Reports have emerged that another high street chain – video (and video games, of course) retailer Blockbuster – is about to (or, indeed, already has) enter administration. It’s a worrying time for the UK economy, especially the brick and mortar stores.
Sky News – the first to report this – is claiming that the company has “collapsed” and has called in the administrators today. Another source says that there were already plans to close 150 stores over the next six months.
[drop2]Blockbuster is apparently stuck with huge amounts of stock it’s not finding easy to shift and is unable to attract new releases.Sky says that Deloitte are the administrators. “We are working closely with suppliers and employees to ensure the business has the best possible platform to secure a sale, preserve jobs and generate as much value as possible for all creditors,” said a spokesperson.
“The core of the business is still profitable and we will continue to trade as normal in both retail and rental whilst we seek a buyer for all or parts of the business as a going concern.”
“During this time gift cards and credit acquired through Blockbuster’s trade-in scheme will be honoured towards the purchase of goods.” This is in contrast to the situation at HMV, where gift cards are not being honoured.
The company currently employs around 4,000 people across 500 stores.
It’s been a terrible week on the high street – giant HMV entered administration yesterday leaving very few places to pick up video games, music and movies outside of online.
hazelam
i thought they went bankrupt a few years ago.
Bilbo_bobbins
me too. Can’t say i will miss them to be honest
Bilbo_bobbins
Blockbuster are a waste of space and have been for years. Infact I thought they had shut down anyway as there aren’t any near where I live. Still not good news, but again it creates space for new business to thrive
The Lone Steven
Yay! Another company going bust thus leaving room for yet another coffee shop,charity or supermarket. :-/ I hope BB won’t go bankrupt as they are fairly decent. Why do i suspect in 5 years time the high street will just be overpriced coffee shops,charity shops and supermarkets? :S
cc_star
Because the high street offers nothing that’s worth paying the premium for over online.
Parking hassle & expense, queues, often ignorant, miserable, unhelpful & useless staff
There’s no reason why the high street can’t work. Price isn’t the only buying decision, people regularly pay premiums when the service or experience they receive ‘add value’
Blockbuster was staffed by many brain dead morons, Blockbuster had trouble after they bought Choices Video a few years back and were stuck with stores they didn’t want… And along with Sky going from strength to strength and lower cost rivals like LOVEFiLM & Netflix they had less than no chance if their business model didn’t ‘add value’ to the sale to make it worthwhile choosing them over other companies.
I worked in retail for a long time, I managed in retail for quite a while and I managed retail managers for a long time, it’s tough out there, even in ‘boom years’ it’s what you add every sale, every day, every week & every year that makes the difference and keeps people coming back & in turn telling more people.
I haven’t seen one business in trouble or closing that gets these basics right, everyone in trouble needs to have worked far harder.
wonkey-willy
oh dear i got a free voucher for some maltesers…
reckon i be putting that in the bin than..
is it any surprise their rental prices were ridiculous..and basically love film cornered the online rental..
shame really their marketplace wasn’t too shabby!
Starman
Interesting they say the core business is still profitable, I think with some reorganization it can still continue. For me the advantage it has over game & hmv is the late opening times and bigger selection than supermarkets. Though the tradein prices seem to have plummeted recently.
cc_star
Yes it is interesting, perhaps a buyer will be able to come in, cherry pick the good stores & good staff and make a go of it
Starman
Yeah hopefully, I get a lot of new releases from BB when I know the supermarket won’t be stocking them.
Your mention of them buying out Choices reminds me of Game buying out Gamestation, both left the buyers with stores near to each other & eventually shutting some.
ABlokeCalledDaz
I’ve bought quite a few preowned/ex rentals from there over the years – still did at Xmas but a sad day, lots of staff with jobs at risk.
Hopefully someone can retain a portion of the business and carry on once the dust clears.
Sympozium
Yeah… its sad, this all thanks to the online world :(
yiddo
The online world which is cheaper and much more efficient.
E8_BALL_
or world governments?
Sympozium
…I can see Xtravision being next soon, its bound to happen…..
Awayze
Who’s next?
bunimomike
Our Price?
E8_BALL_
15yrs in retail. 3yrs in household cavalry & 1yr after being made redundant, even my applications for stacking shelves are being rejected. This economy is surely at a breaking point:(
Stop imigration first step? I can see civil war, if it all crashes down.
The Lone Steven
We can’t stop immigrantion because everyone has a right to move to another country and the EU would come down on us hard if we did stop it. But we should sort out the ecomony, force councils to implent a profit to rent ratio. The more profitiable your bussiness is, the higher the rent is, i am aware some companies would be put off but it would be a lot fairer on small companies as they won’t have to pay that much for rent at first. You are bloody luck to find shelf stacking jobs as there are feck all around here! :( I hate this country and Cameron. And the Welsh :-p