Blockbuster UK insists it's unaffected by the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of its US parent, and has revealed its business plan for the next fives years, which includes selling televisions and relocating stores.
Commercial boss Gerry Butler told MCV of the US biz: "Blockbuster isn't a bad business, it just has a lot of debt. The debt got to $990 million and at some stage you've got to tackle that. Now the Chapter 11 allows the guys some opportunities to refinance the business.
"Now, its European subsidiaries have no debt," he continued. "The UK business is substantially up year-on-year - the UK operation is sitting on over £50m of net assets. It is an extremely well-funded, cash-generative business. Our core rental business is up six per cent, primarily down to Blu-ray.
"The problem in the UK is that people mention Chapter 11 and they say 'Are you closing down?' No, it's absolutely rubbish."
As part of its new business plan, Blockbuster UK will begin selling mobiles, iPods and TVs, and move many of its stores to prominent High Street locations.
"We are becoming more than just a rental firm, we are becoming a company of supplying entertainment needs," said Butler. "At the moment we are testing sales of TVs in 35 shops."
mmmmmm....you mean you don't. The guy said rental business is up 6%. So yeah... they do
I think its great to hear about a business in the UK doing well. theyt are diversifying to ensure that if anything does happen with the rental market, then they have spread their risk.
It's pretty obvious that people still rent... hence Sky Box Office, BT Vision, and oh yeah... that's right Love Film. And unless its a knock off recording, you won't get something new for a fiver.
My mate works at blockie's and he says they are doing better buisness now than they have for several years, its most likely because of gaming companies putting the price of software up so alot of people would prefer to rent a game they will only play through once rather than pay £40 for it, for example i'll be renting the new castlevania as i will most likely only play it once so its not worth me paying full price for it when i can just rent it, finish it and then return it for a fraction of the price.
I dont rele rent movies anymore but i do use my blockbuster to buy the classic dvds for like £3-6 quid and also they often have pre owned games for good prices. I jus dont want blockbuster to become like a cex because cex take phones and cex is now a smelly dive full of thieves and stolen stuff
i dont play online so i will always go to blockbusters £5.99 or 2 for a tenner to rent and keep for a week for me is a bargain, recently most campains have only been 10 hours or so (kane and lynch 2 was pathetic). however if a game like rdr,gta or a mass effect i will pay full retail because for me its valuw for money.
While it's never good to see a business in trouble, Blockbusters just can't compete anymore. Be it from the wide array of demos available, competition from the vastly better value LoveFilm or cheap DVDs from the internet, Blockbusters don't compare with their expensive rentals. Rather than renting from Blockbusters, I could go on eBay and bid on something. Even if it's twice the price of a rental, I'd still say that's preferable to renting something I'll have to return in 3 days or in a week. In the US, there is a service called RedBox ($1/DVD with no late fees to rent) - if that comes to the UK then god help Blockbusters.
I don't think Blockbusters will be around much longer. The one in my town seems to sell more sweets than rentals.
As an ex-employee I will go on record to say Blockbusters is one of the worst companies to work for. I hope they go under and it looks like I got out at a good time. Blockbuster employees are underpaid and overworked as it is, now they're going to be getting them to sell mobiles and tvs too?
The store I worked in, and numerous ones I've been in around the country are a right sorry state. No money has gone back into the business to improve working conditions or to make the store look anything other than a charity shop. My store didn't have any drinking water and in the summer the stores were stifling due to the lack of air conditioning. When it became a big problem the powers that be said that we could write off a bottle of blockbuster cola a day. Not only was this excess stock that was going out of date anyway but as anyone with half a brain cell knows caffeine is a diuretic and exasperates the problem. c**ts.
I went into the Portswood store the other day and they even had some really really badly done home made POS hanging over a table with pages from game magazines sellotaped on to advertise their midnight opening 'game nights' They were £2 entry.
Less people rent movies from blockbuster. You can rent movies off the net now on loads of platforms (Xboxs, Skyboxs, Some new TVs have it built in) so they need to adapt or go out of biz like the US arm. If you rent games there are much better, cheaper services out there!
nobody rents movies anymore. why pay 6 pounds to rent a film for the weekend when you can just buy the film for 5 pounds and have it forever?
What planet are you on? Not £ucking earth thats what I say, its not actually £6, if your gonna post, know what your posting about numpty. Its £4.95 for a rentaL. £5 for a new release, not even standard DVD's are £5 new. i dont £ucking think so....I actually use blockbuster alot, they sometimes have brilliant games on reduction, you just need to be there at the right time. I also think there 3 for £10 on blu ray is a brilliant deal at the mo. I have bought over 30 Blu rays that I want to keep, but some you just want to watch and its a good option.
While it's never good to see a business in trouble, Blockbusters just can't compete anymore. Be it from the wide array of demos available, competition from the vastly better value LoveFilm or cheap DVDs from the internet, Blockbusters don't compare with their expensive rentals. Rather than renting from Blockbusters, I could go on eBay and bid on something. Even if it's twice the price of a rental, I'd still say that's preferable to renting something I'll have to return in 3 days or in a week. In the US, there is a service called RedBox ($1/DVD with no late fees to rent) - if that comes to the UK then god help Blockbusters.
I don't think Blockbusters will be around much longer. The one in my town seems to sell more sweets than rentals.
I have shelves full of dvd's that I wanted to keep. Don't want to loose any more space, so I rent things instead. Rented all the Lost, Family Guy and 24 box sets that would have cost a lot of money to buy and taken up space for something you usually only watch once. Sorted
The only way street retailers are going to beat off the online ones is by dropping their prices. And since they have rent and other overheads to cover, the online stores will always come out on top.
Selling phones and TVs is fine, but if that same item is £50 cheaper at Amazon or wherever, what's the point? Also, think about who buys these products. New mobiles are usually for people with some kind of tech savvy. Those without will make do with whatever ancient phone they already have. And tech savvy folks will check prices.
Maybe drop in some kind of loyalty reward scheme, make people think they're getting a better deal in the long run. But don't just start overcharging on a new range of products.
we have a pretty decent sized blockbuster in our town on same complex as the cinema and theres harldy ever anyone in it even at peak times. instead of premium prices on a weekend they need special offers to, daft enuff, compete with shows liek teh x-factor during months that folk are actually gonna be sitting in home to watch a film. large percenrage of folk will now either download a film either from a torrent site or from xbox/ps3/sky and there is also a lot of competition from online rental places for bout £10-£15 for unlimited rentals each month, compared to £5 for coupel days at blockbuster and i dont think selling larger value goods liek TV will do any good. if peopel want a tv they wont instantly think blockbuster. they think currys, tesco, asda. when u pop to a blockbuster you dont have £200-£500 on you, you grab a tenner for rental and maybe pick up sum snacks but even then they are overpriced, if anything i'd say this time next year it'll be another brand struggling for a buyer to get it oiut dumps or its be shut here too
The reason theyre doing well is they get their employees to up sell EVERYTHING and give no incentive whatsoever oh apart from the hourly minimum wage they HAVE to pay them other than that they really dont care about their employees.
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