Rockntractor
09-23-2010, 11:04 PM
By Jack Z. Smith
jzsmith@star-telegram.com
Dallas-based Blockbuster, once the undisputed king of the video rental business, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Thursday but said its 3,300 U.S. stores will remain open -- at least for now.
The company, which traces its beginnings to a store in Dallas that opened in 1985, sought to reassure customers by stressing that it "intends to continue honoring its Rewards program, valid coupons, gift cards and other customer programs." It has numerous stores in North Texas and derives most of its income from movie and video game rentals.
"It's going to be business as usual," said Max Fisher, 25, an employee of a large Blockbuster store at Camp Bowie Boulevard and Bryant Irvin Road in west Fort Worth. He said the store draws substantial numbers of regular customers from a broad area because of its expansive selection of movies and games and long-standing location at the busy intersection.
While Blockbuster has struggled against innovative competitors such as Netflix and Redbox, it still has loyal customers such as Hugo Pulido, 19, of Fort Worth, a restaurant cook who said he regularly patronizes the store in the 2000 block of West Berry Street in the Texas Christian University area.
Pulido said he plans to keep coming to the store "as long as it's open." If it were shut down, "I'd do Netflix, I guess," he said.
The company has lost more than $4 billion since 2002 and closed more than 1,000 stores in the past two years in a struggle for survival. Blockbuster has about 25,500 employees, including 7,500 full-time workers.
Longtime TCU finance professor Stan Block said he thinks Blockbuster "can survive in the digital age" if it develops "new products and new ways of doing things."
Block expects Blockbuster will shut down at least 1,000 of its more than 5,000 stores worldwide.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/23/2491518/blockbuster-aims-to-retrench-in.html
They charged too much at their stores around here.
jzsmith@star-telegram.com
Dallas-based Blockbuster, once the undisputed king of the video rental business, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Thursday but said its 3,300 U.S. stores will remain open -- at least for now.
The company, which traces its beginnings to a store in Dallas that opened in 1985, sought to reassure customers by stressing that it "intends to continue honoring its Rewards program, valid coupons, gift cards and other customer programs." It has numerous stores in North Texas and derives most of its income from movie and video game rentals.
"It's going to be business as usual," said Max Fisher, 25, an employee of a large Blockbuster store at Camp Bowie Boulevard and Bryant Irvin Road in west Fort Worth. He said the store draws substantial numbers of regular customers from a broad area because of its expansive selection of movies and games and long-standing location at the busy intersection.
While Blockbuster has struggled against innovative competitors such as Netflix and Redbox, it still has loyal customers such as Hugo Pulido, 19, of Fort Worth, a restaurant cook who said he regularly patronizes the store in the 2000 block of West Berry Street in the Texas Christian University area.
Pulido said he plans to keep coming to the store "as long as it's open." If it were shut down, "I'd do Netflix, I guess," he said.
The company has lost more than $4 billion since 2002 and closed more than 1,000 stores in the past two years in a struggle for survival. Blockbuster has about 25,500 employees, including 7,500 full-time workers.
Longtime TCU finance professor Stan Block said he thinks Blockbuster "can survive in the digital age" if it develops "new products and new ways of doing things."
Block expects Blockbuster will shut down at least 1,000 of its more than 5,000 stores worldwide.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/23/2491518/blockbuster-aims-to-retrench-in.html
They charged too much at their stores around here.