Blockbuster, the end of an era.

What a great idea it was when it first came along. We used them for years, but then their rental policies seemed more at war with the customer than conducive to good business practice. Hollywood video from Movie Gallery came along and many like my family switched over to them. Finally Netflix and On Demand arrived and although I liked Hollywood Video better, they disappeared first in 2010 after several bankruptcy organizations. Now Blockbuster is about gone, I suspect less than 2 years of life left in them. Still, when it first started, what fun it was walking in and seeing wall to wall of movie after movie, trying to decide which ones you would watch that week and there being more you WANTED to see than you actually could each week. Then came those rate changes with punitive attachments that got worse each year it seemed. I finally cut my card up in a store and cut my wife's up and mailed it to the company with a letter, moved to Hollywood Video store and never went back to Blockbuster. Most will give Netflix and OnDemand credit for driving Blockbuster's eminent demise, but I really think their customer policies started things rolling in that direction first and foremost.

Remember, don't buy gift cards from any company going bankrupt, since it's money lost and they won't have to make good on it once bankruptcy is filed. Keep that in mind later this year too when doing Christmas shopping, probably best to avoid ANY gift cards by the end of this year since many companies are in financial distress.

http://theusdaily.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=1142375&type=home

Blockbuster Inc <BBI.N> stayed a step ahead of bankruptcy after winning a crucial one-month reprieve on debt payments, but was forced to begin the process of delisting from the New York stock exchange
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The once-dominant video rental chain -- which has bled market share to more nimble rivals Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> and Coinstar Inc's <CSTR.O> Redbox -- failed to make debt payments due July 1. But Blockbuster said it had struck a forbearance agreement with creditors holding about 70 percent of its 11.75 percent senior secured notes due 2014.

Those creditors -- which hold debt amounting collectively to about $440 million -- agreed to hold off from exercising "remedies" until August 13 on the missed payments. But some analysts doubted the extension would matter in the long run. Blockbuster closed at 23 cents on Thursday on the NYSE, down about 2.9 percent.