In a decision that became inevitable as soon as the company declared bankruptcy in 2010, all because you never paid your late fees for Braveheart, Blockbuster Video has announced that it will shutter all 300 or so of its remaining retail stores, in addition to ending its DVD-by-mail distribution service. “This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” said DISH president Joseph P. Clayton, in a statement we were pretty sure was dated 2007, but nope, it says right there, “2013.”
DISH, which purchased Blockbuster in 2011—likely because its aunt gave it a gift certificate—says it will now shift focus to maintaining the Blockbuster brand through its “digital offerings,” which include the Blockbuster @Home channel for DISH subscribers, the Blockbuster On Demand streaming service, and the middle finger Blockbuster offers Netflix and Amazon as the once-great empire fades into history, its legacy of hostile takeovers and driving independent stores out of business now being karmically revisited upon it.
Anyway, those who still have a Blockbuster Video near them should have a pretty good liquidation sale coming up. “And as a reminder, we also have those big bags of Twizzlers,” Clayton did not add in his statement, because if it didn’t save the company before, it’s too late now.