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May 31, 2024 · Let's dive in to all of this with a brief history of Blockbuster Video, from its earliest days in Texas to its worldwide expansion, billions of dollars in revenue, and eventual bankruptcy.
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- Jeff Rauseo
Nov 29, 2023 · The Birth of Blockbuster: Founded in 1985 by David Cook in Dallas, Texas, Blockbuster Video revolutionized the way people consumed movies. With its distinctive blue and yellow signage,...
- The First Blockbuster Store Opened Because of Falling Oil Prices.
- Blockbuster Was The First Video Store to Keep Tapes on Shelves.
- Blockbuster Abstained from Porn.
- Blockbuster Was Sued by Nintendo.
- Blockbuster Made A Fortune on Late Fees.
- Blockbuster Tried Becoming A Mini-Amusement Park.
- Blockbuster Music Stores Banned Male Employees from Having Long Hair.
- Blockbuster Got Exclusive Rights to Some Movies.
- Blockbuster Advertised on Dry Cleaning Hangers.
- Blockbuster Turned Down Netflix.
Dallas, Texas entrepreneur David Cook was still smarting from a collapsed oil market in 1985 when his wife, Sandy, broached the idea of opening up a video store. Cook had been writing computer programs to manage inventory for big oil businesses, but a market collapseled to a stack of unpaid invoices. At the same time, the VHS rental market was expl...
Getty Rental stores of the 1980s had a problem: Patrons who enjoyed movies but didn’t enjoy paying for them had a habit of relieving owners of their inventory. To discourage theft, an empty VHS box would sit on the shelf and an exchange would be made at the counter. But because Blockbuster’s inventory was so vast—the Cooks began with 8000 to 10,000...
Unlike many mom-and-pop shops that had a neon sign and a set of swinging doors that led to an adult selection of titles, the Cooks decided early on that Blockbuster would be a genital-free zone. It wasn’t a moral issue for them: “We don’t care if people watch pornography,” Cook told Business Week. “We just don’t want to sell it to you. A lot of fam...
It was inevitable that Blockbuster and other video chains would capitalize on the resurgence of video games in the 1980s by renting out popular titles. Mario and Link, however, were not willing to cooperate: Sticking to its reputation for stern business, Nintendo sued the company in 1989 for copyright infringement, complaining that stores were phot...
Getty It’s difficult to lose money gambling on the over-booked, overworked American consumer, and Blockbuster was no exception. The company profited enormously from late fees, which accrued after the one- or three-day rental term had expired. In 2000, $800 million, or 16 percent of total revenue, came from fines. After the company revamped its poli...
Though he eventually turned the company over to other investors, Cook anticipated the idea that Blockbuster could become more than just a rental outfit when he named the company Blockbuster Entertainment in 1985. In 1994, executives tried to make good on the label by opening a center dubbed the Blockbuster Block Party in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sp...
Getty Images Starting in 1994, male employees working for the Blockbuster Music spin-off stores were told that long hair and earrings were banned. (According to Billboard magazine, their hair could be "no more than 2 inches past their collars.") A number of workers who refused to comply and were terminated wound up suing; the case was loston appeal...
In the 1990s, some titles, like Lolita (1997), were exclusiveto the chain, leaving smaller shops unable to secure them for their own inventory and prompting some to buy from wholesalers who ignored the exclusivity rules.
Sensing a missed opportunity to capture the attention of dry-cleaning customers, Blockbuster and several other businesses placed advertisementson bags and clothes hangers in 1998. Coupons were also stapled to the supplies.
Getty Netflix was just beginning its ascension into a DVD-by-mail and streaming giant when CEO Reed Hastings met with Blockbuster in 2000 to pitch the possibility of his company handling Blockbuster’s online efforts. At the time, Blockbuster couldn’t conceive of how Hastings could add any value to their enormously successful enterprise; according t...
Sumner Redstone, whose Viacom conglomerate then owned Blockbuster, personally pioneered a new revenue-sharing arrangement for video. Blockbuster obtained videos for little cost and kept 60% of the rental fee, paying the other 40% to the studio, and reporting rental information through the global media measurement and research company Rentrak ...
Jun 22, 2020 · On YouTube they explain: Between 1985 and 2010, Blockbuster Video opened thousands of stores across the US. This map shows the locations of US Blockbuster Video stores over time. Blockbuster opened their first store in Dallas in October of 1985.
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Aug 17, 2018 · Especially since stores had video displays playing movies, as well as live performances to keep kids entertained. Dave Matthews performs in a Blockbuster in 1994. ChesterCopperpot5/YouTube
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From humble beginnings to global dominance, Blockbuster was once a symbol of the video rental era. But what led to its downfall? Join us on a journey through...
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