Blockbuster Shuts Its Doors After Being Disrupted to Death
RIP. (Photo: Flickr)
Well, look at what you did Netflix. Blockbuster announced today it's shuttering its retail stores and ending its home delivery service. The closure of the approximately 300 storefronts and distribution centers will be completed by the end of January 2014, a press release said.
The Blockbuster brand has been slowly evaporating under the control of its parent company Dish Network. Last year, it shuttered 1,500 stores and tried pivoting to home delivery and DVD kiosks to better compete with Netflix and Redbox, respectively. The brand wasn't completely executed as its streaming service, Blockbuster @Home, will remain active.
Calling this "not an easy decision," Dish CEO Joseph Clayton said customer demand of streaming entertainment rather than leaving your couch and going outside was to blame.
“Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings," he said in a release.
We guess it's too late to go into the original content model, huh?
