It takes a constant high speed connection and you better not have a data cap. A 4K stream is about the same picture quality as a 1080 blu Ray with nowhere as good Audio. Netflix charges more for 4k and now they are going to charge more for HDR.


22 posted on 07/15/2018 4:18:41 PM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: BBell

When I was still stationed in North Dakota they opened 80 miles away in Fargo, along with a Sam’s Club. We used to drive there and shop. At the same time K Mart opened their Builders Square stores to compete with the Menard’s (there were no Lowe’s or Home Depots up there at that time).

After our first visit to Walmart my wife and I talked about how it seemed to be a lower quality Meijer’s, which was based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I found out Sam Walton got his start at Meijer’s and broke out on his own.

Too bad the Builders Squares didn’t find a way to compete with Menard’s, Home Depot, and Lowe’s as we liked their offerings. Also, I think being owned by K Mart didn’t help.


23 posted on 07/15/2018 4:19:23 PM PDT by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
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To: BBell

Blockbuster and Hollywood video had a better selection than Netflix. You could also rent games from Netflix, which isn’t possible online. You either buy it or you don’t.


24 posted on 07/15/2018 4:35:01 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Oops, I meant, rent games from Hollywood video and blockbuster.


25 posted on 07/15/2018 4:35:27 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

I never find anything worth watching at the Redbox myself.


26 posted on 07/15/2018 4:40:19 PM PDT by BBell (Antifa are like house cats. One squirt from a squirt bottle and they scatter.)
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To: BBell

I always enjoyed going to Blockbuster and other video stores. Of course, I haven’t been to one in twenty years. Time marches on!


27 posted on 07/15/2018 4:43:54 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: BBell

Our town has a Family Video/Marco’s Pizza that seems to be doing all right. I believe it is pretty much a Midwest operation.


28 posted on 07/15/2018 4:47:06 PM PDT by hanamizu
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To: BBell
Blockbuster ....text book examples of running a very large successful business into the ground because of lack of foresight.

How do they compete with my library that offers DVDs for free if I merely have the patience to wait till they're available to me?

All I have to do is wait till the library receives the DVD then reserve it and be placed on a waiting list. Once my reservation comes up, I receive an email telling me I can come in and pick it up.........

Blockbuster or Redbox can't even come close to that........

29 posted on 07/15/2018 4:59:06 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (I once found a needle in a haystack but it wasn't the one I was looking for...)
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To: Hot Tabasco
How do they compete with my library that offers DVDs for free if I merely have the patience to wait till they're available to me?

That's pretty smart. Maybe I'll give that a try.

30 posted on 07/15/2018 5:02:18 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

There is also https://www.store-3d-blurayrental.com/
They rent 4k movies and games. No membership required and a pretty good selection. I have used them 2 years no complaints


31 posted on 07/15/2018 5:05:29 PM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: gibsonguy

Oh wow, thanks!


32 posted on 07/15/2018 5:07:52 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Southside_Chicago_Republican

I really enjoyed going to the video store when my kids were young. Nice thing to do on a week night.


33 posted on 07/15/2018 5:09:15 PM PDT by BBell (Antifa are like house cats. One squirt from a squirt bottle and they scatter.)
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To: BBell
Another reason Blockbuster failed is a lesson to the $15 per hour crowd. The Redbox kiosk eliminates +95% of the labor cost.
34 posted on 07/15/2018 5:25:07 PM PDT by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the 0zarks)
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To: OldMissileer

“I remember buying a DVD player sometime back in the very late 1990’s and there was a coupon for the new Netflix. I was a bit leery about it so I never joined but as Netflix grew I often wondered why Blockbuster didn’t try to do something about the competition. Redbox too.”

Oh Blockbuster was way stupider then that.
I first heard of Netflix by getting a coupon for it AT THE LOCAL BLOCKBUSTER.


35 posted on 07/15/2018 5:27:10 PM PDT by Kozak (DIVERSITY+PROXIMITY=CONFLICT)
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To: BBell

I hated their late fees.


36 posted on 07/15/2018 5:29:44 PM PDT by moovova
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans
Here's a link to my public library:

Macomb Public Library

All you have to do is search for whatever DVD or CD you are looking for and if they have it, you can reserve it. For new releases you may have to wait a while before your turn comes up to take it out. But they notify you via email when it's available then all you have to do is go to the library and pick it up from the shelf that holds all the reserved books, dvd's and cd's..........

Typically the library will get the new DVD's as soon as they're released and you have to make sure you access their website as soon as possible or else you're way down the list for the DVD reservation.

What I do is reserve a DVD and when I finally get it, I bring it home and make a copy of it for my use and watch it some time in the future and take the original back to the library........

37 posted on 07/15/2018 5:32:15 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (I once found a needle in a haystack but it wasn't the one I was looking for...)
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To: SpaceBar
If Blockbuster knew which way was up, they’d assemble an emergency task force of IT professionals, and rebuild their business model from the ground up, leveraging all that high speed digital technology has to offer, and throw in some new feature or twist that Netflix doesn’t have. A longshot but pretty much their only route to survival.

I worked with a guy who had once worked at Blockbuster in their IT department. He said they had already developed a Netflix like service even before Netflix existed and were practically ready to go into production when top management killed the project.

38 posted on 07/15/2018 5:48:29 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Drew68

Gene Wilder died?
.........................

Don’t even think of telling me Marty Feldman is gone.


39 posted on 07/15/2018 5:49:20 PM PDT by bramps (It's the Islam, stupid!)
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To: gibsonguy
One of my pet peeves is that with all the tech going into video streaming, which does produce great video, the audio sucks. Netflix or Amazon video or you name it-- the audio is 1950's drive in movie quality. I use closed captions just so I don't have to turn the volume up to earsplitting levels to make out the fuzzy speech. but it isn't always available.
40 posted on 07/15/2018 6:06:14 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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