Movie Gallery (and Hollywood Video and Game Crazy) closing all U.S. stores

[Newsjock]

Source: Fresno Bee

Movie Gallery, the company that owns Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video rental stores and Game Crazy stores, is closing all of its U.S. locations.

The company already had announced it was closing hundreds of stores and told workers over the weekend that it planned to close the remaining 1,906 stores.

... The company is going through its second bankruptcy. Movie Gallery is the nation's second-largest video rental chain after Blockbuster. Experts say its overly ambitious expansion collided with the growth of mail-rental companies like Netflix, streaming video and $1-a-night kiosks like Redbox or Blockbuster Express.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/05/04/1920782/movie-galle...

[hayu_lol]

1. Expected I suppose...

but that is an awful lot of part-time jobs lost across the country. The kinds of jobs that teens and college students depend on to give them spending money. Not a good thing.

[liberal N proud]

2. All of them in our area already liquidated

Most of the Blockbusters are gone as well.

Red Box and Netflix and on demand have driven them all out of business, I suspect.

[Historic NY]

3. paid and on demand cable win again.

[Jkid]

7. Yeah, if you can afford cable.

[Downtown Hound]

4. I worked at a Hollywood Video for 4 months when I was 19

The store I worked at once took in $28,000 in a single 3 day weekend. They in turn, paid us all $5.00 an hour and made us buy those stupid uniforms we had to wear.

Good riddance to them.

[hayu_lol]

6. Here, in Klamath Falls, OR, they were making over $8/hr...

when jobs are scarce, $8/hr can look pretty good for student level jobs. Think about the number of jobs were there and will now be gone. How many jobs does Red Box/Netflix provide in any given location?

Just another erosion of part time jobs available for younger and older folks alike.

[Frank Booth]

9. The internet is killing video rental stores, book stores, clothing stores,

shoe stores, computer stores, music stores, electronics stores. . . .

The selection, information and prices are great, but it's gutting our country of millions of jobs.

[slay]

11. It may be - or maybe that stuff was overpriced - at least there will be less physical crap

when you download (itunes, torrents, i dont' judge) since no physical storage media other than a flash or hard drive are needed - and can be reused. No more dvd's and cd's going to landfills - or the pollution from the trucks that deliver lot of the various crap we buy, or the excess packaging etc. I'm all for reducing non-essential "stuff". One door closes.. another one opens. Netflix employs a lot of people too ya know.

Legalizing marijuana would create a lot of new jobs.

[Downtown Hound]

10. Trust me, they're better off someplace else. n/t

[Jimbo S]

20. What if there's no place else?

[Downtown Hound]

21. Then go and squat in the middle of Goldman Sachs' headquarters

and get arrested. They'll feed you in jail. And then you'd actually be taking a stand against the inequality of wealth instead of working for substandard wages and making the rich richer.

In other words, jail is better than Hollywood video. LMFAO!

[Jimbo S]

22. How about a more pragmatic answer?

[Downtown Hound]

24. I'm actually quite serious. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. OR minimum wage is $8.40

Every job pays over $8/hr.

Second only to Washington ($8.55) in the country.

[high density]

5. I'm not surprised

We had a few Movie Gallery stores close in this area and then suddenly a few weeks later the stores that were supposed to remain open were also shuttered. A mom and pop video store in my neighborhood also closed down in the past six months. Redbox and Netflix are so much more attractive.

[blue_onyx]

8. The Hollywood video near me...

closed a few years ago. Not surprising. It probably won't be long before most video rental stores are gone.

[Zen_fighter]

12. Do people still rent movies?

[Zen_fighter]

13. That internet is a pesky thing!

[skypilot]

14. Yes.

Some of us like to actually leave the house now and then.

[LanternWaste]

23. I do.

I do.

[sakabatou]

25. Yes

I rent from Netflix.

[bikebloke]

16. Hollywood Video shot themselves in the foot

I stayed with them as long as I could. But they started carrying mostly straight-to-DVD. I suspect the premise was that anyone in the mood for flick wouldn't walk out empty handed. I did. Then I tried Netflix and they had a massive selection of foreign films, which I mostly watch.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

17. Too bad... the one here seems to be busy all the time.

[fujiyama]

18. Outdated business model

Next thing I'd expect is blockbuster asking the federal government for a bailout!

[bejamin wood]

19. I'm thinking I'm an outcast here

...but it is sad. Sure retail is more expensive, but do we really want the alternative. Any space saved will just get consumed again. I'm glad I won't (likely) live past 2050. I think everything will become compartmentalized and gray. No need to leave your house after all when you remote in to work and order all your goods online. I mean for fat's sake!

...crap I can't type...